Taste of Madison

The Taste of Madison is an event that showcases around 100 food and beverage restaurants. These businesses line the Capitol Square with stands and carts and spend two days advertising by selling their best food and drink to eager eaters. Everything costs around 1-5 dollars, which could easily be seen as a ripoff, given the meager sample size of some of the dishes, however the mere convenience of having so much variety gathered in one place definitely makes up for this flaw.

I can't recall everything that I ate, but here are some of the foods my friends and I sampled:

Watermelon Pork Taco from The Piece Out Gourmet
No one was impressed by this taco. It was largely flavorless, watery, and unseasoned. There was no hint of porcine flavor, roasted or otherwise, and might as well have consisted of boiled chicken from a prison cafeteria. Its only redeeming feature was the lightly refreshing flavor from the watermelon, and even that was largely unappealing given the chilly fall weather that day.

Eggplant Fries with Paprika Aioli from Lombardino's
These were undeniably delicious. The outside was crispy and delightfully savory while the inside melted in my mouth. Amazingly even after being deep fried the eggplant did not lose its rich flavor, so that even without the aioli dip these fries were pure decadence.




Cupcakes from Daisy Café and Cupcakery
Just look at them. Sweet, moist, beautiful cupcakes. The red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting was heavenly. As much as I love frosting, it was nice to have a cupcake where it acted to emphasize the cake rather than drown it in butter and cream. The chocolate cupcake with blueberry frosting was good as well, although the chocolate rather overpowered any hint of berry flavor. All in all, fabulous cakes.

Fried Cheese Curds from Daddy Rocks
The Wisconsin classic. These weren't the best cheese curds I've ever eaten: They were a bit too greasy and not quite crispy enough on the outside, but all the same, how could deep fried cheese ever be bad? Buttery battered melting cheese...All that was missing was a Spotted Cow for the true taste of Wisconsin.


Macaroni and Cheese from the Old Fashioned

Words cannot describe how delicious this macaroni and cheese was. Buttery, cheesy, creamy heaven with a hint of nutmeg and other spices. Not only was the sauce flavored to perfection, but as my friend Mike noted, the pasta was not overcooked as one would anticipate, but was instead al dente, a perfect canvas for such a beautifully orchestrated sauce.

Coconut Cream Pie from Elegant Foods
We wanted to finish the evening on a sweet note, so we headed over to Elegant Foods, where Mike said that he'd had 'the best cherry pie he'd ever eaten in his life.' Alas, by the time we got there they had run out of cherry pie, so we settled on the coconut cream pie. We were not disappointed. The pie crust simply sagged under a delightful mess of coconut custard and shredded coconut, toasted and raw. It was delicious, bursting with coconut flavor and with a silky smooth texture that made me consider having a second slice. The fact that it was made with natural ingredients, the same as I would bake with myself, somehow served as a comfort after consuming such a calorific slice...

As you can see, The Taste is a great way to sample what Madison area restaurants have to offer. I went home full and happy, my appetite whetted for more than just a taste of some of these menus.