Bradbury’s
127 North Hamilton Street
Madison, WI
Madison has an impressive number of homegrown coffee shops, though it definitely had less of a “crepe” presence. However, now both aspects of the Mad-town dining scene get a boost with Bradbury’s which specializes in both. Bradbury’s is primarily a breakfast and lunch space, located right off of the square. It is a cozy space (on the smallish side), swimming in windows and packed with tiny tables. The menu is written on the walls above the windows on one side of the cafe and consists of mostly coffee drinks a some sweet and savory crepe selections.
M, a particular oddity for grad students, doesn’t like coffee, so he enjoyed a generous bowl of hot chocolate. L got her caffeine fix through a macchiato. Also on the menus are more “advanced” coffee options like the Japanese Siphon coffee, which seemed to come with a neat cadre of serving implements. No seriously, it looks like a chemistry set of a mad scientist.
For our breakfast proper, we indulged in 2 chocolaty crepes (could it really be anything else?) L opted for the almond and nutella crepe ($4.5), which also came with bananas, but she opted for the non-fruit route, while M went for the dark chocolate and marmalade crepe ($5.5). After sampling each, L prefered the classic hazelnut/chocolate nutella crepe, while M, the chocolate purist, thought his crepe had a richer taste. For both crepes, the pancake itself was perfectly uniform and thin, something crepe carts often get wrong.
Bradbury’s a great place for a crepe and some coffee, and were were definitely tantalized by the range of savory options, like the spinach potato and cheddar ($6.5) or the chorizo and chevre ($7.5). We think a lunch may be in our future.
Our usual Indian food stomping grounds are usually closer to Devon Ave., but a recent pre-concert dinner took us into the vicinity of the West Loop – home to the modern Indian restaurant Veerasway. We went into Veerasway a bit skeptical. It looked like any other trendy restaurant in the already-trendy West Loop – complete with low lighting, colorful walls and a cool, minimalist interior.
As you can see above – this Burek was no joke. It arrived at our table as big as a dinner plate, and probably about 4 inches tall. Think Greek Spanakopita on steroids. We ordered the cheese burek, which arrived piping hot with loads of feta and spinach sandwiched between layers of buttery phyllo dough. Between the 2 of us we barely ate 1/2 of the burek, which meant we had quite a lovely lunch for the next day. We think it’s garnered its glowing reputation with reason. Though it was hard to get to, making the trek to Three Brothers was definitely worth it for some delicious Serbian food in a friendly family atmosphere. We can understand why it’s been a Milwaukee institution for all these years.
Xoco
The cold night made the hot chocolate a logical choice, as did the restaurant’s Nahuatl name. We had heard that the house-made hot chocolate was excellent, so we sampled 2 varieties. The servers came out with a little carafe of chocolate and pour it right for you (though we wish they would let us keep the carafe at the table!). We opted for the thick and creamy Barcelona, and the spicy Aztec. Ironically, a blend of both would have been perfect: the Barcelona was thick and creamy, but lacking the spicy punch of the Aztec; while the Aztec needed a thicker blend like the Barcelona. Not that either one was disappointing – both were excellent – but next time we will stage a reconquista and mix the two.
Entrees were a tougher choice. After a lot of debate, M settled on a caldo: the “Wood-Roasted Chicken Pozole,” ($11.50) while L got the Cochinita Pibil sandwich ($12.00). We had high expectations for the caldo, but at the end of the day was slightly underwhelming: the red chiles meant to flavor the dish never found a way to fully integrate their flavor into the broth, and the resulting mix seemed slightly disjointed. The added lime juice helped, but the potential marriage of strong flavors had a tendency to seem more like a shouting match without a moderator than Bayless’ usual seamless flavor marriages. L’s sandwich was much better. The simple ingredients packed big flavors. The perfectly spiced shredded pork was melt-in-your-mouth; garnished with pickled onions on top and Xoco’s delectable habanero salsa, all on a crusty bolillo roll: the sandwich was a masterpiece.
Overall, we’ll declare our experience at Xoco great – and as two poor students, we certainly appreciated the lower price point. Rick Bayless himself is often in the open kitchen, especially mornings, and takes great care to use local, fresh ingredients, something we definitely tasted and appreciated.
On the inside, it looks like the typical university burger dive. The seating is a series of 4 u-shaped counters surrounding the grill area. After a brief wait our large group (20+) was seated at the counter in separate groups. Service was fast and friendly even though all of us were wearing some form of orange University of Illinois apparel. Naturally, we all opted for burgers, many of which are named after sports stars.
