Chicago to Green Lake, WI - need recs

I'm headed to Green Lake the last week of June/first week of July and would love some recs for Green Lake, WI. Also, does anyone have any food shopping ideas for the ride up there (encased meats, cheese, etc are most welcome)?

For reference, I'm heading from Chicago, north on 94, through Milwaukee, then north on WI-45 to Fond du Lac, west on state road 23 to Green Lake.

If anyone's made this trip, I'm open for suggestions. Thanks.

My in-laws used to live in the Sheboygan area, so I've done much of your trip. Stop at Kopp's for their huge hamburgers and wonderful soft custard (call ahead to hear their flavor of the day) on the way up. We like their onion rings a lot too. It's pretty easy on/off I94 for the northern branch of the business. That meal will hold you for hours. For great sausage, stop at Miesfeld's in Sheboygan. Enjoy your trip!

Kopp's Frozen Custard
5373 N. Port Washington Rd.
Milwaukee, WI 53217
(414) 961-2006
kopps.com

Miesfeld's Triangle Market
4811 Venture Dr
Sheboygan, WI 53083
(920) 565-6328
miesfelds.com

In Green Lake, you're only about 40 miles from the highly-regarded Union Star Cheese Factory.

We stayed at Heidel House last month and had dinner at Grey Rock. Disappointing. Amateur servers, and a very inattentive kitchen. Barb received overcooked prime rib, sent it back, ten minutes later was told that they were "all out" of medium rare and they'd substitute a Kobe beef sirloin. Had no choice, and what Barb received was at best some Wagyu-style beef that was too chewy to be true Kobe. Accompanied by undercooked potatoes. My walnut-encrusted walleye, supposed to be their special signature preparation, was perhaps one step above fish sticks -- not a whole piece, but four individual walleye strips sauteed to a crisp that would be more appropriate bar food than fine dining. Yeah, the wine list was affordable and the desserts were all good, but nothing blew us away.
>>Brent

We got married at the Heidel House back in the summer of '95. We were extremely pleased with the setting, service, and food for our rehearsal dinner which was held at Carvers on the Lake. It's a B&B as well, but the restaurant is open to the public. Obviously, this place could have changed hands 6 times since then (or just gone downhill,) but if we returned to the area I would definately give it a shot.

Carvers on the Lake
N5229 County Road A
Green Lake, WI
920-294-6931

try searching at this website:

http://www.savorwisconsin.com/

We have a cottage in Green Lake so are familiar with all the restaurant around there. Unfortunately, Carvers went out of business a few years ago. Most of the finer dining places have gone out of business. The locals don't really frequent anything other than roadhouses and fish fries and they can't exist on just the few months of summer. We like Grey Rock and, for the most part, have had very good meals there. Other restaurants that we enjoy are:

The Waterfront in Green Lake. http://waterfrontgrillgreenlake.com/waterfrontgrill/ If the weather is nice you can eat outside on the terrace overlooking the bay.

America in Ripon http://americaripon.com/ (check the free Green Lake newspaper as they have had coupons in there for a free entree)

Harbor Lights in Green Lake is okay for what it is. Salad bar. Fish. Great coconut shrimp. Won't blow your away but is better than some of the other roadhouse type places in the area.

Reily's Pub in Markesan but on the shore of Green Lake. Great bar food and atmosphere. They just opened a patio so you can eat and look at the lake. http://www.reillyspub.com/

The sub shop in Green Lake has the best sub sandwiches anywhere. Only open until 2 p.m.

Blue Moon in Princeton for lunch. http://www.bluemoonprinceton.com/Bluemoonhome.htm

The Pizza Factory in Princeton http://www.thepizzafactory.info/

Bayview Landing in Green Lake for ice cream

By the way, take Highway 41 and not Highway 45 to Fond du Lac and Highway 23 (Johnson St.) Sheboygan isn't on the way to Green Lake.

Widmer's Cheese is in Theresa which is just off of Highway 41 on the way to Green Lake. Get their 8 year cheddar cheese.
http://www.widmerscheese.com/index.php? ... r_location

I've had several good meals (various fresh fish preparations, excellent fish chowder, good prime rib) at Norton's Marine Dining Room over the years but I have heard a rumor of a new owner. IIRC, this restaurant is not in any business district and is situated in kind of a residential area on the west shore of Green Lake.

It has either a horseshoe or circle-shaped bar that has a fun summer scene. I thought the pours were generous and prices reasonable.

Davooda

tyrus, been going to green lake about 15-20 weekends a year for 10 years send me a email so we can [email protected]

markj wrote:tyrus, been going to green lake about 15-20 weekends a year for 10 years send me a email so we can [email protected]

It would be great if you could post your recommendations so we can all benefit.

heading up this weekend will get addresses and links if possible

I haven't done a ton of dining in that area as we usually are camping and eating there. There is some bar in Montello on Buffalo Lake that had pretty decent pizza. Also in Fox Lake Mullin's Drive In is a great place for a burger, fries, and a Black Cow (root beer float).

