Road Tips

Serious Burger - Appleton, WI

On a late fall trip to Appleton to see a couple dealers, I drove by a new burger place in town with a name that jumped right out at me - Serious Burger. I asked one of the guys at one at the American TV store in Appleton if they'd ever eaten there before. His reply was, "Yeah, once. It was good, but it was so expensive. I don't know if it will last." I still decided to give it try before I left town that particular day.

Serious Burger is the brain child of Marc Waltzer, an Appleton area restaurateur and Culinary Institute of America-trained chef. Waltzer's primary business is consulting restaurants on developing new products. As the head of Premiere Culinary, Waltzer has not only worked with restaurants such as TGI Fridays, Rock Bottom Brewery, and Panera Bread, but also with food industry giants such as ConAgra, Sara Lee, Tyson, Hormel and Kellogg's developing new ideas for pre-packaged foods.

Waltzer is also something of a "foodie", looking for food ideas at restaurants around the U.S. After eating in a Seattle pizzeria, Waltzer decided to open his own wood-fired pizza place - Wild Truffle Pizza - in Appleton. Using only fresh ingredients and using a pizza dough recipe that took two years to prefect, Wild Truffle was an immediate hit in the area for people looking for gourmet pizzas.

Waltzer (pictured right) then turned his attention to perfecting the common burger. In May of 2011, Waltzer opened Serious Burger in a small strip mall near Fox River Mall (see map). Using grass-fed beef grown on a farm in Colorado, Serious Burger grinds a combination of four different cuts of steak to make their burger meat. Walther also contracted with a local Appleton bakery - Breadsmith - to develop a French brioche bun made with organic eggs and European butter. From there he went to a number of Wisconsin dairies to get the eclectic cheeses that he tops his burgers with, as well as using bacon from Nueske's - a small Wisconsin meat packer who has become well-known for having some of the best smoked meats in the Midwest. (The New York Times once described Nueske's bacon as the "beluga caviar of bacon".) Add to this, Serious Burger also offers other particular toppings such as organic fried eggs, garlic aioli, roasted Crimini mushrooms and charred tomatoes. Obviously, there are a number of reasons why Serious Burger is more expensive than your normal burger joint.

(As an aside to this story - Waltzer found himself in a little trouble late in 2011 when he was charged with misdemeanor prostitution and disorderly conduct for an incident in his home with a former restaurant employee who said he offered to pay her for sex when she was cleaning the Waltzer family home. A trial was to happen on Dec. 22 of last year, but evidently three similar charges from former employees of Waltzer's surfaced in the meantime and the trial is now scheduled for March 26.

Update March 20, 2012 - Waltzer was fined just under $2700 for violating a city prostitution ordinance.  Prosecutors dismissed misdemeanor prostitution-sexual contact and three counts of disorderly conduct against Waltzer saying that if the case went to circuit court, the outcome would likely be a fine with no jail time or probation given to him.) 

Serious Burger is not a large place seating only about 40 people. Most of the tables in the long and narrow restaurant are high with tall chairs. There's kind of a contemporary industrial motif to the inside of Serious Burger. There are two entries into Serious Burger - one on each end.

The menu for Serious Burger is on the back wall behind the counter. You place your order at the counter and they'll give you a number to take with you to your table. After the burger is made, they'll bring it to your table. Each burger is made to order so there is a wait. On the menu, you have your choice of three different ways to cook your burger - Red (Medium rare), Pink (Medium) and Brown (Well done), along with approximate times it will take to cook your burger - 6, 8 or 10 minutes, depending upon how thoroughly you want it cooked.

Serious Burger has six specialty burgers you can order. Or if you want to make your own, you can do that, too. Their basic burger starts out at $5.99 and from there you can add six different types of Wisconsin artisan cheeses for $1.00 extra. You can order up to three condiment and/or veggie toppings for free - each one over the limit will cost you an extra 25 cents. They also offer premium toppings (organic fried eggs, caramelized onions, sauteed spinach, roasted mushrooms, etc.) for an extra 50 cents each. Nueske's bacon is an extra buck and they have a choice of specialty sauces you can add for another 50 cents each. So, ordering a burger with the works adds up quick at Serious Burger.

