Last weekend, Lauren and I went on a much-needed vacation to Door County, WI. That's the "thumb" part of the state, for those of you not in the know, and it is a popular summer and fall tourist destination for Wisconsin city folk. I have many fond memories of going to The Door with my family almost every October when I was a kid, and I was very excited to go back for the first time in several years to show Lauren what "going up north" is all about in Wisconsin.
I'll try to mostly talk about the food & drink parts of the trip for purposes of this blog, but I can't help but mention the beautiful cottage we rented for three nights. It was no more than 500 SF and right on Green Bay, just north of Sturgeon Bay. It was the perfect size for just the two of us, and the views out to the bay were very peaceful and relaxing. When we weren't out eating and drinking, we spent a lot of time playing games and watching movies in the living room, or just watching the waves crash the rocky shore. It was very secluded and we enjoyed the daily drive amongst the fall foliage into town every day.
After sleeping in really late, on our first day we grabbed a quick lunch at the 3rd Street Cafe before heading to our main activity of the weekend, the Door Peninsula Winery tour. 3rd Street is the main drag through downtown Sturgeon Bay. All the locals and newspapers were discussing how well all the shops and restaurants were doing since 3rd Street changed from one-way to two-way, but we certainly did not notice it - all three of the places we ate were nearly empty. The cafe is next to a former fire station converted into a bar, so it's hard to miss. The decor inside was very simple, and it was a small space. It was mainly a soup-and-sandwich type place with a wine bar. Lauren had a veggie wrap, and I had a Silician pork sandwich, and we both started off with a cup of the beef barley soup. Beef Barley is not one of my favorite soups, but this one was better than a lot I've had, featuring huge chunks of tender meat inside. The sandwich I had was just out of sight. It was just a pork cutlet, pounded seasoned and breaded, but the simplicity was what made it good. It wasn't overly breaded, and the seasoning was just right. It also came with a hefty portion of a very good marinara sauce on the side for dipping, which made chewing and swallowing the huge sandwich easier. After lunch, we walked down to a place I remembered from my youth - the Door County Confectionary. These are all over the county and have great homemade candies. I had a bear claw and a white chocolate-covered oreo, and Lauren had a choc-covered pretzel. Being at that candy store in the crisp fall weather, it was like I was 12 years old all over again, with one major difference - our next stop was the winery tour!
The Door Peninsula Winery is just north of town in Carlsville, along WI-42. I was there once about 7 years ago, and much has changed since then. Housed in an old one-room schoolhouse, the only place where they used to have room to make wine was in the basement, but about 6 years ago an addition was put on. This expansion allows for a larger fermenting area, and a new wine bar, restaurant, and expanded cellar in the back. The winery has also greatly expanded its vineyard and is growing and importing more grapes and other fruits than ever before. We got there just before the 3:00 tour and paid a mere $3 each for a 20-minute tour and all-you-can-drink free samples. This was my first winery tour, and I learned that the wine-making process is far less complicated than the beer-making process, but takes much longer. First, juices are extracted from fruits into large fermenting vats, where tons of sugar and yeast are then added. As with beer, the yeast reacts with the sugar, converting it to alcohol. The fermenting takes a few weeks, and the wine is then filtered and allowed to age, which can take several months or more. There is so much sugar converted in fermentation that the alcohol content is about 15%, which is twice as strong as most wine; the aging process allows the subtle flavors of the wine to come out and for some of the alcohol to burn off. (This all explains why the wine my uncle made in his basement tasted like kerosene - it probably had not aged enough, or not enough sugar was added). After the tour, we went up to the tasting room and had probably 6-8 samples each from the plethora of wines available. Door Peninsula Winery mostly makes its wine with fruits indigenous to the area, since grapes do not grow too well in the northern W
isconsin climate. Therefore, we sampled wines made from just about every fruit imaginable, including mangoes, blackberries, cranberries, plums, and cherries. Lauren's favorite was a seasonal fall wine that was served warm and tasted just like apple cider (Hallowine). I couldn't get used to drinking hot wine, but we bought a bottle and I had it room temperature at home and it was good. I liked the Sweet Plum the best. Neither of us liked the wine made from the famous Door County cherries - it tasted like cough syrup. After sampling just about every fruit combination they had, we bought a half-case for ourselves and gifts, and immediately took down two of the bottles when we got home.
The next day, we had dinner at Trattoria Dal Santo, back on 3rd St. We had originally planned on going to Sage across the street, but the menu looked really pricy so we went to the Trattoria instead. It's your typical Italian joint with a large selection of Italian favorites and an extensive wine list. The space has very high ceilings in the main dining area, with mezzanines on either side, and a beautifully simple exposed brick parting wall and timber framing on the west wall. It was not surprisingly quiet on a Sunday night, and we enjoyed a relaxing meal with good conversation and a bottle of house red. I had the steamed mussels special, and Lauren had the gnocchi. Note: We went to a friend's wedding last month that had gnocchi on the menu, and it was one of the best things we've ever eaten, so now one of us has to order gnocchi at every restaurant that has it to try to recreate that experience. We also started out with a bruschetta appetizer and some bread. Every Italian restaurant needs really good bread and good bruschetta, but I found these just to be average. The bread seemed like store-bought rolls, and the toppings on the bruschetta were odd and overpowered with vinager, such as lima beans and chopped shitaki mushrooms. The meals, however, were very good. Lauren's gnocchi was tasty, and the mussels I had were the best I've had since I last ate at the Milwaukee Public Market. For a white-tablecloth trattoria, the price was pretty reasonable as well.
