We have a confession. This festival is right across the street from our house. We can hear the music from our living room and smell the corn being roasted on the breeze.
This is an annual event that the whole town comes out for. It’s even a big attraction for visitors. It used to be called Festival of Summer, a name we actually like better, and there are quite a few things to do.
Of course, the big draw is the fire-roasted corn and grilled brats.
Lots of folks standing in line at the corn and brat stand
There’s a big roaster that rotates the corn. The man running it told us that each bag contains 3 dozen ears of corn and in 2 days, he’d gone through nearly 30 bags.
The big corn roaster that cooks the corn on a conveyor. This is the biggest draw at Elkhorn Corn & Brat Days.
There are lots of vendors at the event as well. Everything from local massage therapists to craftspeople to a farmers table.
Bob had tacos de barbacoa (seasoned beef) from the Light of the World Church Fundraiser stand. It was great. The meat was nicely seasoned and the taco was just like a street taco in LA or Mexico.
With elections coming up in about 2 weeks, there was a lot of politics in the area. The Republicans and the Democrats each had a table and there were candidates all over the place.
The Army National Guard had a rock wall that kids could climb for prizes. On Saturday, there was a bouncy castle and a couple of extra games.
On Saturday afternoon, there was a band (sorry, we didn’t get the name) that was doing covers of classic rock and country songs they were pretty good.
Delicious kombucha from Komboocho
Bob found kombucha from Komboocho, based in Whitewater. He likes kombucha, so he was happy. It was really very good.
All in all, this is a nice local festival.
There are a few things that we would change. For example, we’re not really sure why it’s on Friday and Saturday. About 25% of the vendors didn’t even show up on Friday. For some strange reason, they aren’t open on Sunday. Yes, there are a lot of churches on the square here in town, but that’s an advantage. And we’re pretty sure that God wants people to enjoy themselves and build community. Otherwise, Friday is kind of a waste. The only time it’s busy is when everyone gets out for lunch. Then the brat and corn booth is busy, but the rest is simply slow.
The other change that we would like to see is to move the food all along the front row by the street. The way they have it set up, you’re greeted by the corn and brat stand. It’s only later that you discover there are two taco stands, an Italian food place, a kombucha stand, and more. It would be great if they highlighted the food and made all of these great vendors visible.
Elkhorn is a great town and this is a fun festival. With a few minor changes, it could be awesome.
We can’t go into Kenosha without stopping at Tenuta’s Deli and Liquor, 3203 52nd St. It’s one of those places you go in looking for two things and leave with 10 or 30! We visited last weekend when we were at the Kenosha Harbor Market.
It’s a place that is absolutely packed with liquor, food, cooking supplies, you name it. It feels like small neighborhood grocery stores in New York City, where the aisles are narrow enough that to pass someone you feel like you should buy them dinner.
They have so much in their store that it’s hard to list all of it.
Welcome to Tenuta’s
The exterior of Tenuta’s is a simple place. There are tables outside because they have an outdoor grill where they make brats and Italian sausage.
And when they say grilled, they mean actually grilling… on regular backyard grills.
The grills outside of Tenuta’s
When you enter the store, the walls are covered with photos of family and famous people who have shopped in the store. Of course, that includes some of Wisconsin’s most famous people, including politicians.
Then you enter the store. This is where it goes from cool to wow! Everything at Tenuta’s is available in a dozen varieties.
Here are a few images that give you an idea of scale:
Delicious oil cured olives.
They have a huge liquor department, including a section of high-end liquors under glass. They even have a massive selection of airline bottles. They have scores of feet of shelves with beer and wines from all over the world.
Then there’s the deli. Of course, in most New York and New Jersey delis, you can order a sandwich, but unfortunately, not here. You can get lots of great Italian meats and cheeses sliced for you. They also have an amazing olive bar.
Brenda’s parents have a thing for the oil-cured black olives.
Delicious oil-cured olives.