I decided to make my own burger concoction and I got a burger - medium - with Swiss cheese, organic ketchup, yellow mustard, raw onions and pickles. I almost got a couple three slices of Nueske's bacon, but decided to just go with the basic burger on this trip. The girl taking my order asked me if I wanted a side of fries to go with the burger and, quite uncharacteristically of myself, I said, "Yes!" They have hand cut French fries served with organic ketchup, along with truffle fries, sweet potato fries and beer-battered onion rings made with Leinenkugel beer. I just got a small order of the hand cut French fries.

Seated at a high table near the front counter, it was about 12 minutes from the time I ordered my burger to the time the girl brought it out to me. The presentation was pretty basic - the burger was on a tray that was covered with a paper that was designed to look like newsprint with fake articles printed on it. The French fries were plentiful and served overflowing in a wire basket with a small handle.

The burger, itself, was big and juicy, sandwiched in between a very large brioche bun. But the bun was spongy and very soft. When I squeezed the buns on the top and the bottom, they became much smaller and easier to put in your mouth.

I'll have to say that the burger at Serious Burger was seriously good. Very good. It was one of the best artisan-gourmet style burgers I've ever had. The meat was lean, yet very juicy. It was cooked the way I like - medium with a little pink in the middle. The condiments were fresh and a great complement to the burger. But the star was the French brioche bun. It was moist, spongey and light. Very, very tasty. Overall, it was an excellent burger.

The fries, however, were over-seasoned with sort of a salty seasoning on them. The organic ketchup - eh, I couldn't tell if it was different from your run-of-the-mill bottled ketchup. The fries were good on their own - full of great potato flavor. But they really needed to back off on the seasoning. I don't eat a lot of salt and I think that even for someone who does salt their food this would have been too much for them.

Given Marc Waltzer's legal problems and the fact that their burgers are pretty high-priced, I don't know if Serious Burger has much of a chance of sticking around, especially in a small-town market like Appleton. But I hope they do because I thought the burger was very, very good. When I do my new Best Burger List for 2012 (coming up soon!), Serious Burger will definitely make it into the Top Five of gourmet burgers that I've had. I hope to go back and try a burger with a fried egg and Neuske's bacon - that is if they're still open when I get back up to Appleton later this year.

Stone Cellar Brewpub - Appleton, WI

While in Appleton the night before we went to see the Green Bay Packers play at Lambeau Field, we decided to take in some of the local drinking establishments before we went out to dinner.  Like myself, George has an affinity for Wisconsin brewed beers - especially beers from the Capital Brewery and Esser's Best.  He wanted to go find a couple places with good beers and a relaxing atmosphere.  We ended up at the Stone Cellar Brewpub for a few beers and a good meal that evening.  But more on that later.

We stopped in Madison, WI on the way up to Appleton to have lunch at The Avenue Bar, owned by my good friend Paul Zach.  Paul told us, "Hey, there's this great bar up in Appleton that you guys need to go to." 

He turned to his buddy, Dave, sitting at the bar and asked him the name of the place.  Dave thought for a second and said, "Cleo's!"

Paul said, "Yeah, it's a pretty cool bar.  They've got all these decorations up year round and they've got these amazing drinks." 

It turned out Cleo's wasn't far from our hotel and we found it easily in downtown Appleton.  It was decorated with Christmas lights, wreaths, over-sized ornaments and other stuff.  Turns out it's like that 365 days a year in Cleo's.   First of all, it was far from a beer bar.  Most of the people in the place were drinking mixed drinks.  When George asked the bartender what kind of pale ale beers she had, she said, "Not much.  We've got Bass." 

So he got a Bass and I got a Bud Light.  He said, "I didn't come all the way here to Wisconsin to have a Bass!" 

Cindy said, "You guys notice anything weird about this place?"  I looked around the nearly full place and noticed a lot of guys sitting together drinking what I would call rather feminine looking drinks.  Now, my "gaydar" is an economy model, but Cindy's "gaydar" is a top-of-the-line model.  There were a lot of male/female couples in the place, too, but the men sort of stood out.  Cindy said, "I think Paul sent us to a gay bar!" 

I wouldn't call Cleo's a gay bar, per se.  But there did seem to be a lot of guys checking George out.  At least, that's what I teased him about as we finished our beers and got along to the next place.

We found something next that was right up George's alley - an authentic Irish bar situated in the middle of Appleton.  McGuinness Irish Pub is located - literally - right across the street from the Appleton Police Station (see map).  We found a parking spot out front and George and I openly wondered if the cops would sit across the street and watch people come and go from this place and the bar just two doors down from McGuinness Irish Pub - the Fox River House. 

