This year’s Uncorked & Unccapped event is sponsored by Neenah & Fox Cities Morning Rotary

Clubs. Uncorked and Uncapped is an annual wine and beer tasting event.  One of our major fundraisers for community projects, the evening features quality wines from around the globe, a special wine/food/beer Italian “theme” room, locally crafted beers, excellent food, and silent auction.

Brian Event

This week I was in Oshkosh and visited Bangkok Thai Cuisine.  I have eaten here many times before with friends and have always had a good lunch experience.

Atmosphere: You will not find much for atmosphere, but what you will find is quick and friendly service.  I have always been greeted right away, seated and given a menu.  Booths run the length of the wall and tables in front by the windows.  There is a tv in the corner that always has a Thai music channel (I think) on.

Food: Even though I have eaten here quite a few times I have to admit that I have not explored much of the menu.  That is only because I am not a fan of curry sauces.  Luckily the other sauces offered are excellent, my favorite being the brown sauce.  They also offer a basil, cucumber and a sweet and sour sauce.  Want to add the brown sauce to a meal that normally comes with the cucumber sauce?  No problem, they will gladly let you mix and match.  After choosing the entree of your choice you can pick chicken, tofu, vegetables, beef, pork or shrimp to go with it.  On top of that is the spice level, chose from no spice to extra hot.  I don’t find this to be consistent from visit to visit so I would recommend choosing a milder heat then adding pepper flakes to your liking.  My personal favorite meal is the #37 - pork - hot (seen below).

Each meal starts with a bowl of the house soup seen above followed by your entree or appetizer if you ordered one.  The “special egg roll” is always on my lunch order.  A delicious deep fried egg roll served in a special sauce and crushed peanut.  Best egg roll I have ever had!

Lunch, and egg roll and a soda is $10

Conclusion: I enjoy visiting Bangkok and I am sure you will to.  Good food, prices and service.

Bangkok information:
website - none
address - 80 Wisconsin Street, Oshkosh, WI 54901-3562
ph# - (920) 232-0120
menu (pdf1) (pdf2)
Google Map
.

Brian $0-$8, $9-$15, Thai

Looks like Zuppa’s has a great looking event planned for New Year’s Eve.  All the information you need is below.  Enjoy!

Brian Event

This week I am reviewing Pete’s Garage in Oshkosh.  Pete’s Garage is close to one of my work locations.  I have been lucky enough to visit a few times for lunch.   This is what I would consider a great neighborhood bar.

Atmosphere: This is a real man’s bar.  The floor is made of diamond plate and the bar looks to be stainless steel.  The walls are painted black and full of racing posters, beer lights, and large screen tv’s.  There is no lack of entertainment either, gambling machines, dart boards,  jukebox and one of my all time favorites, Golden Tee.  There is usually one person working behind the bar,  so don’t be in a big hurry if you stop for lunch.   They are always friendly and do a great job with how busy I have seen them on lunch hour.  Since I have only stopped in for lunch, I can’t speak to the nightlife after hours.

Food: The menu here is bar food.  The menu here is also entertaining!  Everything on the menu has a name that relates to cars parts.  You can start your lunch with some valve caps, shocks and struts (cheese curds and mozzarella sticks). Then move on to the transmission burger followed up by some blinker fluid.  Take a look at the menu link below, you get the idea.  I normally order a burger or my favorite the leather interior (prime rib sandwich).  This is a good size great tasting sandwich. For .25 cents more they will add mushrooms and onions.  For a $1 more you can get an order of fries to go with it.  Burgers here are also great, I would say better then average.  I have have had many of the appetizers and have been happy.  Though I think its tough to screw up deep fried mushrooms and poppers.

My bill today with sandwich, fries and a soda was eight dollars and change.

Conclusion: This is a stop that I enjoy for lunch. Yes its just bar food but,  the people are friendly, food is good and the prices are right.  Being able to watch sports center on your lunch hour is also a plus.

