It’s now five o’clock, and I have to say the one shortfall of the People’s Republic of Madison is that there are very few skilled mojito makers. I haven’t found any, actually.
I guess you can’t have everything.
Also, I miss my pets.
by John Cole| 76 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
It’s now five o’clock, and I have to say the one shortfall of the People’s Republic of Madison is that there are very few skilled mojito makers. I haven’t found any, actually.
I guess you can’t have everything.
Also, I miss my pets.
Comments are closed.
Jay B.
Is there a big mixology fad in W Va. that’s spoiled you?
Corner Stone
Sounds like you’ve found your calling. The Mad-town Mojito Man!
Corner Stone
What do you mean? Stuck’s been all over the comments.
Tom Hilton
But how are the Martinis?
Arclite
Also, too, you went there in the summer…
martha
El Dorado Grill on Williamson St. (aka Willie St) just down from the Essen Haus. I don’t know if their mojitos are the “best,” but they’re darn good. It’s a Tex-mex sort of place–the guy that runs it is from Texas. Lots of tequila, good food, in an old renovated candy factory.
Just got home from a “meeting” at Weary Traveler, farther down Willie St…great casual food/bar too. Don’t know if they make mojitos though.
mutt
Cole: The Cardinal Bar! Ricardo, the most genial publican who runs the joint, is a Cuban. He cn make mojitos, he cant help it.
Fine chap. Decent politics…..but its been 15 years since I lived there.
Its just down the hill from the Capitol, on the Isthmus side. Everybody knows it.
It should be rockin, too, as it has a large- but hardly exclusive- gay clientele, and Prop 8 getin kicked in the nuts should be a cheery thing in radical Madison…..
I usta do political talk at WORT, the local radio station…
Col. Nick Velvet
trollhattan
The only time I’m interested in a mojito is when watching “Burn Notice.” Otherwise the summertime cocktail is Boodles & tonic. It’s why I planted the lime tree.
trollhattan
@ John Cole
BTW, have Rosie and Tunch eaten the housesitter yet? I can see Lily saying, “You’re not supposed to do that. It’s a human.
Apsalar
Man, I feel your pain. A couple of years ago, we were in Plano, TX and tried a few bars/restaurants looking for mojitos. Always the same “oh, we don’t make those, you might try ….” After a few jumps around I got tired of it and just had something else. After we got home a friend who lives there said he knows for sure of a place that has mojitos, so it’s good to know they are available. It’s weird, out here in the Bay Area, they’re all over.
Worst mojito I ever had was on a cruise ship, 5th day of a 7 day cruise, and both the mint and the limes had seen better days and made the drink bitter.
ellaesther
THIS IS NOT ABOUT BEER.
And not least because Muslims mostly don’t drink beer.
No, this is me pimping a post that I just put up that serves as a small compendium of Muslim responses to extremism and violence, sort of a post-Cordorba House (“Ground Zero Mosque”)/night before Ramadan gift to the Muslims of the world, from me, a little Jew.
Muslim responses to extremism.
(I anticipate catching a certain amount of hell in the comments, so do feel free to chime in with supportive responses, should you be so moved!)
Violet
John, has your house sitter sent you any pet photos? Are you Skyping with them?
Max
Speaking of _____ and tonic. I’ve heard that Washington’s own Dry Fly gin is pretty good. Anyone here ever try it?
I’m partial to Bombay Sapphire, for comparison sake.
P.S. – 31 days until the opening game of the 2010 NFL season. Go Bills!
Comrade Javamanphil
I have never had a good mojito out. They always over-muddle the mint and the drink tastes like grass. I also have never had a good Side Car out. Some things you have to make yourself.
Corner Stone
@Apsalar:
Why the hell would you try this?
Bnut
Nothing says Upper Midwest like a nice smooth mojito……
Corner Stone
@Violet:
If he admitted to this it would all be pretty much over.
Corner Stone
@Max:
I’m making Homer ~ donut noises right now.
Jay B.
@Max:
Think of it this way, you’ll get to enjoy the season for the next 31 days.
El Tiburon
WE are people, damnit. Like Soylent Green.
Violet
@Corner Stone:
You know he’s doing it.
Max
@Jay B.: Comment of the day FTW!
Jager
Can you find out if The People’s Republic of Madison is a sister city to The People’s Republic of Cambridge?
Bob the Mediocre
You must have confused us with someone else. Here, we drink Brandy Old Fashioneds.
ksmiami
You get micro-brews and we are stuck refuting Mr. Kain’s warmed over conservatism. Thanks a lot.
Omnes Omnibus
Try Maduro on East Main, just a block or so away from the Capitol. They can generally make anything.
Corner Stone
I gotta tell you, I’m loving the Geico ads.
