Before Dotty's moved from it's old Regent Street building to the new one on Frances Street near the UW-Madison campus, I had to say that Dotty's was one of my top three favorite burgers.
The restaurant was a funky hodge podge of kitsch on the walls and ceiling, including some pretty nifty historical stuff they had on display. You would walk up to a counter, order your burger and beer, go sit down and they'd yell your name out. If it was busy and the place was packed, sometimes it would be so loud in there that you couldn't hear your name.
Urban renewel caught up with Dotty's - they wanted to tear down all the buildings and put up an art museum. Dotty's was the last hold out and I used to have a picture somewhere of Dotty's building surrounded by this big dug out pit for the art museum. Unfortunately, city hall prevailed. Dotty's was no more.
Well, until a couple years ago. They moved to their new location on Frances Street, just north of the Kohl Center. It's now more of a sophisticated, sit down place than the free-for-all the old Dotty's used to be. It's not as fun as the old place was but the burgers are still good. Not as good as the old place, for some reason.
They don't have their jambalaya any longer - a cup of which was staple with any Dotty's burger. But they do have their extensive list of condiments that you can add to your burger (some are free, others are 75 cents a burger extra). And their beer selection is still top notch - some of the best beers in any bar, any where.
I miss the old Dotty's, but the new one is still pretty good.
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