Cafe Wisconsin: A Guide To Wisconsin's Down-Home Cafes

by Joanne Raetz Stuttgen

Overview

    Cafe Wisconsin returns in a new, updated version that provides a sure-bet guide to Wisconsin’s best small town, home-cooking cafes. For this second edition, author Joanne Raetz Stuttgen traveled more than 12,000 miles in six months, revisiting old business districts and main streets in search of the ultimate cafe, the perfect slice of homemade pie, and the meaning of life in Wisconsin’s down-home cafes.
    Featuring 133 cafes, with another 101 Next Best Bets alternatives, Cafe Wisconsin is every hungry traveler’s guide to real mashed potatoes, melt-in-your-mouth hot beef, from-scratch baked goods, and colorful coffee klatches. At the counter of aptly named cafes like the Coffee Cup, Main Street, and Chatterbox, you’ll laugh with owners, shake dice with customers, and find the authentic taste and flavor of Wisconsin.
    Come on. Let’s go out to eat!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780299201142
Publisher:	University of Wisconsin Press
Publication date:	08/31/2004
Edition description:	2
Pages:	392
Product dimensions:	7.25(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Joanne Raetz Stuttgen is a folklorist. She grew up in Minnesota, lived five years in Wisconsin, and now resides in Martinsville, Indiana, with her husband, a Chippewa Falls native, and son. She is currently at work on the Cafe Wisconsin Cookbook (with Terese Allen) and Cafe Indiana, both forthcoming from the University of Wisconsin Press.