McGuinness Irish Pub was about as realistic of an Irish Pub as you can find in North America.  So realistic that it didn't have a television set in the place, which was sort of disappointing to George and I at first as there were a couple good football games on that evening.  Oh, wait.  There was a television set in McGuinness Irish Pub - two of them, as a matter of fact.  There was a flat screen over the fire place mantel that showed a number of pictures in rotation, and a small tube television in the fireplace hearth that was showing a DVD of a fire.  I thought it was sort of funny, but it fit in with the hip surroundings in the place.

George was also in heaven.  In addition to a number of great imported Irish and Scottish beers, they had Capital Brewery's winter brew - Winter Skal - a beer that I turned him onto a couple years ago.  I had a Smithwick's, while - I think - Hanna had a beer.  The bartender talked Cindy into getting a Shamrock Martini with Irish whiskey and green Creme de Menthe.  She liked it a lot.

Not having a television around forced us to carry on a conversation at a table that was bordered by two old church pews and a couple chairs.  It was actually kind of nice getting caught up with George and Hanna - they became very good friends before they moved earlier this year.  And even though they're only two hours away, it's still a long haul for us to get together on a regular basis. 

After a quick stop at the Fox River House for a beer and a look around Appleton's oldest continuous tavern, we took off for the Stone Cellar Brewery.  When we got there, I quickly realized that Cindy and I had been there before a number of years ago. 

The brewery was once called the Adler Brau brewery - one of the first brewpubs in the state of Wisconsin.   In 2004, the father-son team of Tom and Steve Lonsway bought and re-opened the brewpub as the Stone Cellar Brewery, named after the stone cellar in the 150-year-old "Between the Locks" building on South Olde Onieda St. (see map).  The building was originally a covert brewery built back in the late 1850's before Appleton's citizens allowed for the brewing and sale of beer. 

That brewery, called the Appleton Brewing and Malting Company, eventually was sold to Carl Muench, a young plant foreman for Joseph Schlitz in Milwaukee.  The Appleton Brewing and Malting Company ran for 58 years, surviving a fire in 1884, before it was sold to George Walther in 1918 who renamed it the Walther Brewery.  The Walther Brewery temporarily went out of business during Prohibition, but it reopened in 1929 when Wisconsin repealed the law on a statewide basis (I've always loved the State of Wisconsin).  Walther Brewery's signature beer was Adler Brau (German for Eagle Beer), a smooth and mild lager.  Having to keep up with modern marketing and sales techniques versus much larger breweries caused the closing of the Walther Brewery in the mid-70's.  

The "Between the Locks" building became a small shop mall, but was reopened as a brewpub in 1989 by John Junger.  Junger brought back the Adler Brau brand name and kept the place going for the next 15 years before the Lonsway's - who owned a homebrewing supply store in Appleton - bought it from him and changed the name.  Steve Lonsway is the brewmaster at Stone Cellar Brewpub. 

As I said, Cindy and I were at the place about 12 years ago when it was still the Adler Brau Brewpub.  Only it was on a Sunday night and they weren't open for food.  I was sort of disappointed that we couldn't eat at the place, but we did end up at a nice downtown steakhouse for dinner that evening.  

The entry to the Stone Cellar Brewpub winds down a stone stair case and opens up into the bar area.  The bar area was absolutely packed and we were worried that we'd have a little trouble finding a table for dinner.  But one of the waiters came up and said that they had immediate seating.  He took us into the two room dining area, into the far back of the place where they used to store kegs, we were told, where he sat us and gave us dinner menus to look over.  

My first job was to find a beer to drink from their beer list.   Stone Cellar keeps seven brews on tap year round and has a handful of seasonal brews to choose from.  The Scottish Tilted Kilt ale caught my eye and I ordered that.  George got their Pie Eyed India Pale Ale.  I forgot what Hanna ordered, but Cindy got one of Stone Cellar's gourmet sodas - the root beer.  She figured the two Shamrock martinis from McGuinness Irish Pub were enough for her for the evening. 

Stone Cellar's menu was pretty extensive featuring about 20 different appetizers, about 10 salads and a like number of specialty burgers.  They had sandwiches from reubens to wraps, and full entrees from steaks, chops, seafood and a chopped Elk steak on the menu.  Stone Cellar Brewpub also features a pub favorites section on the menu with Shepherd's Pie, fish and chips and a beer braised pot roast.  

