Tour De La Sha!

I did another roundhouse of Downtown Waukesha in the past few days and boy oh boy do I have the delicious information to share with you. It started on Friday afternoon when I walked around Downtown Waukesha in search of lunch. I had started on Barstow and debated about Rochester Deli but seeing as I had that only the week before, I decided on Steaming Cup all the way on the other side of Downtown - thank goodness its not that big!

The place wasn't that busy for a Friday, but the weather was gorgeous so I think everyone was enjoying it in the parks. But I decided to go for it and take it back to work to enjoy. Typically I get the Tuna Jammer but for some reason I saw the Cranberry Bog sandwich and decided to sway from my norm. And I am really glad that I did. The sandwich was one of the best flavor expressive meals I have had in a really long time. It consists of Turkey, Cranberry cream cheese, peppers, and dijon mustard between two slices of Cranberry Ciabatta bread that is then grilled in a panini press. It was a little messy to eat but the flavors all complimented each other really well. I got potato salad on the side and a pickle slice and was stuffed and happy with my choice. I will definitely experiment with that at home, but don't worry Steaming Cup, I'm going to tell everyone I know to try the sandwich.

So after work on Friday, my friend Shauna met me at my apartment and we went to the House of Guinness for a 5th Friday Networking Event for the Young Professionals of Waukesha County. We received $2 off pints and so that makes Strongbow only $3 - you can't pass that up. Although the group was smaller this time, it was an excellent group and we shared a lot of information. We even dragged one gentleman along with us for the remaining of our excursion thru Waukesha. The next 5th Friday falls on Halloween weekend and I discussed with the event coordinator how cool it would be to do the bar crawl like last Halloween! We will see.

Finishing the event at 7 pm, we found ourselves extremely hungry and in need of a filling meal if we were going to enjoy any more drinking. I suggested Ray's on South and Tiffany, Shauna, Josh and I headed there. The place had a few tables filled when we arrived and Josh worked his magic with the waitress and got us a free round of beverages. This lead us to realize we definitely needed satisfying meals in our tum-tums. I went for the fried Perch and potato pancakes, pretty much my Ray's staple. The fish was excellent as were the mixed veggies on the side. The only odd part was that instead of receiving a few potato pancakes, I received 1 that was probably 8" across! It was still delicious. Shauna ordered a chicken sandwich that competes with Kopp's on size and taste and Tiffany opted for the Chicken Parmesan. She said the chicken was great, but could have used a bit more seasoning to compete with other menu options they have. Josh had eaten before he went out, but he stole tater tots from Shauna and seemed to be drooling as we ate.

Post dinner, we decided to take Shauna and Josh to Tiff's and my fave bar, Chill on Gaspar Street. Zack was again bartending and remembered Tiff and I from before. We had a blast at Chill. Josh made Zack experiment and just started stating what he wanted in his martini. It was a refreshing blue raspberry concoction in which Zack let me have the overpour from. Shauna tried the Cherry Squirt martini and commented on how strong it was. She then proceeded to share it with Tory when she arrived. Brandon ordered himself a Cosmopolitan upon joining us and before I could even ask if he liked it, it was gone - so I'm assuming it was great! Josh then challenged the bartender to make us a Piece of A$$ shot. Scared by the name, I questioned the ingredients to find out it was a version of a Snake Bite, which I enjoy. I'm unsure on the measurements, but the shot has Southern Comfort, Lime Juice and Amaretto. I really liked this one and due to another generous overpour of Zack's, I received two shots!

We then decided to venture onward to hit up another bar in downtown for a drink. Neighbor's Social Club's crowd seemed a bit older and the music was pretty loud so we continued on. I showed Josh a few of the other new places in downtown that had opened - Generations, Sloppy Joe's, The Black Trumpet and more. We finally decided on Taylor's People's Park because all the windows were open and the night was gorgeous. The music they were playing that night was a jazz/indie/pop/rock mix and really interesting. It had a great club beat to it, but didn't drown out our conversation. Josh ordered a Stoli Raspberry and lemonade while I continued my beer streak and went with a Blue Moon. We people watched while enjoying our drinks and Josh again worked his magic and got round 2 for free. This time I was able to try Josh's drink and I forgot how much I really love Raspberry and Lemonade in a drink together. I helped him finish it and we decided to just call it a night then. Friday on the town = success!

Finally, last night, neither Tiff nor I felt like turning on the stove and cooking dinner so I opened my entertainment book and found a coupon for Sprizzo's in downtown Waukesha. I had had breakfast there a few weeks back with my mom and enjoyed it, so we walked over and grabbed a table. It was not very busy so we should have had very prompt service (I'll get to that later). We started with the crab and artichoke quesadilla - a very interesting combination and we figured as long as we were getting a discount, why not? It was probably the best decision we made. Crab and artichoke compliment each other wonderfully with cheese and toasted warm. The salsa looked homemade as did the guacamole but I was hesitant on using them so the true flavors of the quesadilla would shine thru. Tiffany then ordered a Cheese Tortelini and sausage salad and I got the French Dip. Tiffany's salad was gigantic but a really interesting flavor combination in which nothing overpowered anything else. It had a light ceasar dressing on it and the sausage was the kind you put on a cheese platter, not like Italian sausage that has been cooked. My French Dip was alright. The menu said mushrooms but all I saw and tasted was roast beef and carmelized onions. The au jus didn't seemed to have too much to it either. The potato salad on the side had an orange color to the dressing and I figured paprika once I realized it wasn't very southwest/taco-like in taste, but it was good. All in all the meal was great, however for a Tuesday night and only having three tables in the place, I would have expected a little better service. Our waitress was chatting in the back with co-workers while Tiffany waited for a beverage and eventually just went to the bar to buy it and I had to make direct eye contact with her to get her over for the bill. Definitely something to be worked on.

So that's my last 5 days in review. I enjoyed every bit of what I had and thank my great friends for venturing out with me. We always seem to make a great time out of an unplanned night!