We spent a lovely weekend in Green Lake. On our B&B innkeeper's recommendation, we went for Friday night fish fry to 680 North, the restaurant at Tuscumbia Country Club. It's a very attractive space, sort of log-cabin modern, which is better looking than it sounds. Alas, we arrived too late (7:45) for the lake perch, but their fried walleye was excellent. Waffle fries, per Cabbagehead's report, were very good. My potato pancakes were flavorful but a little flabby--I like mine crisper. Soups were respectable. But they were out of all desserts!

Saturday night dinner was at the Treasury in nearby Ripon. Located downtown in a grand old bank building, Treasury has a gorgeous room with beautiful, amazingly high ceilings, wonderful light fixtures, terrazzo floors, and a long, long bar that was the original marble counter of the bank. It's somewhat upscale, and a pleasant change from the ubiquitous Wisconsin supper club with its same six entrees and salad bar. Service was helpful if a little unpolished. There's a reasonable wine list and a full bar. The menu, it seems to me, is trying to do several things at once. On the one hand, Treasury wants to be urbane and features small plates called tapas, although these could be called (loosely) Mediterranean rather than Spanish. On the other hand, the mains were much more like the standard Wisconsin-restaurant standards--steak, salmon, pork chops, pasta. The tapas we tried were quite good. The mains were more mixed, I thought. Cabbagehead's pork chops were very good, but my ribeye's salty sauce covered up the beef taste. Good garlic mashed potatoes and a huge portion of tiramisu somewhat made up for the meat.

Green Lake is a great place to visit, by the way. It's kind of the anti-Dells. No chains or fast food except for one Subway. We'd like to return.

680 North Restaurant
Tuscumbia Country Club
680 Illinois Avenue
Green Lake, WI 54941
(920) 294-3240
http://www.tuscumbiacc.net/

Treasury Restaurant
114 Watson Street
Ripon, WI 54971
(920) 748-2677
http://ripontreasury.com/

EvA wrote:We spent a lovely weekend in Green Lake. On our B&B innkeeper's recommendation, we went for Friday night fish fry to 680 North, the restaurant at Tuscumbia Country Club. It's a very attractive space, sort of log-cabin modern, which is better looking than it sounds. Alas, we arrived too late (7:45) for the lake perch, but their fried walleye was excellent. Waffle fries, per Cabbagehead's report, were very good. My potato pancakes were flavorful but a little flabby--I like mine crisper. Soups were respectable. But they were out of all desserts!

EvA - good work scoring a reservation at Tuscumbia. Those in the know seem to think it BY FAR the best dinner option in the area.

I've been going to Green Lake to my friend's cottage for many years, and went to Harvest Days (typically, the last weekend of September) this year. We didn't feel like cooking, and unfortunately, it seems that restaurant quality across the board has been going down. The town took a huge hit during the depths of the Great Recession. It seems to have come back, if home building is any indication, but I couldn't help thinking that Mark Sheild's maxim, "A rising tide floats all yachts" seems to be the basis for any recovery there. There are a lot more huge houses than cabins now, and it's hard to find a good burger.

This state of affairs may be about something else. I'm wondering if people who live there full-time (and most visitors) tend to go in for a "big night out." There used to be a French bistro right on Main Street, but it's a thing of the past. There used to be a cafe on Main Street for baked goods and coffee drinks, but they are a real estate office now. I guess I am kind of undercutting my premise by complaining about the disappearance of lattes and bistros, but I really don't want prime rib every night.

Norton's is a supper club that you can visit by boat. They have a cool curved bar and you can get a prime rib if you want, but is really overpriced for what it is. That said, the walleye was OK. Adam's Rib (right in town) used to be pretty good, with excellent hash browns, but has gone downhill. Grey Rock at the Heidel House has never been good in my experience. Avoid the Goose Blind. The best of the casual places in town is The Little Corporal - a standard coffee shop for just what you would expect, including Ice Cream. The best casual dinner spot is Reilly's Pub in Markesan. We had an OK fish fry there. I might go with a burger on future visits. My favorite bites of the weekend were the street brat and caramel apple I ate at the Harvest Days fair.

My advice is to get your groceries in Fond du Lac or before you leave home. The local Green Lake grocery has really skewed and limited options and the produce was all wilted. If you want to do food excursions, there is a good meat market in a nearby town called Brandon. Soda's Farm Market (on the far end of Green Lake away from town near the Baptist Camp) is a place where you can pick up pumpkins and great local produce while you munch on Dill Pickle Chips. Once I bought a huge antique tablecloth there, and my friend took home a kitten from one of the family's recent litters.

Dusting off this old thread to add a data point on the route in the OP. We stopped at Kraverz Frozen Custard in Menomonee Falls on the way to Fond du Lac. We needed gas and we were also hungry. Fortunately for us, I noticed Kraverz Burgers and Custard on the signage for exit 50 off I-41. We split a single mushroom/swiss burger and a chipotle ranch chicken wrap and fries. Go for the burgers, skip the wrap. Really good burger. Mint brownie custard scoop for me and chocolate/Reese's concrete (or whatever they call it) for Mr. X were great finales.

Kraverz Frozen Custard
N88W15325 Main St
Menomonee Falls, WI 53051
262-255-5728
kraverzcustard.com