I have had
The Fireside Dinner Theatre on my "bucket list" for awhile now. The last time we went there for fish fry my mom was still alive - at least 14 years ago; maybe 15. The logistics of fitting a trip over there finally fell in place. I was always putting it on the back burner because it is a departure from my tavern crusade - I actually had to put on a clean shirt. I must say though the price is not actually too bad for the outstanding Friday fish fry presentation you get.
And some chums of mine accused me of perhaps needing to turn in my man-card for going to a dinner theater. Hey, the Dadio has been to a play or two. I have been known, while up at the stage theater in Madison, to duck across the street to the tavern for a cold one whilst the ladies hit the wine bar in the lobby of the theater during the play intermission. So, man-card status stays up-to-date old friends.
They are so thorough with their fish fry presentation, they have a page on their Web site dedicated to it:
www.firesidetheatre.com/Friday_Fish_Fry.aspx .
There are some combinations you can get for between 13 and 14 and a half Bucks. Remember fish geeks, this is a fish fry on steroids so don't panic at the price.
The girls ordered drinks, so that bumped the bill up a bit more. I stuck with coffee this night. Heide also ordered a cup of French Onion Soup - Munster Cheese Rye Crouton. She got the Steamed Norwegian Cod with Peppercorn Beurre Blanc Sauce for one of her combo entrees and the Deep Fried Beer Battered Norwegian Cod as her other. I followed suit and got the same. Mother-in-law Chris got the Steamed Norwegian Cod, but she got the Buttermilk Marinated Southern Fried Baked Chicken as her second entree.
I tasted the French Onion soup and it was very good. Normally I do not venture much beyond deep-fried fish, but I will say the steamed Cod was delicious. The Beurre Blanc sauce would make anything taste good. I will have to defer to Chris that the fried chicken was very good. She said it was lightly breaded and the portion was generous.
We ordered potato pancakes all around. If you have never had real potato pancakes like these you have wasted your life on this planet. They had that slight crispiness on the fringes and the tender pancake on the inside - just like from the skillet. Their version of apple sauce for the cakes was a cinnamon recipe.
Stir-Fried Vegetables came with all our meals. Usually, that veggy mix is just for aesthetics. But I ate every last piece - and, there was an ample heap of the stuff. They also boast a special recipe cole slaw. It will come in a fancy bowl in a generous amount for the table to share. It was indeed good. I believe I demolished most of it.
A basket of cheesy bread came with the meals. You can buy it at the bakery counter there. Coffee, tea, or milk came with and was included in the meal price.
From the beginning of our experience at
The Fireside, I thought about the old adage, "attention to detail." Even the lemon was cut to perfection. The waitress doted over us all night. A hostess came by our table to see if we were happy. And, the owner of the place and his assistant came by to ask the same.
I took note to make sure the Dadio had not been "made" in the joint doing a critique. The people stopping to check on us were hitting up all the tables so I think my cover was not busted.
The Fireside Dinner Theatre is cool with Cool Dadio. Find them at 1131 Janesville Avenue, Business Highway 26 South, in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. Call 1 800 - 477 - 9505 more more information.
Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
Sergeant Travis A. Van Zoest, 21, of Larimore (CNN.com lists him as from Bismark), North Dakota, died Tuesday, June 6, 2006 when his Humvee struck two anti-tank mines during combat operations in Khogyani, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 188th Air Defense Artillery, North Dakota Army National Guard, out of Grand Forks, North Dakota. His father Bernardus resides in Dane, Wisconsin. Sergeant Van Zoest was one of two soldiers killed in the incident. Travis is another soldier that is honored by two states. The Bismark Tribune said Travis was born on January 31, 1985, in Madison, Wisconsin. He moved to Bismarck, North Dakota in 1997. He attended Hughes Elementary and graduated from Century High School in Bismark in 2003. Travis joined the North Dakota National Guard in February 2002 and attended basic training in Fort Knox, Kentucky in the summer 2002, and Advanced Individual Training (AIT) in the summer of 2003 at Fort Bliss, Texas. He attended Bismarck State College and Minot State University in business management and info systems, and chemical engineering until his unit was deployed in 2005. The Tribune went on to say Travis worked at Menards through his high school years, after graduating he worked at Coventry Health Care. Travis received an internship from MDU resources in 2005, and worked in the computer services group until his deployment in 2005. The Tribune went on to note Travis enjoyed hunting pheasants with his family. He also loved Sunday sports. Travis was planning to be married in September 2008 to girl friend Keisia. On the war casualty data base pigstye.net, it was noted that Sergeant Van Zoest had been in Afghanistan since March of 2006 and the two soldiers killed in the incident were the first North Dakota guardsmen to be killed in Afghanistan. Van Zoest's unit consisted of 152 soldiers in the Security Forces Unit. The 188th was mobilized in December of 2005. Among several other military honors, he was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. The television station nbc15.com out of Madison, Wisconsin stated Travis was a native of the Sun Prairie, Wisconsin area and split time between southern Wisconsin and his mom's house in North Dakota. According to Wisconsin Assembly Joint Resolution 107, posted on July 12, 2006, Travis attended Westside and Royal Oaks elementary schools in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. They noted the many other medals he received as being the Good Conduct Medal, the Reserve Components Achievement Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Armed Forces Reserve Medal, the North Dakota Legion of Merit, the Army Combat Action Badge, and the Expert Marksman Badge. At the time of his death Travis was survived by his mother, Sheila Richter and stepfather, Terry of Bismark, North Dakota; his father, Ben Van Zoest and stepmother, Deborah of Dane, Wisconsin; his brothers, Derrick, 17, Tyler, 9, and Josh, 20 of Bismark, North Dakota; his fiancee, Keisa Austin of Bismark, North Dakota; grandparents, Cliff and Sue Haney, of Evansville, Wisconsin, Ben and Maria Van Zoest, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, and step grandparents, Clint and Yvonne Richter, Bismarck, North Dakota. Sergeant Travis Van Zoest was the sixth Wisconsin Military service person killed in Afghanistan since October of 2001.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
97,077 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
9,557 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,412 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1184 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
752 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
31,883 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
6,876 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
102 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
19 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
142 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
21 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; and, icasualties.org.