Petes Garage info:
website - petesgaragebar.com
address - 1514 Oregon St. Oshkosh, wi
ph# - (920) 235-9897
menu
map

Brian $0-$8, $9-$15, Sports Bar

Thanks to our friends over at Foxvalleyfun.com for the following announcement.

The Old Bavarian is a well known name in and around Appleton.  They have been around for many years, many of them located at 523 W. College Avenue.  A bit over a year ago the family decided to move their operations to their current location, 3025 W. College Avenue, in Grand Chute.  Their new space offers more bar and dining space, a larger kitchen and the ability to smoke in the bar (for now).  But this isn’t about the Old Bavarian…

The family still owns their original building downtown and after two failed businesses by a renter, Frank decided to realize another of his dreams - to open a true German Brau Haus.  This newest venture is known as OB’s Brau Haus (OB standing for Old Bavarian of course).  The Brau Haus will be focused on one thing - lots and lots of fun…

Food will be limited to brats (only $1 Sunday thru Tuesday) and the star of the show will be the beers.  They will offer the usual selection of delicious German beers (similar to Old Bavarian) and they will also be featuring their own beers.  When I was in there today, I saw a dance floor with a DJ booth, a beer-pong table, a giant tree stump, which will soon have nails pounded into its rings and a decent looking bar.

The atmosphere is going to be great.  Frank wants to offer his guests great beer and run a bar that is fun.  Nothing pretentious, nothing overly gimmicky.  Just a taste of the German beer hall in downtown Appleton.  Frank even tells me that the employees will be wearing the traditional German attire (guys: this will be enjoyable for you…)

Opening day is set for Thursday, December 3, 2009.  They open at 4:00 PM, 7 days a week.

Here is a taste of the specials and weekly events:
Sunday - Tuesday: $1 brats, $2 domestic bottles and $2.50 rail mixers
Wednesday: live music 10:00 PM - Close
Thursday & Friday: Live DJ spinning a variety of music 10:00 PM - Close
Saturday AKA Beer Fest: beer drinking games with DJ’s mixing your favorite songs 10:00 PM - Close

So stop into the new Brau Haus on Thursday, December 3 and see what it’s all about!

OB’s Brau Haus
523 W. College Ave.
Appleton, WI

Brian Event

Tom Dix from Wirtz Beverage will be at Red-n-White on Thursday December 3rd
from 6:00 - 8:00 PM. They will be sampling 4 fabulous ports and 2 robust zinfandels.  Everyone attending this tasting will receive 25% off all retail merchandise that night.

Call for reservations
920-882-2141
$15 Per Person

Brian Event

Today I was lucky enough to enjoy some QT with my dad (free lunch!).  We decided to try New York Deli.  It’s not too far from the Fox River Mall in Trasino Village shops on Casaloma Drive.  This was the first time either one of us dined with New York Deli. thought it would be a great break from the every day fast food chains.

Atmosphere: The interior is attractive.  You definitely don’t feel like you are in a fast food restaurant.   Windows along the front and side of the building allow plenty of natural light. There is bar style seating along the front windows, and tables throughout the rest of the dining area.  There is a comfortable area with a coffee table and four leather chairs to kick back a bit and relax.  The walls behind and on the counter are covered in metal siding. I am not real sure how to describe it, check out the pictures below to see for yourself. There is a few metal racks just outside the eating area where they sell brownie mixes, jams and a few other odds and ends.  One thing that jumped out at me was how clean and tidy the place was.  Makes for a great first impression.

Food: There is no waite staff, so you order at the counter.   Some non traditional beverages are available in the display case.  Sprecher and Italian sodas just to name a few.  The menu consists of paninis, sandwiches, soups, wraps and salads.  Plenty of choices, so you should not have difficulty finding something you like.  I ordered the ham and turkey panini and my dad ordered the blt.  Sandwiches do not come with sides. I passed on a side after the gentlemen behind the counter assured me that the sandwich was large.  For me that was a mistake.  If you like to eat like I do, get yourself a side.  Both sandwiches were delivered with a handful of grapes and a pickle.  My meal was great, toasted to a perfect golden brown and delicious.  The right amount of ingredients made this  a juicy, meaty well rounded panini.  I did not get to many details from dad other then ” this is a good sandwich”!