“A conservative estimate is that at auction it would be worth two in the bush.”
“REAALLY?”
ruemara
gah. I give up, the only reason to even like liberals is that the current batch of conservatives are the craziest dumbshits to ever spring out of crazygod’s febrile cranium. I’ve spent the day lobbying. My soul is tired.
Corner Stone
@ksmiami:
I think Cole has learned a thing or two from Sullivan. He takes a vacation and sticks in some ridiculous clown as a posting stand-in. Now when he gets back he will be greeted with a hero’s welcome.
Jay B.
@Jager:
It’s part of the Pink Archipelago with other People’s Republics in Cambridge, Berkeley, Austin, Santa Monica and the Pioneer Valley.
lol
Watching Burn Notice and Dexter makes me want to move to Miami.
Corner Stone
@Violet: Honestly, I think Cole is right on the edge.
ksmiami
@Corner Stone:
John better bring the chlorox though and disinfect the joint from stinky pseudo-intellectual justifications for picking on the little guy from his buddy special ED.
scav
@Corner Stone: I was just wondering if this wasn’t some sort of reworked Measure for Measure thing (only with shotglasses in some of the threads).
stuckinred
@Jager: And there is Athens too!
Corner Stone
@lol:
Given the choice between going to MIA again, or receiving a sharp stick in the eye….stick.
scav
@Jay B.: Don’t forget the atoll over in Iowa City.
jeffreyw
Have a sammich. Good for what ails ya.
stuckinred
Here’s our once and future mayor! Gwen O’Looney
Peace Corps, Donut Dollie in Vietnam and already two previous terms as mayor. She was working in a social work setting when a kid she was counseling told her he had some herb on him. She had him flush it and somehow it got out to the public. The wingnuts will never get over that, she makes their heads explode!
Punchy
Is this EZ Kain guy gunna pump out 19 posts every day?
If you love Maddy, you should try Iowa City or Lawrence.
stuckinred
@jeffreyw: I wish it could cure what ails me today!
ksmiami
@Punchy: Please do not force me to drink my sorrows. It’s Friday night
demimondian
@Max: Yes, I have. It’s pretty good.
A friend tells me that the distillery gives tours which focus on the actual mechanisms they use internally. I *so* want one of those. (I can’t drink the final product in any significant amount, but, oh, man, could I get into the distillation itself.)
J.
MOJITOS? Jesus, John. You’re in beer country. Be a man and belly up to the bar and order a Leinie. Sheesh.
demimondian
@Punchy: “Mad City”, for what it’s worth. Maddy is a short form of Madeleine.
Mary G
I miss your pets too.
Jager
@Jay B.:
I think Santa Cruz qualifies, too, also. SC has a heady mix of surfers, sailors, hippies both young and old, new agers and alternative life style folks and of course my oldest daughter who is preparing her costumes for Burning Man as I type.
Max
@demimondian: Thanks. I might have to get a bottle the next time I make a trek to one of the State of Washington run package liquor stores that are in no way convenient to my life and it’s schedule.
I hate State run liquor stores. Fucking commies!
befuggled
Madison is more of a beer town. I moved to Toronto a couple of years ago, and I gotta say I miss that. Despite having a much larger population, the craft brewing scene in Ontario sucks.
(This isn’t to say that there aren’t good brewers around here. I am saying that there aren’t that many of them, and they’re not very adventurous.)
QuaintIrene
Didn’t Lily promise to write?
Omnes Omnibus
John Cole, while you are in the area you should also try some wine from Wollersheim Winery. It is local and quite good (cheap also too).
Restrung
Like someone said up there, I’ve never had a mojito out that I liked.
I don’t grow mint, for reasons I don’t need to state here, but I do have some catnip plants. Anybody?
Restrung
funny what you find when you google catnip mojito. So I will just go to the farmer’s market and forget to buy some mint. Should be free, anyway.
Earl
What you want is Genna’s. Just off the capital — SE corner — at the intersection of W Main, Hamilton, and Carroll — they form sort of a triangle.
After that, go to Ian’s for pizzy by the slice. Not the one on State Street, but the one on N Frances at University.
Earl
ps — Maduro, mentioned upstream, used to be a good scotch bar. Unfortunately, those assholes make a habit of overcharging drunk people. Happened to me three times. Read your tab carefully at the end of the night before you close it out.
kent
Hey John,
I have a dog and 3 cats who would love to meet you if you’re feeling homesick. Let me know.
Corner Stone
@Earl:
This made me laugh.
maus
@Corner Stone:
Did it for nearly 30 years, now enjoying Seattle. Still enjoy the visit and wish there were better beaches here.
lamh32
I sincerely hope that Crist does caucus with the Dems, especially since so many Dems/Liberals/Progressives/whatever have been on his side since before he became an Independent, but this to me seems like we shouldn’t count our chickens before they hatch.
