| rev:text
| - Tornado Club is the quintessential Wisconsin supper club, and the spot we chose for our one dinner in Madison over the holiday weekend. My bf, who hails from Madison, had been here when it was originally Crandall's.
To be honest, there were other places I would have liked to have tried, but since it was a Monday after a holiday, many places were closed. Not too much of a surprise since many restaurants here are not chains and instead are family-owned and operated. The decor is exactly what you'd expect from a supper club: dark wood, lots of booths, and dim lighting. There's a bar in the front of the restaurant but is separate from the dining area. The bar had a nice crowd which seemed to have a lot of regulars.
We got comfy and looked over the wine and cocktail list. I had had my fair share of wine over the holidays so we decided to enjoy cocktails instead. They had a special list of wintry cocktails and while the "Molly Ringwald" caught my eye, I didn't care for the ingredients in it. Instead I chose "Twinkling Lights", which was sparkling cider, clove honey, and lemon juice. My bf chose a twist on a classic Old Fashioned, which came with a garnish of Door County cherries, which he very nicely relinquished to me.
My cocktail was delicious and was exactly what I was in the mood for. The spice from the clove honey added a little kick and kept the drink from being too sweet.
Since the Tornado is, first and foremost, a steak house, it behooved me to order a bone-in ribeye. I immediately had second thoughts because it could never compare to my beloved Joe's, but I thought I'd be daring. My bf ordered the walleye pike which came with a lemon-caper butter reduction.
Entreés come with a choice of French onion soup (for a slight upcharge). soup of the day, or a salad (caesar, mixed greens, iceberg wedge). I opted for the mixed greens and he went with the iceberg wedge as he was intrigued that it came with French dressing. He wanted to keep with the retro theme that this place has in spades.
The salads were just fine. We were amused at the French dressing as neither of us have seen it since we were wee kids - back when the only two dressing choices were French or oil and vinegar.
We ordered another round and our main courses arrived. I thought my steak was a bit underseasoned and not juicy enough, but once I added some salt and pepper, it tasted better. I had serious food envy though, after I tasted the walleye. It was flaky and rich and cooked perfectly. On the side I had a baked potato (not hot enough) and he had green beans almandine (again, another retro throwback).
Despite being full, once we saw that creme caramel was on the dessert menu, we had to order it. Since they don't offer espresso or cappuccino, we had to settle for coffee.
The creme caramel had a nice silky texture, but it was just a little too sweet for me. Allow me to toot my own horn for a minute here, but I just so happen to make a flawless creme caramel and I have to say, mine is better than the one the Tornado Club serves up.
Dinner was lovely and the service was warm and efficient. We enjoyed ourselves and will definitely keep this spot in mind for our next trip to Madison.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)