ian eats cheese

Sir popped by Madison for the long weekend.  Not to visit me, but it's fine.

So I cornered him at Taste of Madison, where we began with the best cheese curds, complete with cameraman to document the momentous occasion.

Amazing golden blistered cheesecurds that were all cheese and no batter, just the way I like them.  It helped that they were huge, but I don't know if I'd say they were the best.

Sir was gracious enough to not treat us to dinner at Estrellon three nights later, where our waiter's speech was oddly slow and precise.

Smoked Sockeye salmon, Greek yogurt, caviar, truffle honey

1/3 of Blood sausage, aioli, parsley

Squash blossom, cheese curd, aioli

Boquerones with gribiche

Duck breast a la plancha, mole Tamayo, huitlacoche, charred onions, epazote

Watermelon gazpacho, Maryland blue crab, mouse melons, Marcona almonds

Valenciana paella: roasted rabbit, shrimp, mussels, clams, chorizo, cherry tomatoes, SarVecchio, bomba rice, aioli

I approved of everything we ordered - the blood sausage being my favorite.  The salmon was a wonderfully refreshing bite.  That crab and watermelon combo, an explosion in the mouth to paraphrase Ian's sentiments.  Mmm, fried things.  Who doesn't love slices of duck with crispy skin?  And so-tender-it-was-falling-apart rabbit.  I even managed to (oh so gracefully) scrape all the bits of rice off the bottom of the paella pan.  Gotta get that money's worth because my only complaint is the price tag.  But I guess the ambiance and "tapas" screams $40/person dinner.

Closed the night with mac and cheese pizza and garlic bread from Sir's namesake.  Actually that's a lie.  Closed the night with Greenbush donuts.  We just wanted to see how much of Madison he could eat in one night before going back to Austin.  It was impressively sickening.