 I was sort of thinking that if we didn't go to Stone Cellar Brewpub that we'd end up at Frank's Pizza Palace.  But I saw that Stone Cellar had pizza on their menu - a thin crust pizza topped with fresh ingredients.  They featured some specialty pizzas like a chicken, bacon and ranch dressing pizza, and a New Orleans-style with andouille sausage, chicken and shrimp with peppers, onions and Cajun spices.  No, I thought I'd just get my old stand-by sausage, pepperoni and mushroom. 

Cindy ordered the Stone Cellar's special that night - the grilled chicken breast served on a bed of rice and topped with asparagus spears.  George was on some chicken sandwich kick all weekend (he had a chicken sandwich for lunch earlier in the day and had a chicken sandwich when we went to the Great Dane Brewery in Madison the next night), so he got the Brewhouse chicken sandwich - a chicken breast topped with aged cheddar cheese, bacon and chipotle mayo.  Hanna got the Jaeger Schnitzel - an old world style pork chop topped with a dark mushroom gravy and served on a bed of spaetzel and topped with asparagus spears.  I almost got that, but decided on the pizza at the last minute. 

First of all, the beers were very good.  The Scottish ale I had had a nice smooth taste and finish, but wasn't as forward of a taste that I like in my specialty beers.  George said his IPA was excellent, hoppy and very forward.  He was a happy camper.  

Cindy's root beer was like drinking sugar syrup, however.   Stone Cellar makes their gourmet sodas with pure cane sugar.  I had a little taste and, man!  It was like licking a candy cane, it was so sugary.  Cindy couldn't even finish drinking the root beer, it had so much sweetness.  She didn't sleep well that evening, she said it was probably because of the root beer.

I finished my Scottish ale and decided to order the Marquette Pilsner for my second beer before my pizza made it to the table.  It was lighter than the Scottish ale and had a nice pilsner taste to it.  I liked the Tilted Kilt ale better than the Marquette Pilsner, though.   

 
Our food came out and I was pretty happy to see my pizza cut into the thin-dough party cuts that I like so much.  The cheese was caramelized with plenty of fresh toppings mixed in.  Fresh oregano leaves were sprinkled on the top.  It was a very good pizza.  A surprisingly very good pizza.   

Cindy's chicken breast (above left) was butterflied and sprinkled with an herb seasoning and then grilled.  She also declared it to be very good.  She cut off a little chunk for me and I took a bite.  It was very good.  

 
Hanna's Jaeger Schnitzel was truly a "stick to your ribs" meal.  It featured a large thin-cut pork chop smothered in a mushroom gravy.   A large amount of spaetzel rested under the pork chop.  And while George's chicken sandwich wasn't really much to look at, he said it was very good.  The bun was lightly toasted and he said he liked the chipotle mayo and the sharp Wisconsin cheddar cheese on the chicken. 

I offered everyone a piece of my pizza because I knew I wouldn't be able to finish a 12" small pizza by myself.  Everyone was impressed with Stone Cellar's pizza.  In fact, we were all pleasantly surprised and very happy with our meals. 

I'm sort of happy that Cindy and I didn't go to the old Adler Brau brewpub because I'm not certain the food would have been as good back then as it is now.  And I don't remember too much about the Adler Brau beer - I do remember what I had in the past was OK - but I really liked the Scottish Ale Stone Cellar Brewpub had on tap while I have to say the Marquette Pilsner was just *OK*.  The Stone Cellar Brewery also boasts a nice beer garden for summer time drinking (a beer garden that dates back to the early 1860's) and has a large room - the English Room - for parties, receptions and meetings.   Good food and good beer - we all were very happy with our visit to Stone Cellar Brewpub. 

Frank's Pizza Palace - Appleton, WI

I've been all over the Midwest this summer doing training for the American TV stores.  One of the locations I had to go to was Appleton, WI.  It's been a long time since I'd been in Appleton.  I remember eating at a really nice place with Cindy a number of years ago.  But my previous business visits to Appleton have usually been brief and I've gone on up the road to Green Bay.  This time, I was staying in Appleton and I decided to try some of the local cuisine.  I happened to find something on the Internet about Frank's Pizza Palace.  I thought I'd search it out and give it a try. 