The “Bernie Flowers All Pro” is a 1/4 lb. burger with lettuce, tomato, onion and Miracle Whip on a sesame bun. A side of fries and a pickle were included. The “Bert Burger” is the same with bacon. General consensus was the burgers were very good – juicy and a nice, fresh beef flavor. As an added touch, the meal did not arrive in the typical basket, but was served on a bright orange Triple X frisbee. The only negative to our meal was the french fries. Although they looked perfect – crispy, not too thick or thin – they were cold. Burgers are clearly the main draw here and worth a return trip for a good meal and little piece of the college experience.
Lao Sze Chaun
Guatelinda Bakery
Diwali Sweets for sale in Toronto by 
Cafe Costa Rica
CCR inhabits a former house in downtown Madison, decked out in party chairs and fake plastic palm trees outside that must make for a kitschy but amusing summer evening, yet were no good on this chilly and rainy night. We were concerned when we walked into the seating area downstairs, mostly because CCR turned out to be one of the tiniest restaurant’s we’ve been in (about the same size as 
First good sign: they grow their own habaneros. In little plants right on the main counter. People familiar with M’s culinary escapades can imagine how excited he was at this. Second good sign: The table has two bottles of salsa, but homemade, one based on said habaneros (“Mango Man Sauce”) – meaning the peppers are not for decor, they actually use them in cooking. As such, the menu piqued our interest. We decided to mix it up as much as we could given our budget. For appetizers, a plate of fried plantains (an ETW favorite) with the aforementioned habanero sauce ($5.95) and a cheese empanada ($3.95). Main course: we split an order of pork tacos (under the assumption that one order ($11.95) would be enough for both of us.
The plantains were soft, sweet, and delightful, and the habanero sauce added a good flavorful kick. M could have eaten three plates of them and called it dinner. L was enamored with the empanada, soft and cheesy and flaky, doing good on her cheese/carbs combo love. But it was really those tacos that blew us away: piled high with shredded pork marinated in the habanero sauce, garnished with generous helpings of cilantro (another ETW fav we can never get enough of), lettuce, tomatoes, and more habanero sauce in a corn tortilla. The marinade absolutely made the meal, and we were really happy to see someone making tacos in corn tortillas that really broke out of the ubiquitous Mexican mold into other regions, and to do it so well.
Our journey to La Peña in Albany Park was uncharacteristically epic. What ought to have been a short 20 minute trip took almost an hour and a half due to forces (in addition to rush hour traffic) that we could not quite pin down. In any case, we arrived abysmally late to dine with my cousins, who were meeting us there. Fortunately, while waiting they were offered a bowl of plantain chips with two kinds of salsa. Upon arrival, we were impressed by the cute, polished wood interior and the vast potato-laden menu (the eaters love carbs). For appetizers we ordered a Humita ($2.95), an tamale-like creation, and Patacones, fried plantains ($2.95). Plantains are one of our favorite things about Caribbean and Latin American cuisines, and we wished the plantain chip/fry would find a renaissance, much as the sweet potato fry has. We rounded out our appetizer order with the Tortilla de Papa ($ 2.95) a potato pancake stuffed with cheese, and topped with peanut sauce. By this point we could tell that Ecuadorians did indeed love their carbs.
For mains, L ordered the Vegetarian Llapingacho ($12.95) which was a potato pancake topped with peanut sauce and a fried egg. Alongside the pancake came a veritable garden of avocado, a green salad, plantains and rice. Even tucked into the side of the plate was a humita. Holy portions! The Llapingacho seemed like a bigger version of the Tortilla de Papa, with the same cheese filling and peanut sauce, which was a little disappointing, but all of the elements on the plate came together to enhance the pancake, even the slightly runny egg, which I am not usually a fan of. For his main course, M ordered the Fritanga ($13.95), a dish of pan-fried pork with sweet plantains, white hominy and corn. The pork was bit fatty for his taste, but still had great flavor. He was especially excited by the appearance of ‘big corn’ or choclo kernels mixed in with the hominy on the plate – a staple of Peruvian food. The portions at La Peña are outrageous, and totally gut busting, so I would definitely say you get what you pay for.
Right in the back of the restaurant was a small stage, which was being fitted with amps and microphones as we ate. At around 7 the live music started, and a live a band played Salsa Romantica hits from the likes Eddie Santiago. They were actually pretty good, the only problem was that the music was a bit loud, but we knew that coming in, so no big surprise. Our first foray into Ecuadorian food was deemed a success. It’s kind of the heartier sister of the more cosmopolitan Peruvian food, and if you are feeling the need to Carbo-load, you know you’ve found the right place.
We hope so! We are huge fans of Peruvian food – and are excited it is gaining a foothold across the USA. The New York Times has a piece about Peruvian food’s 
Eating The World 