Revisiting Benders Sports Pub in West Bend, Wisconsin

By definition, pub grub foods are not gourmet.  Most can be recreated at home which is one reason to stop in for a few new ideas.  They tend to be on the inexpensive side.  In general, pub grub foods involve greasier types of food as well as snacks but that all depends on the pub.   Some pubs give you complimentary popcorn or peanuts and while this makes you feel good, the pubs know these salty freebies will get you drinking more (usually beer) where they actually make their money.  Most pubs offer daily specials, weekly entertainment and other incentives to get you in the door.  They even encourage this with low priced or two for one drinks during happy hour.  For the most part, pubs are just pleasant places to spend a bit of time.  With that in mind, pubs are still one of the best values for your eating out dollars. Oh and many pubs are kid friendly as well.

I shared our experience vising Benders Sports Pub in West Bend, Wisconsin in 2011.  On that visit the focus was on their famous jumbo garlic wings as it was lunchtime but I had a feeling this pub had a bit more to offer.  We had the opportunity to stop there again with the kids a couple of weeks ago.  So, we stopped in for dinner on the Sunday of our visit for dinner.

We ordered the deep fried cheese curds ($7.99) with ranch dressing and 20 boneless wings ($14.99) with three different sauces, ranch dressing and celery.  The deep fried cheese curds were amazing!  Their wings are rather good too.   Chicken wings tend vary in size considerably.  One place we frequent has good wings one week but the next week they are over cooked and quite small.   We certainly were not disappointed in flavour or quality at Benders.

Quesadillas have become typical pub grub fare that are easily duplicated at home.  The nice thing about quesadillas aside of being easy and inexpensive to make, is they are very versatile.  You can use any meat, go meatless, with or without cheese, and the dipping sauce possibilities are endless. 

My husband ordered the quesadillas with steak ($9.99).  It was made with a blend of cheeses and steak sandwiched between two large flour tortillas.  It came served with fresh lettuce, chopped tomatoes, sour cream and salsa.   It was declared good and really when you are eating out that's all that matters. 

Sunday is taco night at Bender's!  One of our kids ordered the chicken tacos at $2 each.  The soft tacos consisted of chicken, lettuce, chopped tomato, topped with cheddar jack served on a soft taco.  Sour cream and salsa were included.  The filling was quite generous making this a very inexpensive yet tasty meal. 

This is another easy and inexpensive dish to recreate at home that can even use left over shredded or sliced meats.  Tacos make for a quick meal as well so if you are rushed, they are something to consider.  I like keeping cooked meat, shredded cheese and other toppings on hand just for this very purpose.

One of our kids ordered the Swiss mushroom burger ($8.99).  Strips of marinated portabello mushrooms topped the burger pattie that was smothered with Swiss cheese sandwiched between a toasted bun. It was served with lettuce, tomato and Benders homemade chips.  The burger quite looked delicious!  You really can't go wrong with that combination.

Homemade chips are very easy to make with thinly sliced fresh potatoes and a deep fryer.  If you want a healthier version, you can bake them in the oven.  This lowers the fat content but still gives crispy results.  You can easily control the sodium content by making homemade chips either way.

Spaghetti with homemade marinara sauce served with a side garden salad and soft garlic bread stick is a odd offering for pub grub food so I ordered that.  I was in the mood for pasta and besides how bad could it be?  The salad was the average iceberg lettuce with a couple of cucumber slices, tomato wedges and onion slice served with choice of dressing.  The pasta itself was just a bit over cooked for my liking but the sauce had a nice flavour.  Overall it was a rather decent meal for $8.99.

We really enjoyed our second visit to Benders Sports Pub.  Most of their dishes do make use of that gorgeous Wisconsin cheese.  The atmosphere was nice, the food good and the company stellar.  I know I'm a bit biased but any time I get to spend with my kids is always going to be a good time!  We don't get to see the kids in Wisconsin as much as we would like.  Facebook, texting, Facetiming and calling are all great but in person is better.

