The Bull Pen (Tom and Carol) in Hillsboro

So, it was one of those weekends, I really didn't feel like doing a whole lot of anything. I had a couple text messages, couple phone calls and just decided to stay home. I answered a phone call from Todd and he said that he and Kate were thinking about going up to see a band at an old friends bar. I reluctantly agreed to go, mainly because I hadn't seen Tom and Carol in a couple years, and it really did sound good to get out of the house. So I ran through the shower and got ready to head out. I was just about out the door and I looked at my cell. Todd said that we were going to spend the night (good thing too, cuz this place was 2 hours away!) We piled in my truck and headed out of town. The place we were going was a little place outside of Hillsboro, which in itself is a little place. Nice little ride. We got there and WOW, this place was awesome! I wish I had my camera with me, I wanted some more pictures.
First off, the "cabin". Carol put us up in what they called a cabin. THIS PLACE WAS HUGE! It was more of the lower level of a house, running water and heat (obviously in this weather, not needed) Just really an awesome place for us to "crash" for the night.
Next, we walked down the driveway to the bar (barn?). Walked in and was really surprised. It really was a barn that they had cleaned up and finished the lower level. They built a beautiful bar inside that curved around so that you could sit and visit with 2 other people easily. I have been in just a few places that made conversation like this easy, but this was by far one of the best. We found a place to sit (the place was packed!) and got a drink or two. The band was OK, when Carol and Tom finish the stage are I think they will be better. The exposed rafter ceiling was not very good for the sound. They had a nice mix of music though. Kate, Todd and I stayed til bar time and made the long trek back to the cabin (maybe 100 yards). We stayed up visiting and finished our 'togo' drinks and then went to sleep.

When we were sitting at the bar, Carol was telling us about breakfast they serve. The one I had was a skillet with hash browns, over easy eggs, toast and sausage biscuit gravy. One of the better breakfasts I have had in a long time. Had a bloody mary with that, and then had a couple beers after that while deciding what to do for the rest of the day. Carol and Tom invited us to stay the night again, and we were invited to another friends house (just happened to be only half hour away). Ultimately it was decided that we would come home tonight, but stop at the other house on the way for dinner.
So we had a couple beers, watching the Indy500 and the Brewers. Started noticing a trend with the patrons. The bar would fill up, they would stay for a beer or three, leave, then another group would fill the bar up. I don't think there was an empty stool in the place for more than 10 minutes for most of the early afternoon. Seems it was a good spot for the people on their bike trips to stop and have a drink and a burger.
After seeing burger after burger come out of the kitchen, we decided maybe a bit of lunch would be good. I took a look at the menu, was pretty basic. I found out they don't have a deep fryer, which seemed odd but I understood why.
I ordered the Bully Burger which is (according to the menu) "Just a plain good old fashioned hamburger" and Kate had the Mushroom Swiss Bull-Burger "all Angus beef topped with mushroom and cheese". Let me tell you a bit about Tom and Carol. They bought this place near Hillsboro to raise beef cattle, so they know good beef when they see it. On the menu is this notice: WE TAKE PRIDE IN SERVING FRESH PRODUCTS THAT COME FROM WISCONSIN BASED FARMS OR COMPANIES. OUR BURGERS AND PRIME RIB MEATS ARE USDA INSPECTED BLACK ANGUS. WE ONLY SERVE WISCONSIN CHEESE AND DAIRY. Kinda nice knowing where your food comes from.
So, we got our burgers in a short time, which was pretty good noticing the amount of cooking they were doing. I looked at the burger, it was hand formed, fresh, lean meat. (it was almost breaking apart it was so lean). Nice soft warm bun (if you go, make sure to mention that to Carol, she likes to hear it). I took a bite. I took another. OH MY GOD, I think this was quite possibly the best burger I have had. It came with a side of potato chips, nice crispy cruncher type.

I would recommend to anybody looking for a nice drive or a good burger to stop at Carol and Toms Bull Pen! ~ if you go, tell 'em I said Hi!!