One of our favorites is the “Heart of the Provolone.” It’s what happens to the nice and mild provolone cheese when you get to the heart of a 350-pound wheel. It’s sharp, dry, and pungent. In fact, at times, it’s overwhelming.
The very sharp center of the mild-mannered provolone.A monster provolone that hangs at Tenuta’s.
You can see from the photos above that Tenuta’s has a giant cheese cooler. Altogether, it’s probably 40 feet of every imaginable cheese. Of course, the best are Wisconsin cheeses, but the Italians, the French, and other parts of the US do okay.
We always find treasures here:
Brenda found these little European cookies. The cookie itself is soft, with one side coated in chocolate. Inside is a hazelnut cream that is rich, but not too sweet.
Tenuta’s has a massive collection of every spice imaginable. Many of them are bulk packed spices and others are imported from around the country and around the world.
The prices of everything are great. You can always count on them to have what you want at a great price.
Let’s not forget the dessert counter. Their Italian desserts are fantastic. The cannolis aren’t too sweet inside and everything has the subtle flavors that make Italian desserts outstanding.
Is there anything bad to say about Tenuta’s? Not much. Fresh deli sandwiches might be nice, but not necessary.
Their checkout area is a bit of a surprise. It’s just regular cash registers, nothing fancy, but they get you checked out quickly.
There are some other great items at Tenuta’s as well. Cigars, bread, lots and lots of kitchen equipment and so on.
Oh, and there’s one more reason that Tenuta’s someplace we have to stop at every time we go to Kenosha. We have a traveling companion that insists.
Meet Strega – our Fiat 500.
Strega is named for an Italian liqueur that Bob’s father shared with us once when we were visiting. He’s a little Italian car made in Mexico by an American car company. He makes us visit all of this great Italian food because it’s in his DNA to have cannolis and provolone in the back seat!
We ordered dinner from Two Sisters Thai Restaurant located in Walworth, Wisconsin. Walworth is a tiny town of only 2,800 people, so it’s kind of cool that they have a Thai restaurant. We’re always looking for new and interesting and, in rural Wisconsin, Thai food is a rarity.
We did take out with Brenda’s mom and dad at our house. We order both vegetarian and non-vegetarian meals.
The inside of the restaurant is a bit plain, with your standard diner tables and chairs. They spruce it up a bit some really cool placemats, actual cloth and style, and some nice decorations. They had women’s rugby playing on the TV which was a nice change.
Image from a Yelp user!
It’s spacious and comfortable just like a local diner or cafe should be.
Here’s what we ordered and what we thought. The italics are the descriptions from the menu.
One problem with the order was that we didn’t get the fried tofu that we ordered. Too bad because it was going to awesome. (Here’s the description from the menu: Crispy tofu served with Thai sweet and sour sauce, topped with ground peanut.)
Fish cakes (Tod Mun) – Ground white fish with chili paste and green beans. Served with cucumber sauce, and Thai sweet and sour sauce. Nice spice level and not too fishy. The texture is similar to seitan, vital wheat gluten. The fish dip was a peanut sweet vinegar sauce, a perfect blend that hits every part of your palate.
Yummy! Thai fish cakes
Pad Woon Sen with tofu – Sauteed with clear noodles, tomato, onion, carrot, peapod and egg. Topped with cilantro. Mom liked the tofu, but Brenda felt that the tofu could be drained better and battered or fried harder. That would give it more toothsomeness as a meat-eater might like. This was made with cellophane noodles. Mom was really happy with this dish.
Cellophane noodles. Mom’s favorite!
Thai salad – Mixed salad with tofu, hard-boiled egg, cucumber, tomato, and red onion. Served with Thai peanut dressing. This was really just a salad with a peanut dressing that Mom didn’t like.
Thai Salad with tofu
Note: This is where we realized that most of these dishes had peanuts in them. Two Sisters (and probably every other Thai restaurant) is a bad place for anyone with a peanut allergy. Fortunately, that wasn’t any of us.