Our one kid immigrated to Wisconsin when married so there are some things missed about Canada, especially certain Canadian foods.  I taught them how to cure a pork loin for pea meal bacon and even brought the Morton's Tender Quick which was rather amusing at airport security - white substances even in their original packaging do draw attention.   We brought three large canisters of Tim Horton's coffee with us something that customs usually checks.  I also brought home canned salsa for a taste of home.  We brought back some lovely Wisconsin cheese.  It was a wonderful visit filled with lots of great food.  I can't wait until our next visit!

A Foodie Train Ride Road Trip

My husband and I have itchy feet or what some refer to as wander lust.   Honestly, had we not had kids, I doubt we ever would have settled down.  Not that settling down and establishing roots is a bad thing it's just there are so many places to see, so many adventures and my gosh the food possibilities are endless.  We are beyond pleased to have become established, creating firm roots for our kids and grandkids, but we still have a bit of wander lust yet to expore.

A couples of our kids and family live in Wisconsin so we try to get there two or three times a year.  The problem with driving from Ontario to Wisconsin is you have to go down under the bottom of Lake Michigan and let me tell you with the lake effect, that stretch of highway is beyond brutal in the winter.  So this trip, we decided to take the train.  If you have not traveled by train especially for a longer distance, this is a must do on your bucket list!

We seriously have coolers and insulated food bags at home, on the boat, at the vacation home and in both vehicles.  Well, we arrived at the train station for our early morning 6 AM departure, opened the trunk and all we had was the large insulated food bag.  I'm sure it would have worked fine but my husband insisted we would buy another cooler in Wisconsin with the size depending on the amount of cheese being brought home.  He felt the insulated bag would not keep the cheese cool enough for the over 8 hour trip.

Only foodies would buy a cooler to bring home their stash of goodies :)  We stopped at Cedar Valley Cheese Store where we delighted in stocking up on cheeses.   Then we stopped to buy a cooler to fit our purchases.  He bought the 28 quart Igloo Island Breeze cooler which just fit all of the cheese leaving just enough room for the light lunch and yogurt we purchased at the grocery store for our lunch on the train before the switch-over.  Now, we were travelling rather light with two back packs (one almost empty for other purchases), the computer case (computer, iPad) and we had a spare cloth shopping bag just in case.  The nice thing about traveling by train is there's no liquid restrictions and coolers are allowed (50 lb or under with size restrictions) plus we only had to get the cooler from the rental car to the train then to the next train on switching then to our car and finally in the house but it was considerably less complicated than flying.  If traveling by train, I highly recommend not getting a cooler larger than this as when filled, this cooler just comes under the size restrictions.

I have blogged several times about Cedar Valley Cheese Store in Wisconsin.  The store has expanded and now offers gift boxes, wines and imported cheeses along with their own cheeses. You can order online with shipping via UPS or USPS.  You really cannot appreciate this cheese without visiting the store though.  It does have some of the best cheese in Wisconsin although I may be just a tad biased.

Pictured is our Cedar Valley Cheese Store purchase of just over $140.  The only cheese I bought that was not from Cedar Valley was the English Blue Stilton.  We bought a total of about 30 lb of cheese: 6.3 lb whole milk mozzarella cheese, 3.57 lb sharp cheddar, 3.64 lb white mild cheddar, 3.84 lb medium chedar, 3.26 lb colby jack, 3 lb low fat cheese strings, 2.23 lb cheese curds, 1.21 lb cheddar garlic and dill, . 90 lb swiss premium grade and .19 lb of the Stilton.

Our kitchen refrigerator is stuffed with cheese but make no never mind, I will put it to good use!  It's a toss up what will be first - poutine using those beautiful cheese curds or a cheddar beer soup. Of course, lasagna is a given as is homemade mac & cheese.  Stay tuned ...