Happy New Year!!

Capn's Steak House

The coming of the new year made me reflect a bit on some of the past things I enjoyed doing that I haven't done for a while. I realized I hadn't blogged about a burger since going to the race way back in August! My apologies! (The race and whole trip was awesome, by the way!)
So after a Friday of not doing anything at all ~ didn't even watch football, I decided it was time to get back on the road on Saturday. I made the phone call up to Jodi to see if she wanted to go, and almost before I had the words out of my mouth she was ready! I took my time getting up to her house, stopped in and saw my friend Chris at his barber shop, I hadn't seen him for a few weeks and just wanted to say "HEY!". Made the trip from Sun Prairie to get Jodi and she brought her daughter Katheryn along so I had her pick the direction to go. SOUTH, she said! So we went South, heading back towards Sun Prairie, then followed "N" down to almost Stoughton. Ended up on Hwy 51 and drove through Stoughton. Once past, got off the highway and just took random turns down smaller roads. Had to wait for turkeys (Yes Jodi, they were turkeys) a couple times, HUGE turkeys!! We made a couple turns, trying to stay on the smaller roads, and passed through a small town called Fulton. We had never heard of it, but it didn't look like much was happening there, so just kept going. Got stuck taking a highway out of there and towards Janesville. I really didn't want to go anyplace there so hightailed it out of town East towards Fort Atkinson on 26. By this time we were starting to get a bit hungry, not terrible ~ but the thought was planted now. I saw a road sign marking Old 26 and it had a Historical Marker so I took that. I wish it would have been maybe a bit warmer, 6°F is kinda chilly for exploring outside. What the marker indicated was some burial mounds ~ kinda interesting, but way too cold to figure them out. Maybe in a couple months I'll go back. From there we continued on 26 to Fort Atkinson. There is a shop called Nasco that Jodi likes for one of her hobbies so we stopped there. From there, we just kinda cruised around, not any particular direction, but ended up on Hwy 12, going back towards Madison.

That's when we saw it! It was an old Stockade Restaurant. It had the new wood look like all of them that I have seen do. The name on the front, however, was NOT Stockade, but Capn's!
Give you a bit of backstory for Capn's. Use to be on Hwy26 South of 94. Stopped there many times on the way home from Brewer games, Jodi having lived in Jefferson for a few years knew it quite well too. Was a quaint place, had interesting interior, but DAMN GOOD FOOD. So we HAD to try it. Pulled in there and got a table immediatley. Nice, clean wood finish interior as well as exterior. Tables had cloth napkins, cloth table cloth and glass over top of it. Was nice looking all around. They had the college football games on for those that cared. I opened up the menu and instanly saw their house special burger "Capn's Burger" ~ 1/2lb of goodness plus fixings.
I of course ordered up just the plain 1/2lb hamburger and home made chips. I looked around after we ordered and a guy at one of the nearby tables got the "General's Burger" which is the same as the Capn's Burger, but double the meat. IT WAS HUGE! There would have been no way I would have been able to eat this thing (images of the old 96er came to mind). I never saw if the guy finished it or doggy bagged it, our food came in the meantime and I don't like staring at people behind me at restaurants.

The wait wasn't too long, seemed about average for a restaurant type of establishment that was fairly busy. The place is quite new I guess too so that may account for it too. The meat, well, in my opinion it was a preformed patty, but that doesn't make it bad. They charbroiled it, and could taste some seasoning on it. Nothing overpowering, but maybe did leave you wanting just a bit more. It is a lot easier to add more to it than it is to take it off, so kudos to them for not killing it with spice. The roll it came on was a bit on the large side for the crown (sigh, McDonalds talk coming through ~ crown=top, heal=bottom) but again had good taste AND it was toasted. Overall, I would say this was a pretty good burger. The home made chips were quite tasty as well.

I am under the impression that they are opening another location in Jefferson for anybody looking for one. I would recommend it to everybody looking for some good food at decent prices. When you go, say hi to Randy for Jodi.
http://www.capnssteakhouse.com