Two sandwiches, one soda and snapple =$17.50

Conclusion: I will be going back here again in the near future.  If a sandwich with turkey in it can taste this good I can’t wait to try some real meat!  I enjoyed the atmosphere and thought the price was spot on for this type of causual dining experience.  The only negative aspect was the slow service.  This could be a real issue for folks who need to get back to work in a timely manner.   I am not sure if this is normal or not but with only two people behind the counter many people get tired of waiting in line and walked out.

Give New York Deli a try and let us know what you think either in a comment here or in our forums.

New York Deli Info:
Address - 1853 N. Casaloma Dr. Appleton, WI 54913
Hours - 10am/7pm Mon-Fri   -   10am/3pm Sat-Sun
Menu (pdf)
Website - fresh-deli.com
google map

Brian $0-$8, Casual

This week we are visiting Plae Bistro in Green Bay. A casual atmosphere serving contemporary American cuisine.  Owner Jill Bassett refers to Plae as “a place  to laugh and eat”, definitely two of my favorite things in life.  Plae came highly recommended from a friend who lives in Green Bay, we gladly took the short road trip to see what they have to offer.

Atmosphere: Entering the front doors of Plae Bistro you are greeted by a beautiful, dimly lit, rich colored interior.  There is one main room filled with tables and a bar at the far end.  The room reminded me a bit of Wild Truffle, although Truffle did put more emphasis on interior design.  I tried to get some pictures but there was not enough light to shoot anything decent. The pictures below are terrible , but give you an idea of the interior.

Food: Plae’s menu offers a little something for everyone.  From gourmet pizzas, sandwiches to entrees, you are sure to find something that pleases you.    There is an extensive wine list and several specialty items such as martinis and mojitos.  Make sure to hit the menu link below to check it out.  Since we were with friends tonight we decided to sample two appetizers, you know… for the blogs sake.  We started with bruschetta and spinach & artichoke dip.  Appetizers were a tough choice tonight, lots of good selections here. The dip was definitely the better of the two.  The pita points that came with the dip were ok, but the bread bowl and the dip were excellent.  We all enjoyed them.   The bruschetta was average, nice presentation, but lacking in flavor.

Time to order entrees and once again everything sounded great.  My wife and her best friend chose the apple brie stuffed chicken breast with risotto and sweet potato as their sides. They both seemed to like the chicken, but said without the cherry sauce topping it would have been a little on the plain side.  The one thing that was missing was the true flavor of the brie in the dish.  The risotto was amazing though.  Prepared to perfection.  One of our friends ordered the pan seared salmon.  He talked very highly on how the salmon was prepared and was very happy with his selection.  I decided on cajun shrimp & andouille sausage pasta. The menu describes it as sautéed in a spicy oil & herb sauce tossed with penne pasta & topped with tomatoes and fresh basil. My dinner was excellent. It was rich, flavorful and everything was done just right. My only complaint was that I wanted more! lol.  Bread with olive oil and some chopped black olives were also served with dinner.

We tried three different deserts, as you can see below each one looked beautiful and tasted great.  From left to right they are pumpkin cheesecake, chocolate lava cake and orange creamsicle cake.  If I had to choose a favorite I would choose the cheesecake.

Our bill tonight with an appetizer, 3 drinks 2 entrees and 2 deserts was $62.00 + tip.

Conclusion: Overall we had a great time, and good food.  The atmosphere was nice and our service was excellent.  What a refreshing change of pace to have excellent service!  If your looking for a good place for “date night”  this is one to visit.

Plae Bistros information:
address - 2615 Decuria Lane, Suite 10 | Green Bay WI
phone - 920.632.7065
email - jill@plaebistro.com
google map
menu (pdf) - lunch and dinner - drink -wine

Brian $16-$22, $9-$15, Casual