Benders Sports Pub in West Bend, Wisconsin

We love discovering small, family owned restaurants featuring home style cooking during our many travels.  Don't get me wrong as some of the chain family restaurants are quite good but there is some unique about the family owned and operated ones.  We have visited a few attractions in Wisconsin, one of our favourite being the Cedar Valley Cheese Store in Belgium, Wisconsin.  West Bend is located in Washington County in the heart of the Kettle Moraine in southeastern Wisconsin.  It is about forty minutes north of Milwaukee.  It was home to West Bend Aluminum Company (later named the West Bend Company) that first produced a water dipper and cookware in 1911. In the 1920's West Bend introduced the Waterless Cooker and Flavo-Drip coffee maker and continued introducing new small kitchen appliances  through the 1990's.  The West Bend Aluminum Company remained in West Bend until 2003 when it was purchased by Focus Products Group, LLC headquartered in Lincolnshire, Illinois.  Back to Basics appliances joined West Bend during the 2000's after it was bought.  The West Bend brand celebrated it's 100th anniversary in West Bend, Wisconsin on September 27, 2011.

Benders Sports Pub is located in a small strip mall at 1102 E. Paradise Dr. in West Bend, Wisconsin.  This small family owned and operated pub has been in business for five  years. Don't let the modern facade fool you as the pub is packed full of delightful charm with a warm and beckoning atmosphere.  The wait staff is extremely friendly!  The food is delicious and the prices are quite reasonable.  There are daily specials and various events like college and trivia nights throughout the week as well as Green Bay Packers specials on Sundays.  They even have a couple of slot machine that are rumoured to be rather lucky.  It really is just a fun little pub!

Benders Sports Pub is famous for its jumbo garlic wings (pictured) and there is a story behind them.  Owner Tim fondly remembered the famous Mr. Chibs Garlic Buffalo Wings in Philadelphia.   He flew to Philadelphia, told the owner of the restaurant about the new restaurant he was opening then asked if it would be possible to get the Mr. Chibs Garlic Buffalo recipe.  The Philadelphia restaurateur gave him the recipe without hesitation.  That is how Benders got its famous, award winning jumbo garlic wings!

Mr. Chibs Chicken & Ribs Restaurant is located at S. Lenola Rd & Kings Hw in Maple Shade, New Jersey on the outskirts of Philadelphia about 8 miles to the east.  While they don't have a website I did find their menu online.  It will be a restaurant to discover when we are in the Philadelphia area.

We just had to try the jumbo garlic wings.  Don't they look delicious?  Oh they were mouthwatering, nice and garlicky, dripping with butter!  That is fresh garlic on the wings too.  Five of these beauties cost $7.99 and they were worth every penny.  Chicken wings are ever so easy to make at home.  This will be one recipe I will be working on a clone for after the holidays.

The Cheesecake Factory (Glendale, Wisconsin)

A bit of research prior to a road trip will help uncover some of the must stop at eateries. A great way to find out about these restaurants is by asking the locals. Another way to find restaurants worth stopping at is through online forums and reviews. Sometimes you get luckyEither way

I usually make a no bake cheesecake, mini cheesecake delights or mini cheesecakes but not baked cheesecakes. Perhaps I should clarify that to say I have successfully make a baked cheesecake. I'm determined to master the finer art of making baked cheesecakes. The Cheesecake Factory gets rave reviews of making the best cheesecakes there are so I was quite excited to have the opportunity to visit one during our road trip. Thanks to this stop I am now quite inspired at trying baked cheesecakes again so watch for those results coming soon.

The Cheesecake Factory

The Cheesecake Factory has several locations throughout the United States. We visited the location at 5799 N. Bayshore Drive in Glendale, Wisconsin. The Cheesecake Factory offers eat in dining, a bar and bakery and a catering service. The atmosphere is quite pleasant leaning on the elegant side. Their menu is available online although there are no prices included. Cheesecake can be bought online for home delivery as well. Shipping is by FedEx is additional and only to US destinations except for New Mexico, some Alaskan zip codes, colleges/universities or hospitals. Be warned they are on the pricey side at upwards of $50 for a 10-inch.

