Traveling to the Madison, WI area one Monday evening, I stayed at a hotel in Middleton on Madison's west side. I found an Indian restaurant on-line and went there for dinner. Unfortunately, I found out when I pulled up in front of the place that they're closed on Monday's. I drove toward the old downtown area of Middleton looking for some place to eat. Now, a place that I've eaten at in the past - but not for a long time - is the venerable Village Green, a tavern/eatery that I first went to back in the 80's. The only problem is that the Village Green didn't take credit cards and a meal with two or three beers adds up fast and I usually don't take a lot of cash with me on the road. I just happened to go by the Village Green this one particular evening and glanced at their front windows. There were the familiar "Visa" and "MasterCard" stickers in the window. I whipped into a parking spot on Hubbard St. and went into the Village Green for the first time in about 10 years. (see map)
The Village Green first opened in 1976 when Ron and Cricket Boyer bought an old four-lane bowling alley with a bar that had come up for sale. Ron Boyer had extensive restaurant experience in the Middleton area having first managed, then owned a Kelly's Hamburgers franchise since 1961. But Ron Boyer has a side story that I found rather fascinating.
In addition to having a day job as the manager of the small fast food burger joint in the early 60's, Ron Boyer was also a drummer who met a young guitarist from Milwaukee who was going to school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison - a guy by the name of Steve Miller. Along with a couple of other guys, they started a band called The Ardells and played a number of campus and Madison-area gigs.
The Ardells line-up changed with the addition of Miller's boyhood friend Boz Scaggs, and then later on keyboardist Ben Sidran joined the group. Of course, Steve Miller and Boz Scaggs went on to have big careers in rock and pop music, and Ben Sidran - who is the brother of Quad City-area musician Dr. Ezra Sidran (Ezra sits in with my friends Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls from time to time) - became somewhat of a legendary rock and jazz studio musician playing with the likes of Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, Diana Ross and Rickie Lee Jones.
Miller eventually moved to Chicago to immerse himself in the blues and Scaggs ran off to London to get into the music scene over there. Sidran got his English literature degree from the U of Wisconsin before going off to study in the United Kingdom where he eventually became a studio musician. Ron Boyer went back to slinging burgers at Kelly's Hamburgers.
Boyer eventually turned his restaurant into a Pickle Pete fast food restaurant, but sensed that the days of a non-major chain/cheap burger joint were numbered in the mid-70's. When they found out that the former bowling alley in downtown Middleton was for sale, the Boyers bought the place. Ron ended up putting a floor over the bowling lanes, taking the pool tables out and putting in a grill behind the bar area.
The Boyer's four children were all involved in the business as they grew up. Two of their sons, Craig and Chad, who began to work in the place busing tables when they were in middle school, continue to work in the place today running the day to day operation. (Ron Boyer is semi-retired, but Cricket will come in and wait tables four or five times a week for a few hours.)
There's two distinct areas at the Village Green - the main dining area where the bowling lanes is on the left as you come in the front door. The dining room is well lit and a number of signs and chalk boards with food specials are on the wall. While it's far from fancy, it's got a nice neighborhood tavern-like feel to the place. The bar area is partitioned off to the right as you come in the front door.
I took a seat at the bar and was greeted by a young lady who asked me what I wanted to drink. They had a list of their draft beers on the wall and I saw that they had Esser's Best on tap, a good local beer brewed in nearby Cross Plains. She gave me a menu to look over.
The Village Green is locally known for their very good, flat-grilled burgers. But, quite honestly, I've never had a burger in the place each of the times that I've eaten there. I've had their reubens there, including a rather interesting and good Summer sausage reuben. They also have a number of appetizers, salads and soups including Ron Boyer's homemade chili that I've had before, as well. It's got a nice spicy kick to it.
Since it had been so long from the last time I was in, I couldn't order anything but the Village Green reuben sandwich - one of the best I've ever had. The girl asked me if I wanted a side with it and for some reason I said I'd take French fries. But the reuben is probably all I'd eat that evening.
They grill the corned beef and sauerkraut at the Village Green, placing the Swiss cheese on top of the corned beef before putting everything on thick sliced pumpernickel bread. Dill pickle slices come on the side. In fact, Chad Boyer was running the grill this particular evening.
The corned beef is thin sliced, but piled high on the sandwich. They use a lot of sauerkraut on the sandwich and the thing I like is that they serve the 1000 Island dressing on the side. Sometimes, I'll run into a reuben where the dressing is so overpowering that it kills the taste of the corned beef. I was able to dip parts of the sandwich into the small tub of 1000 Island dressing, using what I wanted to get that dressing taste on the sandwich.
And the sandwich was just as good as I remembered. The slightly salty taste of the corned beef was offset by the somewhat sour taste of the sauerkraut. The bread was fresh and a great part of the sandwich. On the menu, they call their reuben "the best around". I may have to agree with that. It's still very good.
While the Village Green isn't fine dining, it's a great place to get a sandwich. One of these days I'll have to go in and try their flat-grilled burgers. There's a lot of great watering holes in the greater Madison area and the Village Green remains one of my all-time favorite places to go get a beer and a reuben. Now that I've found that they take credit cards, I'm sure I'll be back for a burger at some point.
Awesome place, the Village Green!
Posted by: Brian Barr | June 27, 2023 at 02:42 PM