The Old Fashioned - April 6, 2012

Dusty-
I can't think of a better way to pre-game for a burger than to watch Thor on blu-ray. Wait... no, that's not right. It should read "Thor is a pretty awful movie; what better way to pick myself up than The Old Fashioned?!"After the movie, I wasn't too sure if we were going to make it to this restaurant since Trina was asleep. I'm not proud of what Mike and I almost did to wake her up. Lucky for her she woke up on her own, so antics will have to wait.

The Old Fashioned may be my favorite bar in Madison. I've never had bad food here, they have bloody marys that are a meal in themselves, and build-it-yourself old fashioneds! Have to start with a beer and burger first though, so I picked one I hadn't tried from their selection of hundreds: The House of Brews Amber. It was a decent enough compliment to:

The Number 30 (aka The Old Fashioned House Burger)

• Remember how I said I'd never had bad food at The Old Fashioned? Still holds true.
• This guy comes with fried onions, bacon, aged Cheddar, garlic sauce and a cooked egg. I'm getting hungry again just reviewing this.
• No need for condiments here, there are plenty of flavors on top of this perfectly cooked burger. The egg is done over easy so the yolk binds all the toppings together.
• The bun was buttered and toasted, just to make sure your arteries are a little more clogged. I would have preferred a pretzel bun, but hey, did I mention this burger has an egg on it?

This burger was amazing. I'm going to have to start keeping a spreadsheet of my favorite burgers. I won't need one for the bad ones, I don't forget being spurned.

You get a choice of sides, so I naturally went with unhealthy fries. These are good enough to eat alone too, but a little ketchup never hurt a good french fry. We started the meal with cheese curds - arguably the best in Madison and therefore the best in Wisconsin (there's nothing really outside of Madison and Green Bay, right?). I would have ordered cheese curds as my side if that was socially acceptable in mixed company. No dessert with this meal, though I think that was just because the waitress didn't hear Trina ask for the menu. After dinner we moved on to old fashioneds and flavorful conversation.

Current weight: 171.0 lbs (muscle weighs more than fat)

Notable observation: If you'd like to hear about an interesting topic, discuss calorie burning with Mike or Trina. If you'd like to feel extremely uncomfortable during a debate, have them discuss it with each other.

Ned -

The Old Fashioned - #30

The original plans:

7:30pm - Mike, Matt (friend), and Jason watch Thor at Matt's
9ish - Movie over (it's a superhero movie... how long can it be?)
9:30pm - Mike and Jason meet Trina at The Old Fashioned
11:00pm - Enjoy all that Madison has to offer...

What really happened:

7:30pm - Mike gets to Matt's and finds no one home (starts watching Tombstone on TNT)
7:45pm - Jason and Matt arrive after some grocery shopping
7:45 to 8:30pm - Jason, Matt, and Mike drink beer, chat sports, and watch more Tombstone... "I'm your huckleberry"
8:30pm - Begin Thor
10:45pm - Movie finally ends.  Awful movie by-the-way.  Long, boring, terrible acting.  I just hope the Avengers isn't as bad...

By the end of what seemed like the 2nd longest movie of my life (#1 goes to Dances With Wolves... thanks Kevin Costner), Jason and I were starving and ready for some fun.  Problem: Trina had apparently fallen asleep and turned off her phone.

After some quick discussion, Jason and I decided it'd be a good idea to drive to Trina's and wake her up (we never actually planned this part out).  We didn't know her apt. # but knew what window was hers (don't ask) so I'm sure it would have included some sort of breaking and entering.  Lucky for us (and our future criminal record), Trina magically woke up right as we pulled into her parking lot.  Off to dinner we went...