Cheesecakes Galore

We did not eat in the restaurant but rather bought individual slices of cheesecake at an average of $7 per slice. Each slice along with whipped cream on the side is packaged into a clam box. For cheesecake lovers this is a must stop! There are so many flavours to choose from ranging from plain to Godiva chocolate and everything in between. It's enough to make you drool in anticipation.

The most notable thing about The Cheesecake Factory cheesecakes is the silky smoothness. The texture is just a delight! I now know what to strive for in my baked cheesecakes. Let the experiments begin!

Cedar Valley Cheese Store, Belgium, Wisconsin

Wisconsin is the dairy state so it just wouldn't do to visit there and not bring home cheeses. We bring a cooler for traveling that keeps drinks and snacks cold on the way there and additional folding cooler. On the journey home we make several stops filling up the coolers as desired. Cheese makes up a good portion of what we bring home but fish and some meats often are added to the coolers.

Cedar Valley Cheese Store

I wrote about the Cedar Valley Cheese Store in Belgium, Wisconsin the first time we visited. This is one of must stop at places when in the area. While the store is small and off the beaten path it is well worth the stop! They make one of the best cheese strings I've ever tasted and they are packaged in bulk so there is none of that pesky individual packaging to deal with.

I really love visiting this cheese store. They have lots of samples to help you with your choices. The store is nicely laid out with cheeses well labeled to help in your in your selection. They also have a wide variety of other food items that pair nicely with cheese including gourmet jams, jellies and pastas. I bought 4.02 lb cheese sticks, .90 lb white cheddar curds, 3.58 lb colby, 3.59 lb cheddar and 4 lb of butter. Butter was on sale for $1.50/lb! I would have bought more but we still hadn't decided when exactly we were returning home. We had freed up the week so there was a very good possibility we would not be home before Thanksgiving Sunday (Oct. 11). That would mean keeping the cheese on ice for almost a week. The cooler weather really worked in our favour!

Papa Murphy's Take 'N' Bake Pizza

Part of the fun of traveling is discovering new eateries! After an afternoon of shopping the we stopped to pick up pizza. This was any kind of pizza parlor as we know them. Instead of the regular pizza parlors where you order your pizza then wait for it to bake to take home this pizza parlor assembled the pizza for you then wrapped it along with baking instructions. The nice thing about this is even if you run into a bit of a delay getting home the pizza is still piping hot when served.

Papa Murphy's

We stopped at Papa Murphy's Take 'N' Bake Pizza located at 815 South Main Street in West Bend, Wisconsin. The pizzeria is located in a small strip mall with plenty of parking (1). It is small and has no baking facilities on site. You can call ahead with your order or order on site. On the wall behind the counter there are racks for prepared pizza dough (2) and orders ready to be picked up (not pictured). Baking instructions are included with your order and for good measure there is a large disclaimer poster on the wall (3). Essentially they are not responsible for burnt pizza due to your cooking skills.

You can watch your pizza(s) being made. That's the start of our stuffed pizza (arrow, 4). Oh my did it ever look yummy! The pizza comes on an oven proof coated cardboard tray so all you have to do is unwrap and pop in the oven. The wrapping is a simple plastic wrap to protect the pizza until you get it home. We ordered 3 pizzas to feed 6 people.

Mediterranean & Cheese Pizzas

Each pizza was cooked individually according to the instructions. I was quite impressed that it was as simple as turning on the oven, unwrapping the pizza then baking. While the pizzas were baking we were able to unwind and relax then eat as each pizza came out of the oven.

The cheese pizza pictured on the top had a medium thick crust. It was topped with a tasty, aromatic tomato sauce and almost a full pound of bubbling cheese. This is a popular choice with the kids' teenagers. We really enjoyed this pizza that shone in it's simplicity. There were no fancy toppings or flavours. It was just the pure essence of pizza that really made this pizza delicious!