Papaya salad – Fresh shredded papaya, tomato, green beans, peanuts, and chili pepper. This was almost a Thai papaya slaw. The dressing is a perfectly sweet and vinegary sauce. In fact, this Thai restaurant hits the “sweet and sour” taste perfectly. It’s some cloyingly sweet red sauce, but really sweet and sour flavors. The pieces of shredded papaya are a bit of a challenge for someone who is sensitive to textures. You can get it home and cut it up a bit simply because it’s got a great flavor, but it’s long shreds of papaya.
Papaya salad
Pad Ka Pow w/ tofu – Sauteed with basil leaves, hot pepper, bell pepper, garlic, carrot, mushroom, onion, and bamboo shoot. This had fennel and basil. The fennel had lots of flavor, something was can never get to work in our kitchen.
Pad Ka Paow with tofu
Thai fried rice with chicken – Tomato, onion, egg, and carrot. Top with cilantro. Nice chunks of chicken, but otherwise not super flavorful. It’s a great side, but not really amazing.
Delicious Thai fried rice with chicken
Mee Krob – (Thai Crispy Stir-fried Noodles) Sweet crispy rice noodles, scallions, topped with fried eggs.This is the dish that got the most love. This is a fried noodle dish. There was an egg on top that was fried to a consistency like fried pig skin. This is a dish that I would get in the restaurant. It was great, but the egg didn’t travel well. The noodles were sweet. It’s a strange, good dish.
Yummy sweet fried noodles!
We got two side sauces. Thai peanut sauce was great with a light floral note up against the heavy texture of the peanut. Cucumber sauce, which we expected to be a tzatziki sauce, but was instead a pickled cucumber in a sweet vinegar, not unlike something that Brenda’s mom makes.
Sweet sticky rice with mango – This is a seasonal item. The sticky rice is delicious. While Brenda wasn’t a fan of the mango, everyone else enjoyed it. We would love to see this serves all year round, even with canned peaches or apples.
Sticky Rice with mango!
There were definitely several dishes that were good enough to tempt us to lick the plates. We resisted.
In the end, the parents weren’t that impressed, but it was a great light meal. Brenda and I will do this again, definitely to go there and eat. We want to try the whole fried fish.
Kenosha HarborMarket is the top-rated farmer’s market in Wisconsin, according to HomeSnacks.net. Honestly, we misread it and thought it was the biggest in the state. Plus we already like Kenosha, so this was a no-brainer choice for a farmer’s market on a Saturday.
Located in front of the Kenosha Public Library, the market is large and well-spaced. Parking is not too bad, but you might have to hike a bit.
When we got there we were in a pretty neutral mood. Since we’ve gone to lots of farmer’s markets over the years, it wasn’t really something super-exciting, but we were in for a few great surprises.
We had walked quite a way through and there was the usual stuff, fruits, vegetables, flowers, etc. In fact, it seemed like all of the farm stands had the same things, not unusual. It seems like farmers markets could find a way to make it so that every vegetable booth isn’t selling the same exact things and almost always at the same exact prices.
There were a lot of canned items available, some crafts, and even a large jewelry booth that Brenda ended up spending a bit of time at.
This is the sign at Smokin’ T’sOur little jar of Smokin’ T’s Tomato Sauce.
The first thing that really caught our eye was Smokin’ T’s Hand Smoked Tomato Sauce. It was great, according to Bob. There is a hot version and a mild version. He hand smokes the tomatoes and onions for his homemade sauce. Brenda didn’t like it. She thought it was too oily.
This week’s theme at the market was Sweet Treats.
The Mermaid Macaron is cute and yummy!
After the tomato sauce, we encountered our first must-haves – macarons from East of Eden Bakery. We got five: Earl Grey, Lemon, Butter Beer, Black Cherry, and the Mermaid (pineapple flavored). These are outstanding! In fact, Brenda ranks them as the best she’s ever had, including the ones from Ladurée in New York City. They are the perfect texture and wonderfully not too sweet. Our favorite was the Mermaid. The pineapple taste was so bold, it was like eating a fresh slice of fruit wrapped in those amazing macaron cookies.