• Decor – The Old Fashioned consists of two long, narrow rooms with long bar reaching from one end to the other.  One usually needs to wait 30-60 minutes for a table at this famous Madison establishment but, thanks to Thor and some lollygagging, the dinner crowd was gone and the amigos were immediately seated at a booth.
• Service – Our waitress was friendly and quick to bring our drinks/food.  However, I'm not sure she was very fond of Trina (see Dessert)
• Food (the important stuff)
• Appetizers - Cheese curds.  Not much to say here.  The Old Fashioned has the best fried cheese curds in all of Madison.  Fresh curds, light batter, super greasy.  These alone are a good reason to visit.
• Beer – Wisconsin made Double-IPA.  Deliciously bitter with a hint of fruit
• Burger – Before the tour began, I always thought that The Old Fashioned had the best burgers in town and tonight didn't change that opinion.  The burger was slightly over done and the bun dry, but with thick cut bacon, aged cheddar, and a soft-cooked egg, those imperfections could be overlooked.
• Sides – Shoe-string fries.  IMO, the pinnacle of french fries.  Super thin, super crispy.  It's like McDonald's fries on steriods or some other PED (I wonder if Ryan Braun is a part owner...)
• Dessert - Guess who wanted dessert?  However, after asking the waitress what dessert she recommended, Trina got a mumbled incoherent answer that Jason and I translated as "you don't get dessert".  Trina was not happy.

One final note... while enjoying our curds, Trina and I got into a heated argument about whether someone burns more calories running a mile or walking a mile (we both love to be right).  Well... looks like we're both sorta right:

http://walking.about.com/od/calorie1/a/calorieswalkrun.htm

TLDR – Probably the most famous Madison establishment, serving Wisconsin classics (including a two page beer list consisting of only Wisconsin-made brew).  Come for the cheese curds... stay for the drinks.




Lucky -

My post is long overdue and I have to admit that the only reason I've gotten myself to write it is because I'm starving and according to the rules I'm not allowed to join in the upcoming burger tonight until I do.  Funny how Mike got away with it Echo Tap night though...

Anyways, I'm trying to jog my memory on this one.  Usually I'm better at details but I think I may have repressed a few on this one.  You'll see why.

• Attire:  As predicted I was shunned for showing up for this burger in a dress.  For those who know me well, I'm most likely to overdress for an occasion and the t-shirt wearing for the last three burgers had gotten too me and I just had to throw on some red number and heels.   Inspired by my rebellion, Jason also decided to forego the shirt (not for a dress though).  Mike was ticked and in the end, I think it set the tone for the night.
• Drinks:  I LOVE any place like Old Fashioned where you pick your beer from a book.  The old drawback is that there is so much to look at and they only give you one book for the table.  Arguably printing more beer books for each dinner attendee would help me make a more educated selection.  Old Fashioned - take note.  Though whatever Pale Ale I'm sure I picked was good.
• Appetizers:  Can we stop ordering cheese curds?  
• Burger:  Um - I think once before I wondered why any burger would come without bacon.  Now I ask the same thing about a fried egg.  Yowza!  How absolutely ridiculously amazing.  The burger was awesome, I think there was cheese and bacon, but I was lost in the gooiness of the runny egg all over.  Pure happiness.  Got it with a surprisingly delicious mix of greens on the side instead of fries.
• Conversation:  We ate really late, I showed up in the wrong attire and in general it was a Friday so probably had been a long week at work.  Somewhere in the middle of dinner, Mike and I got in a heated conversation about how many calories are burned per mile running or walking.  I don't even know anymore if I was right, but I was livid that anyone would disagree.   Let's just say it was heated.  The whole time I kept thinking - Mike and I shouldn't argue like this in front of the kids.  Jason looked a little scared and later commented that he thought his parents might get a divorce.  Thank god the waitress brought more drinks.  We settled down, apologized and moved onto lighter conversations like pre-nup agreements and threesomes. 
• Dessert:  I asked the waitress what they have for dessert and she blatantly ignored me.  I'll take that as a sign.  No sweets on this one.

The Bottom Line:   Old Fashioned is a magical spot for a burger with a fried egg and an amazing beer selection.  If I was in a relationship, I believe it would also be a good spot for a stupid argument.  I'm sure if we had been at Graze one of us would have stormed out.  However, with Old Fashioned, you just can't help but leave happy.