Our last meal out for the weekend was just a breakfast we grabbed on a whim before leaving Sturgeon Bay, but it ended up being my favorite food and restaurant of the trip. The place was called Cafe Launch, and it's also on 3rd Street. I hope people in Sturgeon Bay know about this place despite it being a few blocks from downtown, because it was awesome. The owners of this cafe had a clear eye for detail, and the interior design was very well done. The furniture was brushed metal chairs and square diner tables, and the color scheme and logos were reflective of the nearby shipyards. There was a small bar area done with what looked like reclaimed wood, and the walls were filled of black-and-white photos of old Sturgeon Bay, printed on frameless canvas. It was really nice to be in a cafe not done in a "bed and breakfast" motif with the obligatory Door County lighthouse map, as a lot of places are done up there. We ended up making it just in time for breakfast, and Lauren and I both enjoyed some of the best french toast ever. The key was the thick Texas Toast. Lauren's was stuffed with cream cheese and topped with cherries jubilee, and I just had regular french toast with a side of bacon. We found the menu to be strangely pricy, but otherwise it was a great last meal in Door County.
winery rankings and stats:
wine selection - 10 (at least 20 wines of many varieties)
samples - 9 (free, but only sip-sized)
gift shop - 8 (same variety of wines for sale, bonus points for wine-infused soap)
tour guide - 5 (very fast and matter-of-fact)
tour quality - 4
design - 7 (new addition, old part in former schoolhouse))
taste - 7 (most wines were good)
price - $ ($3 for tour and all-you-can-drink samples)
Would we recommend? just the free sample part - tour not necessary
Best wine - Sweet Plum, seasonal wines
Type - local fruit winery
Location - Hwy 42, Carlsville WI
http://www.dcwine.com/
I'll try to mostly talk about the food & drink parts of the trip for purposes of this blog, but I can't help but mention the beautiful cottage we rented for three nights. It was no more than 500 SF and right on Green Bay, just north of Sturgeon Bay. It was the perfect size for just the two of us, and the views out to the bay were very peaceful and relaxing. When we weren't out eating and drinking, we spent a lot of time playing games and watching movies in the living room, or just watching the waves crash the rocky shore. It was very secluded and we enjoyed the daily drive amongst the fall foliage into town every day.
After sleeping in really late, on our first day we grabbed a quick lunch at the 3rd Street Cafe before heading to our main activity of the weekend, the Door Peninsula Winery tour. 3rd Street is the main drag through downtown Sturgeon Bay. All the locals and newspapers were discussing how well all the shops and restaurants were doing since 3rd Street changed from one-way to two-way, but we certainly did not notice it - all three of the places we ate were nearly empty. The cafe is next to a former fire station converted into a bar, so it's hard to miss. The decor inside was very simple, and it was a small space. It was mainly a soup-and-sandwich type place with a wine bar. Lauren had a veggie wrap, and I had a Silician pork sandwich, and we both started off with a cup of the beef barley soup. Beef Barley is not one of my favorite soups, but this one was better than a lot I've had, featuring huge chunks of tender meat inside. The sandwich I had was just out of sight. It was just a pork cutlet, pounded seasoned and breaded, but the simplicity was what made it good. It wasn't overly breaded, and the seasoning was just right. It also came with a hefty portion of a very good marinara sauce on the side for dipping, which made chewing and swallowing the huge sandwich easier. After lunch, we walked down to a place I remembered from my youth - the Door County Confectionary. These are all over the county and have great homemade candies. I had a bear claw and a white chocolate-covered oreo, and Lauren had a choc-covered pretzel. Being at that candy store in the crisp fall weather, it was like I was 12 years old all over again, with one major difference - our next stop was the winery tour!