Mandolin Coffee Co.
Then we stopped at the Mandolin Coffee Co. We saw a syrup that was lavender flavored.
Lavender chai. Not exciting to look at, but tasty.
We asked, “What do you make with the lavender syrup?” They offered us a Lavender Chai. We got it iced since it was a hot, muggy day. It tasted mostly of chai, but if it was hot, it would probably bring out the lavender flavor. It was really popular and there was nothing wrong with it, but next time, hot will be better.
We’ve seen woodfire pizza at Bastille Days and at the Harvard Food Truck Feastival. We came across another woodfire pizza grill here brought to you by Savino’s. It’s time for a new pizza schtick. This one seems played out if we see it everywhere in Wisconsin and Northern Illinois.
Wood fired pizza is a thing. We want a new thing.
How about deep-fried mini strombolis and calzones? A) It’s fried. Yum! B) It’s portable and easy to eat while walking. Make them about the size of a McDonald’s apple pie and you’ll have yourself a masterpiece. You can premake pepperoni, but also offer to make them while people wait.
The very purple chica morada
Next up in the tour – We tried Chicha Morada, in which “purple corn juice, is made into a zesty, colorful punch with pineapple, apples, cinnamon, and cloves.” Purple corn is supposed to contain potent antioxidants and be good as an anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, while promoting blood flow, reducing cholesterol and supporting healthy blood sugar levels. This was at the very popular empanada stand.
It tasted like apple cider with clove. Not sure this will be a staple in our house, but we will definitely check it out again and see how we feel about it.
Thai coffee with little tapioca boba in it.
There was a great little Thai stand that served Thai iced coffee. We thought that might interesting. It wasn’t. It was a sweet coffee with bobas, tapioca pearls in it. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t anything exciting.
There was a fun band there called County Crossings. They were playing folk instruments and sounded great. They seemed to be having fun and were playing upbeat folk music.
The talented County Crossing playing folk music.
There was a tent for the Wisconsin Soup Company. We were excited to try their Gorgonzola Crab Bisque, but sadly they only sold it in quarts, not in bowls. We wanted to try it before we bought enough for dinner and we were out for the day. This isn’t something you want to store in your trunk on a hot summer day. This is something that would be great all year round, but let us buy a serving before we get a whole quart of it.
The Wisconsin Soup Company
St. Roger Abbey! I (Bob) can’t say enough great things about this stand. We had seen them before at the Beloit Farmers Market. These nuns bake organic, traditional French pastries, and breads. The proceeds go to support the nuns who are there selling the food and the soup kitchen that they run to help the poor.
Some of our treasures from St Roger Abbey.
We got lots of great stuff:
Brioche du Nord – Brioche with raisins. It’s sweet and hearty. It’s amazing with just some butter on it.
French Meringue – Two ingredients: organic sugar and organic egg whites. It’s hard and delicious with a great eggy taste that’s not crushed by the sugar.
Madeleines – These are delicious, lemony mini-pound cake cookies. We took them home and had them with tea like Marcel Proust.
Lemon brioche (muffin – bun?) – This was amazing. It’s a brioche with a lemon flavoring. Then there’s a surprise inside of lemon curd that we didn’t expect. Awesome!
The amazing lemon brioche from St Roger Abbey!
Then… we got sucked into Mr. Dye’s Pies. “What’s grandma gonna do now?” That’s exactly what we’re asking ourselves after tasting these pies.
The menu at Mr. Dye’s Pies!
Sweet potato – Great texture, not too sweet, and has the flavor of sweet potato and not just sugar and spices.
THE sweet potato pie
Nawlins Pecan Pie – Even the crust is great! Just when I thought my (Brenda’s) obsession with pecan pie was over – amaretto flavor! OMG!
Nawlins Pecan Pie with amaretto flavoring
Brandy Old Fashioned Cherry – Cherries in a thick filling with a bit of brandy and orange flavors. There is a slight brandy aftertaste. The flavor of cherry is natural, not cloying like artificial flavorings.
