Madison Dining III (Far East Asian and Italian)

The third in the series concentrates on Chinese, Thai and Italian cuisine.

Chinese

Imperial Garden Chinese Restaurant
Although the list of dishes that I can enjoy is very few in Chinese and I usually go for the Fried Rice, Imperial Garden's Fried Rice (Note to self: request order without egg or try without success to do run-time parsing for scrambled egg) with a side of their Chilli Ma-Po Tofu Sauce is imcomparable in terms of taste quality and quality consistency. Their West side location on Allen Blvd, Middleton has a large seating capacity and fairly good service. One thing to note for people who actually want to try the place is that the entrance to the parking lot is through a gas station which is not very obvious and one might miss it. Very nice and with a moderately upscale ambience, but not hugely expensive menu, Imperial Garden rates as the Best Chinese Restaurant in all of Madison and in all of US (in my limited experience). They have been voted so as well for 14 consecutive years by Madison Magazine and in my view is one of the top two restaurants in Madison.

Royal Garden
Located on Midvale Blvd, their buffet type dining is comparable to any other Chinese buffet type place and is unremarkable. Pales in comparison to Imperial Garden.

Noodles and Company
This falls between Chinese and Italian since they carry both noodles and pasta dishes and probably better categorized as Fast Food or American. It's a chain and usually their noodles dishes are much better than their pasta concoctions. I like their Japanese Pan Noodles and is acceptable alternative when all other places have been eliminated. This was the first place that Anush, my first peer in my current company took me to and he told me everything other than JPN sucks and he was right.

P.F.Chang's China Bistro
This one of a large nation-wide chain opened in Middleton's swanky new Greenway Station. Middleton is literally a stone's throw away from Madison - such that I don't exactly know where Westside Madison ends and Middleton starts. A nice piece of news: Middleton was ranked no. 7 in the 2005 Best Places to Live in the U.S.A. CNN-Money List. This PFCCB location has 2 large (faux) stone horses outside that remind me of the numerous Ayyanar koils (temples that are dedicated to tribal deity Ayyanar that has some vague connection to Hindu Gods) that dot the countryside in Tamil Nadu. The restaurant was fairly upscale, but we were pleasantly surprised that it had quite good food, good service, not too formal an ambience and not a very expensive menu. On the whole, I had a very good experience the one time I had dinner there not too long ago. We shared a Ma Po Tofu (the Tofu was slightly fried, in a nice change and the dish also had some Broccoli florets but was overly salty - it could have used more firepower to neutralize the salinity), Vegetable Chow Fun and Banana Spring Rolls for dessert. The dinner cost both of us a total of just $35 including the tip. I am very sure, I will go back to PFC either again at Middleton or elsewhere.

[11/23/06] Update: On a recent visit with Armpit Arumugam, NSAK, KC and Chimpoo, while I didn't order anything, I tried the Garlic noodles ["Egg noodles tossed with garlic and chili peppers. A Mainland tradition."] and found them very good. May be I will try this dish the next time around...


Thai, Laotian and Indonesian

Sa-Bai Thong Thai Restuarant has two locations - one on Odana Rd and the other on University Ave and the cuisine is similar to Chinese. The Veggie Fried rice with Tofu Pa-Naeng is my favorite and is very much like the North Indian Malai Kofta in taste. The cuisine is supposed to have some dishes that are spicier (hot spicy) than even South Indian cuisine, but I'm yet to try any of them.

Lao Laan Xang on Williamson St is small but has a reasonable selection of vegetarian dishes most of which are cooked in a Coconut Milk sauce. Be sure to confirm that the dishes are indeed vegetarian at the time of ordering. The coconut, as expected, lends a great deal to the flavor of the dish. Prada was leaving the next day for his marriage and in typical Indian style, the dinner was deemed his treat to us. It should be noted that LLX rates highly in Best of Madison ratings, especially and unusually in the Vegetarian group.
-- [Newly added 08/26/2006]

Bandung Indonesian Restaurant is very close to where John Nolen drive meets Williamson St. It's in the same mall as Monkey Gym. My first and only experience there was wholly unremarkable and I probably won't be going back. The green beans are usually a little less cooked that I would like them. Watch out for the sharp lemon grass stalks if you order entrees which has that as an ingredient. The sharp stalk has the potential to puncture the oesophagus and induce a pseudo-choking episode. They recommend that you set aside the stalks of grass before you dig in but they are well hidden in the entree and warnings are usually ignored.
-- [Newly added 10/15/2006]

