East Side Club Tiki Bar - Madison, WI

We were in town for a roller derby tournament and you know what that means ...... TIKI BARS!!! We always try to find the town's tiki bar when we're on the road for roller derby. Madison had one fairly close to the hotel we were at, so a couple of the guys and I drove over there.

When we arrived, we discovered the East Side Club was hosting a wedding inside. So we skirted the main building and followed the signs to the tiki bar, which was behind the main building. It isn't much of a tiki bar, to be honest, but it does have some of the prerequisites: super awesome bartender and rum. She whipped us up a couple of mai tais and we headed out to the patio area to view the beautiful giant lake in the middle of Madison.

Fortunately, we got our painfully uncomfortable stupid adirondack chairs just in time as some of the wedding folks began to spill out into the tiki bar area and down by the water. No big deal. In fact, we lasted at least oen more round before the torrential downpour happened:)

Overall, not impressive, but it did the job. If that's all Madison has in the way of tiki bars, then it'll have to do. It definitely treated us right.

Fred Garvin's Cottage - Hancock, WI

This isn't a review, at all. Just a couple of photos from an awesome guy's weekend we had at Fred Garvin's family's cottage in central Wisconsin. Basically, we played disc golf the whole drive there, fished/drank/slept, and then played disc golf on the way home. Fantastic relaxing weekend with great friends and great golf.

Spicy Cheesy Core Burrito from Taco Bell

I like to try out all the new stuff that Taco Bell launches. I'm a huge fan of their test kitchen and think they are actually pretty innovative in the fast food world. Their new Cheesy Core Burrito had me intrigued, so I checked it out.

It's a standard burrito, but it's folded/rolled in such a way that there's a little tube on the inside that you can fill with cheese (and in this case, jalapenos). It's not fancy, and it isn't going to look perfect every time, but it IS a way to get more pump cheese into my facehole. I like where they were going with this.

It's on the list of "just ok" and "perfectly edible", which isn't a bad thing. It just isn't going to change my regular order to include one of these. Sure, every once in a while, I'll get one, but I'm not planning to stand at the drive through and convince people this is the holy grail. I liked it just fine and surprisingly, it wasn't terribly messy, like I suspected it would be. Maybe because I ate it so fast. I do like the flavor and ratios of this thing, so I was still pretty pleased with the burrito I got.

You did, as always, really well, Taco Bell. Thank you.

Off-menu Monstrosity from Chipotle - The Quesarito

If you're bored sometime, google "menu hacks" and you'll find multiple lists of things you can order at restaurants that aren't on the menu, but that can either be assembled by the line workers or by you. It's great fun to be horrified at some of the things that people have come up with. What's even more fun is going to a restaurant with a like-minded friend and eating those monstrosities.

I've done a few of these culinary adventures with various people, but I know that my co-worker #1Fan is always up for abusing his stomach. We've eaten the Land-Air-Sea Burger and the McGangbang at MacDonald's a while back and we were due for another one of these. This time... Chipotle!

The Quesarito was our target. Picture this: a burrito from Chipotle is delicious, right? What if you took the tortilla and made it into a quesadilla filled with cheese and then wrapped that burrito with it? Brilliant! Sometimes, if the integrity of the thing isn't secure, they'll wrap it with another tortilla to hold in the guts.

The best way to order this is to do it online before you go. I found this out when I called the store and asked how I pre-order this thing. The guy at the counter told me to go ahead and put in the order online and in the comment section, just say, "Make this a quesarito". They'll have it ready for you when you arrive and it doesn't slow down the line too much during a lunch or dinner rush. I worked splendidly! They were ready just after we arrived and paid for our burritos. Magic.

The thing is pretty fat. It's the size of a Yorkie, we decided. It's difficult to get your hands around it, but surprisingly, it held together the entire way through. Very impressive. The first bite or two is mostly tortilla. The folds at the end add up, so you have to power through the first two bites before you hit the innards. Then you're in heaven. The amount of cheese is monumental and worth the first two tortilla-full bites.

We actually thought these weren't going to be that filling, but we forgot about the double or triple amount of cheese. While we were both pleasantly full, it truly wasn't a challenge to get this thing finished. In fact, we discussed how we could bump up the challenge for next time. We've got some horrific ideas, if you were wondering. Thankfully, this thing was really tasty (like all Chipotle burritos are), and I'd definitely order this again. Totally worth it. (sometimes place upcharge you for the additional tortillas, and sometimes they don't. Just shut up and pay whatever they tell you. It's going to range from the price of a regular burrito up to the price of a full burrito AND a full quesadilla - there's no set price, so be ready to pay whatever they ask. You're totally inconveniencing them, so be thankful you got one at all.