Crist: Senate GOP Caucus ‘Would Have To Do Better’ For My Vote
My interpretation is that Crist will probably caucus with whoever is the party in power after the elections.
RedKitten
It’s amazing what bounties will come.
My husband’s uncle just knocked on our door, returning the tent we had lent to his daughter. Accompanying our tent was the gift of four large bottles of beer: Propeller IPA, Spitfire, Twisted Thistle IPA and Konig Ludwig Weissbier.
It’s nice when free beer arrives at your door.
Omnes Omnibus
@Earl: I have never had that happen to me. YMMV.
Maeve
When I was a student in Madison the “hard licker” drink of choice was brandy and coke. You’d smuggle brandy into the football stadium and buy coke there. Don’t know why brandy, but I read somewhere that Wisconsin was the #1 state for consumption of brandy. (This was in the 70’s)
My favorite bar had Tequila Sunrises for a dollar – which was expensive but they were served in plastic beer glasses and were quite large. The normal “happy hour” price for a drink was 50 cents.
If you’re there on Saturday morning go to the farmer’s market on capital square. Look for a stand which sells heirloom garlic.
Omnes Omnibus
@Maeve: Brandy manhattans and old fashioneds are still quite common.
Chris
John,
Sweet Corn!
You must try some fresh sweet corn from a stand before you leave. I recommend Eugster’s.
techno
So long as you are in Madison, you should learn more about the politician that informs everything about that town. As nearly as I can tell from my tour of the state capital building, the only politician with a bust inside is Robert LaFollette. He always ran as a Republican but as the sort who founded a party that would go to war over abolitionist goals (among other things.)
LaFollette founded the Progressive magazine which is still headquartered in Madison–although it is a shadow of its former self. But his pet project was ALWAY the University of Wisconsin. He believed the state university was supposed to serve every citizen in the state. He called it the Wisconsin Plan–satellite campuses, extension divisions, etc. If someone ever told you that a Progressive was a Left Populist with a college education, it is LaFollette who was first responsible for nurturing leaders who fit that definition. And there are those who claim the plan for Social Security was written at UW. If you believe in the mixed economy, you are walking on nearly-sacred ground.
And if you want to hear Wisconsin’s MOST interesting historical tale, ask around about the 48ers. Someone in Madison will still be able to tell the story.
Omnes Omnibus
@techno:
Aren’t the 48ers more of a Milwaukee phenomenon leading to the Soc 1 alist mayors and all that?
techno
@Chris:
Yes indeed. I live in Minnesota and our sweet corn is the best I have had in over a decade. Keillor says sweet corn is the only thing better than sex. He is correct!
Omnes Omnibus
@techno:
I am in moderation because I mentioned Sochulism and spelled it correctly. 48ers seem more Milwaukee than Madison to me.
Omnes Omnibus
@Omnes Omnibus: What do you mean I don’t have permission to edit my comment; I wrote it. FYWP!
techno
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yes indeed, the 48ers congregated along the settlements near Lake Michigan because of when they came. So I agree they are more Milwaukee.
But still, Madison is home to the statehouse AND UW so I would HOPE someone in Madison could bend Cole’s ear for a couple of hours on how the 48ers influenced the politics of Wisconsin over the years.
Ash Can
@J.: Leinie, my ear.
@John: And mojitos, my ass. Crack open a Sprecher barley wine and kwitcherbitchen. Kids nowadays. Harrumph.
Omnes Omnibus
@techno: Yeah, but I am at home this evening.
Ash Can
Oh, and for all of you sweet corn fans, are you aware that there are itty-bitty little towns in Wisconsin that have festivals called “corn feeds?” They run a truckload of sweet corn through a big mechanical steamer that’s 90 years old if it’s a day, slather the cooked corn in butter, and shake a little salt over it. And serve it for free.
Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE Wisconsin?
techno
@Omnes Omnibus:
Oh yes. Remember the 48ers were the guys–mostly academics–who were run out of Germany in the repression following the Revolution of 1848. Of course, the radicals are ALWAYS the bright ones so the 48ers bestowed on Wisconsin a MAJOR cultural legacy. They came to Wisconsin because it was the place to go–Wisconsin became a state in 1848.
more
That's Master of Accountancy to You, Pal (JMN)
Yeah, because when I drive across Wisconsin, the first thing that comes to mind is rum.
I’m just surprised they don’t drink fermented cow’s milk.
tara
Probably too late for you now, but Jolly Bob’s on Williamson St (near the Weary Traveler) makes excellent rum-based cocktails. And they have a wide variety of rums available. You have to pay cash though.