Italian (includes Pizzerias)

Biaggi's is standard Italian fare, nothing to email home about. They don't have many vegetarian entrees on the menu, but judging by how many times it is proposed by coworkers and from what they say, Biaggi's non-vegetarian options are very good. However, this doesn't help me in anyway. In fact, the very few times I have eaten there and tried each of their veggie dishes, I wasn't impressed and on top of that had to wait significantly to be seated. In short, there are better Italian restaurants than Biaggi's in Madison.

Olive Garden Italian Restaurant located on the west-side near West Towne Mall is "cookie cut" Olive Garden - one of almost exactly similar restaurants part of a nation-wide chain. American style Italian cuisine served in fairly large capacity service location capable of handling most large departmental office lunches. Good desserts and non-alcoholic drinks, but not exceptional Italian food. The bread is downright crappy.

Tutto Pasta has two locations close to each other - one on State street and one on King street off the capitol and both places are equally good. Tutto Pasta Trattoria easily qualifies as one of the best Italian restaurants in Madison. The bread is always warm, fresh and aromatic and all their pasta dishes are excellent. The one possible downside is that since both locations are downtown, parking is a little bit of an issue. Both locations are usually busy and there is usually a waiting time on Fridays, Saturdays, Game Days and University special days like commencement, etc. I have had the most dinners at Tutto Pasta and each time they live up to my expectations. When Jack and his friend Nikki visited Madison for a workshop, I took them out to Tutto Pasta and they liked the food. Nikki is of Italian ancestry and the absence of criticism on her part of the place was probably an affirmation of the quality of the food. Remember that in Summer, if you decide to sit outside, choose a table with care since you might end up close to a bus stop on State St. where perodically you might get asphyixiated by exhaust fumes from buses stopping by your table. And you don't want that!

[11/23/06] Update: The location on State Street seems to have changed hands and both the service and the quality of food has deteriorated a lot and now I retract my recommendation for that location at least. At the same time, Tutto Pasta has opened a new branch in Middleton in the same place where Griglia Tuscany once stood. I have to try that place and see if the freshness of the place reflects to better food and service.

Romano's Macaroni Grill in Greenway Station in Middleton qualifies with Tutto Pasta as one of the best Italian restaurants in the Madison area. As with Tutto Pasta, all their pasta dishes are very good. In addition, their Tomato Bruschetta (for Antipasti), Mango lemonade and Smothered Chocolate Cake (for Dessert) are outstanding. I have had many memorable dinners here with friends after quiz time on Saturdays. Ample seating and parking are available, yet capacity is exceeded during what I call "Dining Rush Hours" Fri/Sat - 7 - 8 pm. Avoid these times and a most enjoyable time can be had by all.

[Update 10/15/06] Romano's has cut down on their Veggie Pasta offerrings; secifically Capellini Checca or Capellini Pomodoro aren't offerred anymore. I hereby slash the ratings on Romano's to a 3 out of 5 stars from 5. The Bruschetta and Mango lemonade are the only ones keeping the rating up.

Peppino's on Hamilton St close to the Capitol square is high-end formal dining with very few vegetarian entrees. I thought the price wouldn't be justified by the experience and left after reviewing the menu in the anteroom. If you decide to go to Peppino's make sure you're at least wearing semi-formal attire.
-- [Newly added 10/15/2006]

Urban Pizza Company close to the campus was not very crowded when I visited the place one laid back Sunday afternoon with King Cullen. Since it is exactly opposite Camp Randall, I recommend not making plans to eat out at Urban on a Game Day. We ordered pizza for dining in the small shop that can easily be missed because it sits right at a very confusing intersection where most motorists are looking out for pedestrians and cyclists and most others are looking out for the motorists (and rightly so). Around the same time the shop had received a large no. of carry-out and delivery orders (we had underestimated the laziness of the Sunday Afternoon), and we had to wait for a bit more time than we had expected but we did get to eat good pizza.