The Door Peninsula Winery is just north of town in Carlsville, along WI-42. I was there once about 7 years ago, and much has changed since then. Housed in an old one-room schoolhouse, the only place where they used to have room to make wine was in the basement, but about 6 years ago an addition was put on. This expansion allows for a larger fermenting area, and a new wine bar, restaurant, and expanded cellar in the back. The winery has also greatly expanded its vineyard and is growing and importing more grapes and other fruits than ever before. We got there just before the 3:00 tour and paid a mere $3 each for a 20-minute tour and all-you-can-drink free samples. This was my first winery tour, and I learned that the wine-making process is far less complicated than the beer-making process, but takes much longer. First, juices are extracted from fruits into large fermenting vats, where tons of sugar and yeast are then added. As with beer, the yeast reacts with the sugar, converting it to alcohol. The fermenting takes a few weeks, and the wine is then filtered and allowed to age, which can take several months or more. There is so much sugar converted in fermentation that the alcohol content is about 15%, which is twice as strong as most wine; the aging process allows the subtle flavors of the wine to come out and for some of the alcohol to burn off. (This all explains why the wine my uncle made in his basement tasted like kerosene - it probably had not aged enough, or not enough sugar was added). After the tour, we went up to the tasting room and had probably 6-8 samples each from the plethora of wines available. Door Peninsula Winery mostly makes its wine with fruits indigenous to the area, since grapes do not grow too well in the northern W
isconsin climate. Therefore, we sampled wines made from just about every fruit imaginable, including mangoes, blackberries, cranberries, plums, and cherries. Lauren's favorite was a seasonal fall wine that was served warm and tasted just like apple cider (Hallowine). I couldn't get used to drinking hot wine, but we bought a bottle and I had it room temperature at home and it was good. I liked the Sweet Plum the best. Neither of us liked the wine made from the famous Door County cherries - it tasted like cough syrup. After sampling just about every fruit combination they had, we bought a half-case for ourselves and gifts, and immediately took down two of the bottles when we got home.The next day, we had dinner at Trattoria Dal Santo, back on 3rd St. We had originally planned on going to Sage across the street, but the menu looked really pricy so we went to the Trattoria instead. It's your typical Italian joint with a large selection of Italian favorites and an extensive wine list. The space has very high ceilings in the main dining area, with mezzanines on either side, and a beautifully simple exposed brick parting wall and timber framing on the west wall. It was not surprisingly quiet on a Sunday night, and we enjoyed a relaxing meal with good conversation and a bottle of house red. I had the steamed mussels special, and Lauren had the gnocchi. Note: We went to a friend's wedding last month that had gnocchi on the menu, and it was one of the best things we've ever eaten, so now one of us has to order gnocchi at every restaurant that has it to try to recreate that experience. We also started out with a bruschetta appetizer and some bread. Every Italian restaurant needs really good bread and good bruschetta, but I found these just to be average. The bread seemed like store-bought rolls, and the toppings on the bruschetta were odd and overpowered with vinager, such as lima beans and chopped shitaki mushrooms. The meals, however, were very good. Lauren's gnocchi was tasty, and the mussels I had were the best I've had since I last ate at the Milwaukee Public Market. For a white-tablecloth trattoria, the price was pretty reasonable as well.
Our last meal out for the weekend was just a breakfast we grabbed on a whim before leaving Sturgeon Bay, but it ended up being my favorite food and restaurant of the trip. The place was called Cafe Launch, and it's also on 3rd Street. I hope people in Sturgeon Bay know about this place despite it being a few blocks from downtown, because it was awesome. The owners of this cafe had a clear eye for detail, and the interior design was very well done. The furniture was brushed metal chairs and square diner tables, and the color scheme and logos were reflective of the nearby shipyards. There was a small bar area done with what looked like reclaimed wood, and the walls were filled of black-and-white photos of old Sturgeon Bay, printed on frameless canvas. It was really nice to be in a cafe not done in a "bed and breakfast" motif with the obligatory Door County lighthouse map, as a lot of places are done up there. We ended up making it just in time for breakfast, and Lauren and I both enjoyed some of the best french toast ever. The key was the thick Texas Toast. Lauren's was stuffed with cream cheese and topped with cherries jubilee, and I just had regular french toast with a side of bacon. We found the menu to be strangely pricy, but otherwise it was a great last meal in Door County.winery rankings and stats:
wine selection - 10 (at least 20 wines of many varieties)
samples - 9 (free, but only sip-sized)
gift shop - 8 (same variety of wines for sale, bonus points for wine-infused soap)
tour guide - 5 (very fast and matter-of-fact)
tour quality - 4
design - 7 (new addition, old part in former schoolhouse))
taste - 7 (most wines were good)
price - $ ($3 for tour and all-you-can-drink samples)
Would we recommend? just the free sample part - tour not necessary
Best wine - Sweet Plum, seasonal wines
Type - local fruit winery
Location - Hwy 42, Carlsville WI
http://www.dcwine.com/
restaurant rankings and stats
(Third St Cafe/Trattoria Dal Santo/Cafe Launch):
ambiance - 3/7/6
beer & wine selection - 6/8/3
food variety - 5/7/4
service - 2/7/5
accessibility - 6/6/9 (finding parking on 3rd can be difficult)
design - 5/6/9
taste - 7/7/8
price - $/$$$/$$
Would we recommend? No/Yes/Yes
Style - cafe & wine bar/italian/diner
Dress - casual/semi-formal/casual
Location - 3rd St, downtown Sturgeon Bay WI
ambiance - 3/7/6
beer & wine selection - 6/8/3
food variety - 5/7/4
service - 2/7/5
accessibility - 6/6/9 (finding parking on 3rd can be difficult)
design - 5/6/9
taste - 7/7/8
price - $/$$$/$$
Would we recommend? No/Yes/Yes
Style - cafe & wine bar/italian/diner
Dress - casual/semi-formal/casual
Location - 3rd St, downtown Sturgeon Bay WI
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