cortadito express

 

let me start by saying YUM!

We followed up on the mention in September's Madison Magazine by visiting the carry-out window of Cortadito Express. This use to be the coat room of the Cardinal Bar. It has a carry-out window to Wilson St.

And I also need to say that I am not a really big fan of sandwiches. Generally there is too much bread or not very good bread. Not here. This is the Ricardo Sandwich. We also tried the Potato Croquetas. But managed to resist the Churros and Chocolate.

We ate in the bar at the window table. It was early and quiet and we could peek into the fun carry-out area. All well done from the fun orangey red color to the vines painted on the wall that are repeated in the background of the picture below.

This cute place is part of the restaurant group that includes The Weary Traveler and Natt Spil. So you know it is done right.

Sandwiches are big. Next time we will probably split one. This is not far from where we live. I can see us calling in food and dashing down to pick it up. You can check them out here.

chocolaterian

 

Oh my. If you like chocolate you must go to the Chocolaterian here in Madison. The Parisian Hot Chocolate is a must have. It is like drinking truffles. Everything I have tried has been exceptional. They have WiFi. So it makes a great place for a little business meeting or book club. And it was a perfect place to start Valentine's Day too.

hotel red

I've been intrigued by hotelRED and took my sweetie there for his birthday. It was contemporary and pretty and RED.

And the food was good too! We had a lovely lunch and I do recommend it.

As you know Zinio is giving me 10 free digital magazine subscriptions. You can take a peek here at www.zinio.com.

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bluefies

 

Bluefies is a long time favorite of ours. I recently had this combination plate there for lunch. Yum. The food is always tasty and a visual delight. Click here for menus and other info. http://www.bluephies.com/Home.aspx

casa del sol

 

This is one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. Casa del Sol is in Fitchburg. I always have the same thing. Chilaquilas with chicken. It is an appetizer but as you can see it is more than a meal. In fact it is always 2 meals for me. And it is a nice place, open, airy, nice use of color. Good chips and margaritas too. I don't think you will be disappointed.

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great dane downtown...

 

Yum... Good food. Even better location. We love eating at the Great Dane downtown. It is a real treat this time of the year when you can eat outside in their sweet courtyard. It is a magical space. You can read all about the Great Dane here. They have 4 locations here in Madison and one in Wausau.

bradbury's coffee, espresso, crepes...

My friend Janette was here visiting recently and insisted that we check out Bradbury's for their crepes. We did and we were not disappointed. It is a cute, quite tiny little place on a corner one block north of the Capitol on the outer Capitol loop at 127 N Hamilton. Every bit of space is used in this little place and it was packed when we were there. I think we may go work there some weekday morning, they have wifi.

I had the jerk chicken crepe which was good. But I had meal envy when I saw the sweet ones. Next time I'll get one of those. Check out the menu here. Next time I am going for the lemon curd with door county cherries. Yum.

And now we are out the door busing to DT Madison to join the protesters for the 7th day of protesting at the Capitol.

date night at el pastor...

Last week after a full day of workmen here and John and his buddy Jim taking out the fireplace and chimney we were more than ready to leave the mess and have Date Night. This was John's week to plan and we hit a favorite of ours El Pastor, 2010 S Park St. The restaurant is not fancy but the food is authentic, always good and always really huge portions. We always bring home enough food that we can have another meal.

I had my favorite Flautas de Pollo.

John had his favorite, the Small Burrito. We always laugh and wonder if that is the small then what does the big one look like.

We used a Bucky Book coupon and with a Coke and a Margarita our meal came to $18.20.

If you like Mexican you should check them out... it is in a slightly weird place next to maybe a beauty supply place and down from a hardware store. The space looks like it may have been a fast food place once. I am basing that on the look of the booths... Anyway the food is great.

(Thanks Jim and Kimary for introducing us to El Pastor.)