Frank's Pizza Palace is located on College Ave., a main thoroughfare going through Appleton, just west of the downtown area.  (See map)  I was able to find a parking spot on the street in front of the restaurant.  The columns in front of the place intrigued me right off the bat.

The "Frank" behind Frank's Pizza Palace is Frank Pierri.  Frank was a second-generation Italian who grew up in Chicago.  His father worked in a meat shop in Chicago and he made his own sausage.  Much of the sausage that Frank's father made ended up on pizzas that began to grab the attention of American's following World War II.  Frank's father gave the young Pierri the recipe for sausage, something that he would use in later years. 

Frank Pierri traveled to the Appleton area in 1954 for a friend's wedding.  He instantly fell in love with the area and the people, but he was shocked to find that there was no pizza available in the city.  Frank decided to move to Appleton and open a pizza restaurant.  Along with a friend from Chicago, Pat Earle, the two opened Appleton's first pizza restaurant in 1955 - Frank and Pat's Pizza Palace. 

As time went on, the Pierri/Earle partnership dissolved and Pat Earle eventually opened his own pizza parlor in nearby Neenah - Cranky Pat's.  Frank and Pat's became Frank's Pizza Palace.  Frank Pierri continued to make his own sausage for his pizzas on a weekly basis.  It became a landmark among Appleton residents for years and years who came in for Frank's thin crust pizza with plentiful toppings. 

Frank Pierri's health began to fail in the late 1990's and his daughter, Jeannie Pierri-Brice, ended up buying the restaurant from him, promising to keep it in the family.  Frank eventually died in 2000 and Jeannie continues to run the restaurant today.   

The original oven - a six-shelf, motor-driven, Ferris wheel style, gas-fired oven - is still in use.  Jeannie Pierri-Brice said that one of the reasons why Frank's Pizza Palace is in its original location is because they are afraid to move the oven.  That's a good idea - I've found that all the best pizza places I've visited generally have an old time pizza oven that lends a signature flavor to the pie. 

Frank's Pizza Palace couples an old time feel with a cozy atmosphere.  I walked into the place around 7:30 and walked through the front dining room, well within view of the huge oven, and walked back into the back dining room and got a booth.  I picked up a menu, although I knew exactly what I wanted.  My reference pizza is sausage, pepperoni and mushroom.  I was all set to order as I waited for the waiter to show up. 

But then something grabbed my attention - the Frank's Special.  It featured double toppings of Frank's homemade sausage.  They would then pile mushrooms on top and then you could get two additional toppings on it.  It was sort of expensive - $21.50 for a 12" pizza.  I thought it to be rather expensive, but I was intrigued.  Then I saw that a regular 12" sausage, pepperoni and mushroom would have been just under $20 bucks.  Wow!  This had better be good pizza!

My waiter showed up and I ordered the Frank's Special - double sausage, "piled" mushrooms and double pepperoni.  I wanted to see how they were going to get all of that on one pizza.  I knew that if it was loaded with toppings, there would be no way that I'd ever be able to finish it. 

I waited patiently for the pizza.  With that amount of toppings on the thin crust, I knew it would take a little time to cook.  Frank's also has a "deep-dish pizza" they make by putting two of their thin crusts on top of one another.  It would probably hold up a little better with all the heavy toppings on the top.  But I'm a thin crust kind of guy.  And I love a lot of toppings on thin crust pizza. 

It took about 20 minutes before my waiter brought out my pizza.  It was just what I thought it would be - thick and plentiful toppings on a very thin crust.  It was cut into the square party cuts, so the center "honey-pot" cuts were good and gooey.  The sausage was excellent, there was plenty of pepperoni and there were mounds of mushrooms.  It was very, very good. 

 There was no way I could finish the whole thing.  I ended up having the waiter wrap up the remaining pieces and I took 'em back to the hotel and gave them to the nighttime desk clerk.  She said, "Is this from Frank's?  Oh, God!  I LOVE Frank's!  Thank you so much!" 

With tip and a couple beers, the total came to $30 bucks.  That's sort of expensive, but very understandable given the amount of toppings on the pizza.  One of Frank's Special pizzas could have easily fed two hungry people.

I love finding old time pizza places like Frank's Pizza Palace when I'm on the road.  The pizza was very good and I enjoyed every bite.  I'm glad I've got something to look forward to in Appleton these days - more business and Frank's pizza!