This is the Brandy Old Fashioned Cherry Pie
That was the end of our time in Kenosha Harbor Market.
Overall, an amazing place. A little bit of everything for everyone.
There was some things there that we would go back for. Give us the soup in a bowl Wisconsin Soup Company from the and Mr. Dye’s Pies and we’re there for lunch!
We would like to tell you that this was an amazing event. We love the little town of Harvard, Illinois. It’s where we get the train to Chicago. This was an event we were really looking forward to. Unfortunately, it wasn’t anything like we had hoped.
We arrived hungry. We even left the house earlier than planned because we hadn’t eaten.
When we arrived, we were able to park only a couple of blocks away.
There was a lot of anxiety and confusion about parking beforehand. The police had issued a statement that there were a lot of events in town and in Chicago so parking might be tough. They warned everyone to park in the right places. There was even confusion about whether the parking at the Metra station was free or the $2.00 normal fee. We didn’t care, but wow, that’s a lot of anxiety for a small town.
There was even a question about whether people could park at the school district offices across the street from the event. The event folks answered on Facebook, “That’s up to them.” Shouldn’t you be calling them?
Speaking of police, there were a lot of cops. They were all standing around when we arrived. They were wearing bulletproof vests and all well-armed. Not sure, but if you didn’t know where you were, you’d think you were at a police block party event.
The reason we were able to park easily was that it was raining lightly. That likely kept some people away.
Anyway, we got there and walked up to the gated area. There were volunteers standing around chatting. It took a minute or two for the man to turn around and tell us that they weren’t collecting the $5.00 fee yet. We could go in free.
Here’s the thing about the $5.00 entry fee. We went to Bastille Days in Milwaukee with three or four times the number of vendors and it was free. This little event should be free as well. Let the vendors charge $2.00 for beverages and take a dollar of it to pay costs.
We walked through looking for a specific truck that serves mashed potato egg rolls. Apparently, so said the nice lady at another gate, they backed out on Monday. That should have been noted on the event so people weren’t looking for it.
Next, we went looking for the Korean food truck. They have bibimbap we were excited to try.
It took 20 minutes to get to us. There was a food inspector who decided to inspect the truck right at noon. I’m glad she was there making sure no one would die of food poisoning, but that could have been done before people started ordering food.
We also ordered fried kimchi dumplings.
That’s when it started to go downhill.
A bibimbap is supposed to be rice with vegetables and maybe meat and/or an egg on top. You should be able to stir all together before you eat it. What we got was a bowl with lukewarm rice at the bottom, chopped iceberg lettuce on that, and a bunch of cold vegetables. There were carrots, julienned pickled ginger, sliced tofu and a couple of other things. We ordered an egg on top. All of this cost us $13.00. It was not worth more than $6.00. It was not bibimbap.
Here’s the thing: We’re kind of food snobs. We watch the Food Network and we like to eat great foods. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but make sure it’s at least an approximation of what the food is traditionally.
In the case of the bibimbap, call it a cold bibimbap salad, but not bibimbap.
Bob liked the kimchi dumplings, but again it was weird. It was mostly chili paste inside, not chopped kimchi. They were also made into rings that caused them to have a lot of hard surfaces that were hard to eat. They were very hot temperature-wise and spice wise. They’re okay, but could be better if they were made as potstickers instead of smaller pockets.
Let us say that these tasted good. It’s a bready cake that’s cooked in a spiral. They stand it on end. Apparently, traditionally, they’re served empty, but they filled ours with Bavarian cream and whipped cream. Fresh and empty with coffee, we bet this is awesome, but…
There is a problem with this as a festival food. The cake is really more bread than true cake. Because it’s cooked as a spiral and has a heavy crust, it’s really hard to tear off pieces. Since there’s no bottom, you can’t simply pick it up. Our advice: cook it as rings and stack them like onion rings, then fill them. It would make it much easier to eat as a carry-around food.