Table of Contents

	Preface: Getting Started	xiii
	Acknowledgments	xxi
	Northwest	1
	Barronett, Brickhouse Cafe	3
	Birchwood, Birchwood Cafe	4
	Chetek, Bob's Grill	6
	Exeland, Village Cafe	8
	Haugen, Lona's Corner Cafe	10
	Iron River, Ideal Cafe	12
	Luck, Main Dish Family Restaurant	13
	Mercer, Tom's Country Cafe	15
	Minong, Wendy's Place	16
	Phillips, Bonnie's Diner	18
	Phillips, Crystal Cafe	19
	Phillips, Phillips Cafe	21
	Port Wing, Cottage Cafe	22
	Siren, Main Street Cafe	24
	Webster, Tracks Dining Car Cafe	25
	Winter, Lakewood Cafe	27
	Next Best Bets	29
	Northeast	33
	Antigo, Dixie Lunch	35
	Cecil, Rosie's Cecil Diner	37
	Crandon, Log Cabin Cafe	38
	Eagle River, Fay's Dinky Diner	40
	Eagle River, Four Seasons Cafe and Deli	41
	Gillett, OJ's Mid-Town Restaurant	43
	Lena, Graff's Restaurant	45
	Manitowish Waters, Village Soda Grill	47
	Merrill, Skipper's Restaurant	49
	Minocqua, Island Cafe	51
	Presque Isle, Outpost Cafe	53
	Rhinelander, Sportsman Cafe	56
	St. Germain, Wolf Pack Cafe	58
	Sugar Camp, The Cookery	60
	Three Lakes, Cindy's Country Cafe	62
	Three Lakes, Kristine's Restaurant	63
	Tomahawk, The Hungry Bear	65
	Wittenberg, Gus and Ann's Restaurant	67
	Woodruff, Woods Cafe	70
	Next Best Bets	72
	Central	75
	Almond, Farm House Restaurant	77
	Amherst, Amherst Cafe	79
	Babcock, Country Cafe	81
	Berlin, Steele's Restaurant	82
	Coloma, Royal Cafe	85
	Fremont, Wolf River Diner	87
	Iola, Crystal Cafe	89
	Lyndon Station, Sandy's Lyndo Inn and Cafe	91
	Manawa, Gorman's Family Restaurant	93
	Montello, Mary's Coffee Cup	94
	Nekoosa, Chong's Country Cafe	95
	Nekoosa, Unkie's Diner	96
	New Lisbon, Corner Cafe	97
	Oxford, The Cafe	98
	Pittsville, Laura's Corner Cafe	99
	Polonia, Polonia Cafe	100
	Redgranite, Curve-In Cafe	101
	Waupaca, Waupaca Cafe	103
	Wonewoc, Country Gals Cafe	103
	Next Best Bets	105
	Chippewa Valley	109
	Augusta, Red Dot Cafe	111
	Baldwin, Shelly's Northside Cafe	112
	Bloomer, Main Street Cafe	114
	Bruce, Katie's Cafe	116
	Colby, Colby Cafe	118
	Cornell, Stacker Cafe	119
	Fall Creek, Village Haus	121
	Glenwood City, Kate's Cafe	123
	Greenwood, Greenwood Family Restaurant	125
	Holcombe, Lake Holcombe Cafe	127
	Ridgeland, Dairyland Cafe	129
	Roberts, Roberts Cafe	131
	Sand Creek, Sand Creek Cafe and Bakery	132
	Somerset, Anne's Cafe	134
	Next Best Bets	136
	Mississippi River Valley	139
	Alma, Alma Hotel	141
	Arcadia, Kozy Kitchen	143
	Arcadia, Mary Kay's Kitchen	144
	Black River Falls, Country Cafe	145
	Blair, CJ's Cafe	147
	Eleva, Pammy K's	148
	Hixton, Hixton Cafe	150
	Independence, Carolyn's Coffee Shop	152
	Melrose, L & M Cafe	154
	Mondovi, Blondie's Diner III	155
	Osseo, Norske Nook	157
	Spring Valley, Deb's Country Inn	160
	Trempealeau, Wildflower Cafe	162
	Next Best Bets	163
	Southwest	165
	Argyle, Irma's Kitchen	167
	Boscobel, Unique Cafe	168
	Chaseburg, DeGarmo's Tippy Toe Inn	171
	La Farge, Chatterbox Cafe	172
	Mineral Point, Red Rooster Cafe	174
	Stoddard, Mamie's Cafe	176
	Wauzeka, Hayseed Cafe	177
	Westby, Borgen's Norwegian Cafe and Bakery	179
	Next Best Bets	181
	South Central	183
	Albany, Edgewater Cafe	185
	Baraboo, Teri's Restaurant	186
	Black Earth, Lunch Bucket Cafe	187
	Cambria, Leystra's Venture Restaurant	190
	Clinton, Clinton Kitchen	191
	Milton, Squeeze Inn	193
	Monticello, M & M Cafe	195
	Mt. Horeb, Schubert's Old-Fashioned Cafe and Bakery	197
	North Freedom, Carol's Railroad Inn Cafe	200
	Orfordville, K's Outback Cafe	202
	Pardeeville, O'Brien's Restaurant	204
	Portage, Portage Cafe	205
	Reedsburg, Greenwood's Cafe	207
	Sauk City, Leystra's Venture Restaurant	208
	Stoughton, Koffee Kup	209
	Next Best Bets	212
	Southeast	213
	Cedarburg, Cedarburg Coffee Pot	215
	Delafield, Lumber Inn	216
	Fox Lake, The Chalet	218
	Hustisford, Joan's Country Cookin'	219
	Juneau, Oak Street Cafe	221
	Lake Mills, Cafe on the Park	223
	Lomira, Susie's Home Cooking	224
	Mukwonago, Little Babe's Cafe	225
	Port Washington, Harry's Restaurant	227
	Randolph, Denise's Cafe	229
	Silver Lake, Silver Lake Grill	231
	Twin Lakes, Manny's Snack Shack	232
	Union Grove, Callen's Restaurant	234
	Williams Bay, Daddy Maxwell's Artic Circle Diner	235
	Wilmot, Wilmot Cafe	237
	Next Best Bets	238
	Fox Valley, Lakefront, and Door County	243
	Brillion, Rudy's Diner	245
	Casco, Village Kitchen	246
	Dale, Old Store Cafe and Deli	248
	Denmark, Lorrie's Home Town Cafe and Catering	250
	Ellison Bay, Viking Restaurant	251
	Greenleaf, D & G Restaurant	253
	Kimberly, Larry's Parkside Restaurant	255
	Little Chute, Tucker's Inn	257
	Oostburg, Knotty Pine Restaurant	259
	Pulaski, Kroll's Family Diner	260
	Rosendale, Tabbert's Restaurant	262
	Sturgeon Bay, Perry's Cherry Diner	263
	Washington Island, KK Fiske	265
	Winneconne, Arrowhead Restaurant	268
	Next Best Bets	270
	Epilogue: Looking Back	273
	Index	295

Editorial Reviews

"An eminently useful book, directing readers to dozens of colorful eateries we wouldn't otherwise find, Cafe Wisconsin is so much more than a guide. It is stirring evidence that despite the onslaught of corporate fast food, small-town cafes thrive, resonant with local character and perfumed by the good smells of sizzled bacon and oven-warm rhubarb pie."—Jane and Michael Stern, authors of Road Food

"Stuttgen explored Wisconsin’s back roads to discover humble, small town restaurants that still serve good home cooking. . . . She is also interested in the role cafes play as meeting places in the community. . . . Cafe Wisconsin celebrates the people, the food, and the traditions of small town Wisconsin that these cafes represent."—Eau Claire Leader-Telegram

"Stuttgen is at her best when capturing a cafe’s color, with its clientele as part of the decor. You get a sense of the atmosphere and what it is that keeps the regulars coming."—Capital Times

From the Publisher

It was the love of slow-cooked roast beef swimming in gravy that drove Joanne Raetz Stuttgen to create her 1993 regional hit Café Wisconsin. And it was the same love that inspired this 21st-century update. The book is a reliable guide to 140 of Wisconsin's best small-town cafés, mom-and-pop eateries where the mashed potatoes are a little lumpy and the cook has never heard of the South Beach Diet. As appetizing as a hot slice of heavy sour cream raisin pie.