Pizzeria Uno Chicago Bar & Grill sits right on Mineral Point Rd on the way to my workplace, yet I have been there only once. Pizzeria Uno is famous for its pizza and is a branch of the famous original place in Chicago. They are famous for their deep-dish pizza which I detest for its overwhelming quantities of cheese and so we (again myself and KC, not to be confused with his classmate whose real initials are KC) ended up ordering the complete opposite - a thin crust pizza. However, as a mark of a good restaurant, PUC didn't let us down and we had a good meal nevertheless. Their restaurant interiors are well decorated and they have spacious accomodations which includes an upper floor and a patio. I have always wanted to visit the original location in Chicago but haven't had the opportunity so far.

Pizza Hut happens to be the solution I arrive at the most number of times when I have had little time to cook and looking to eat out but not pay heavily for the privilege. I am ashamed to admit that I have ordered carry-out pizzas from them too many times that the staff at the Mineral Point Rd location now know my name and preferences by heart. They are also cheap, are open late and offer the variety and seating capacity demanded by an office lunch or worknight office delivery. In terms of food, they're indistinguishable from any other Pizza Hut location across the USA. Annoyingly, many of my friends who happen to be driving through Madison to some other place and who decide to take a night's break from their trip at my place request to be taken to Pizza Hut for the night's dinner probably because it is a safe and dependable dining experience. "Culprits" include Afro and his friend Beejal one time and Chappy and his friend Barber the other.

Of note is the fact that I went out for my first Pizza Hut dinner not in the US but back home in Madras with Helmet at their Nungambakkam High Rd location. It was a final farewell dinner before both of us moved to the US - Helmet moving down to Florida. Helmet had picked me up from Landmark (see post :: Victorinox) on his Kinetic Honda which he drove like a maniac. What is interesting is that the Pizzas, the Garlic Bread and even the soda served at Pizza Hut, India are hugely different in taste from what's served here in the U.S. Pizza Hut has some unsavoury cousins Dominos Pizza (U.S.) and Pizza Corner (India) that are not worth mentioning. My friend Blacky who now works in southern California however likes Dominos more and Besant Nagar bus mates from undergrad used to prefer Pizza Corner (probably because there's one strategically placed at Adyar signal, right between ABN-Amro bank and its ATM and Adyar Ananda Bhavan). If you're near Adyar, you cannot miss the signal and the Pizza Corner shop which has a huge (prop) aeroplace crashing through the front glass.

Glass Nickel Pizza is a favorite of many Madisonians and I have partaken of their pizza only because the company I work for orders from them for catered lunches periodically. I think pizza slices from all of these places probably taste the same.

The Roman Candle (Pizzeria) on Williamson St is my new favorite (as of 10/15/2006) and from the time I initially had dinner with KC there about two months back, I have gone there almost 5 more times either by myself or with friends. It has a new age feel and is very clean for a pizzeria. It is very informal yet you are served by a waitress and get to eat off of real cutlery. They use all organic stuff in preparing the dishes and this has the potential to drive up prices but I still feel it is not very pricey. One can order a variety of pizzas or even pizza by the slice. This combined with the music they play, the informal feel, the neighborhood and the abundance of magazines makes for a restaurant where dining by oneself is not an uncomfortable experience as it could be in other places. When ordering by the slice, adding toppings can become a bit pricey. Further, unlike Pizza Hut or any of the other Pizzerias (chain or otherwise), TRC chefs excel in the amount of topping they lay out on the pie. This makes for a surprisingly enjoyable slice. I enjoy their desserts and drinks and my friends liked their breadsticks and soups as well. So, all in all as close to 5 stars as I can give for a restaurant in Madison. The only downside is that it is a good 20 minute drive for me and I wish just for TRC I had lived closer to downtown Madison.

Here, I am going to mention, a restaurant named Old Chicago on Mineral Point Rd which happened to be the choice of Chimpoo, Akka, Prada and myself one late night after we were returning from a late night screening of the crappy movie "Mr and Mrs Smith" starring Brangelina. We ordered some veggie dishes which were served very late and with many bits of bacon and chicken. I am thankful that I didn't ingest any of the fleshy matter. Complaints were made and the dishes returned with promises and apologies from the waiter, only to be served a second round of the same dishes with many meat pieces in the newly cooked dish. Akka didn't care much for he is a carnivore, Prada's face was contorted with distaste, I was rationally enraged and Chimpoo was fanning the fury of the others gleefully. A definite anti-recommendation - Do not patronise Old Chicago.