There was a band there. They actually sounded pretty good, but… “these amps go to eleven”, but should they. Imagine a small town main street where all the buildings are brick. It’s 12:30 in the afternoon and most people are sober. The music was so loud that it consumed the whole street. And to sit and watch the band, you literally had to sit on upside down plastic buckets.
Turn the music down and move the picnic tables down near the stage so people can watch and eat.
If this was their first effort in Harvard, they did okay. Everyone was nice. Nonetheless, this event could have been better if the vendors upped their food from mediocre to great and the organizers changed the layout and policies a bit.
Thanks for having us, Harvard. Maybe we can try again next year.
On a beautiful day in July 2018 in Wisconsin, we headed into Milwaukee for Bastille Days.
When you come to Milwaukee, be prepared for road construction. For every one mile of highway or street that is being worked on, you will encounter 10 miles of construction barrels.
Sometimes in Wisconsin, as was the case yesterday, you’re better off driving streets than the freeway.
You will have to dodge the potholes, but at least you won’t get stuck in a traffic jam.
This year is the 37th anniversary of Milwaukee’s Bastille Day. It runs for four days at Cathedral Square Park, 825 N. Jefferson.
It’s free for all four days. This year, it’s running form the 12th to the 15th.
There’s lots of music all day long. Lots of shops with goods from around the world.
I have been trying to get a beignet for about 13 years. I have gone to places who advertised that they sold them and the ad was wrong. I tried to have my wedding in NOLA but it wasn’t in the cards.
I know that you can buy a box mix, but I wanted to try it made first then I would know how they are supposed to taste. Bob has had beignets from Cafe Du Monde so I can rely on his memory.
Beignets
So, once the car was parked we went on the hunt for the beignet tent. There were plain ones and strawberry ones available. I went for the plain authentic version. Finally, after walking through three-fourths of the festival we saw the sign!
When we go on a food outing like this, we always share one portion so we don’t get overly full. For the beignets, it was one order for him and one for me! We even got a hot coffee to go with them, even though it was 85-ish degrees outside. Still probably cooler and less humid than being in NOLA.
They were not the traditional square shape, but they were tasty. I am a fan of yeast doughnuts and this is like a yeast donut that is very glutenous. Not for the gluten allergic!
They were so big that I could not even finish my two.
Gazpacho
Then we were on to the yellow tomato gazpacho. I have never had gazpacho. This was very good. It would be better as a shot for a buck or two. The taste was super fresh and bold. The texture was excellent.
Delicious yellow tomato gazpacho! Very refreshing!
Macaroons
At the same tent that had the gazpacho, we had macaroons. I’ve had macaroons in lots of places. It’s my favorite cookie.
I can honestly say that these macaroons were as good as any that I’ve ever had, including at a fancy French patisserie in New York City.
Macaroons were awesome!
Escargot (Escrag- no!)
Escargot is a no! Never again! Slimy, gross, gross! The taste is fine, but the texture is half fine. There is a really slimy half too. Ewww!
Escarg – NO!!!!! Yucky snails!
Praline chips
We tried something called praline chips. We were told that they were salty and sweet, but they tasted like BBQ potato chips. The chip was nice. Fresh cut potatoes and cooked perfectly, but the topping is really nothing to write home about.
These were fine chips, but nothing really special.
Egyptian rice
The Egyptian rice was great. It is rice, with macaroni, garbanzo beans, and lentils. The flavoring was soft spices that work nicely together. If it had had tzatziki sauce, it would be awesome. It was really a complete, vegan meal.
Yummy Egyptian rice!
All in all, Bastille Days is great. Bob was even able to grab a couple of books for free from the Alliance Francaise tent (where the beignets are sold). They have a lot of really nice trinkets and gifts.
Warning! Water is $4 a bottle. Since you can carry in whatever you want, save a few bucks!
This is water a $4 bottle of water looks like.
Bastille Days in Milwaukee is a great choice for families or single people. There’s a little something for everyone.
This was a great reason to go out wandering!
Thanks for wandering with us!
Milwaukee only has a small French population, but a party is a party! Milwaukee French population chart:
Wandering with my wife 