The Mediterranean pizza pictured on the bottom had a thin crust and was topped with a tasty, aromatic tomato sauce, Asiago cheese, sundried tomatoes and spinach. The flavours on this pizza were mouthwatering delightful! The thin crust really worked well too. This will be one pizza I will be duplicating at home.



The belle of ball of the pizzas we ordered was the Chicago-Style stuffed pizza. The stuffing consisted of salami, pepperoni, Italian sausage, beef, onion mix and cheese. The top was garnished with roma tomatoes, green onions and cheese. It was interesting watching this pizza being assembled. That fancy crust detail took only a few seconds!

The Chicago-Style stuffed pizza had gorgeous eye appeal after baking (top right). I just love all the detail from the fancy edge to the garnish! Cutting into the pizza (bottom left) it was easy to see this was not going to be any run of the mill pizza. Doesn't that slice (bottom right) look yummy? Let me tell you this pizza was a total taste sensation!

The crust used for this pizza was not quite thin but not quite medium. I'm going to be testing out a few pizza dough recipes to find one that will work for making stuffed pizzas. Please check back for the test results and what I come up with.

Le Gourmet Chef & Woodman's Food Markets

Road trips are always an opportunity for use to explore which sometimes means taking side trips or little jaunts off of our route. We were making excellent time towards our destination thanks to Lucy the TomTom we borrowed from one of our kids. So we decided to make a couple of stops to do a little shopping.

Le Gourmet Chef

Our first stop was at the Prime Outlets at Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. The outlet is located at 111211 120^th Ave just off of I-294. My husband wanted to check the Nautica outlet so I headed over to Le Gourmet Chef. I love browsing through kitchen stores! Notice the word browsing because I still tend to be quite frugal in my purchases even though there are so many tempting goodies. I splurged on the KitchenAid® food strainer attachment at $49.99 but this will really help me in making sauces by reducing the strain of using the manual food strainer. I also bought a lemon zester and rosette maker but I displayed remarkable restraint at not buying a lot of other really neat kitchen goodies.

Purchases

Our next stop was at Woodman's Food Market located at 2919 N. Lexington Drive in Janesville, Wisconsin. Woodman's is an employee-owned supermarket chain in Wisconsin and northern Illinois. They have thirteen warehouse style stores. These stores are massive in the 200-250,000 square foot range, in comparison to the 50-75,000 square foot size of typical grocery stores. The one we stopped at had to be about 3 times the size of the Sam's Club we shop at. There is no way I could shop this size store on any regular basis. I found it too big, too massive, to over sensory stimulating just too big! I made it through about a third of the store before my husband rescued me.

What I like about stopping at different grocery stores is the variety of foods available. I tend to buy things I can't get at home, regional foods or foods I've seen on the FoodNetwork. When out of Canada I also have to be aware of what I can bring back into Canada. So it really is a very selective type of buying and while I do have a small list there is a bit of impulse buying.

My purchases (pictured): Morton's Tender Quick, pickling lime, rice flour, Thai sweet rice, green goddess deressing 100% pure key lime juice, Tahini and anchovy paste.

Note: The two fry coatings were bought at Cabella's not Woodman's but they insisted on getting into the photo shoot. :)

A Foodie Road Trip in Wisconsin

It wasn't a planned foodie road trip but rather a trip for visiting the kids in Wisconsin. That didn't stop me from making a list of what I would like to pick up because I knew we would be going shopping on the Saturday. I managed to buy some rather interesting food items some of which will be used for holiday gift giving and entertaining so be sure to check back over the next few days to see how I used them.

Cake & Bake

One of our first stops was Cake & Bake in Germantown, Wisconsin. I love shopping in these types of stores mostly for ideas! I also like buying a few items to make something different. I didn't buy a lot there coming out with a Santa candy mold, three cookie cutters, Christmas jimmies, Dora the Explorer® party favours and mint flavoured chocolate waffers.

What I really like about these kinds of stores is being able to get a large variety of molds and cookie cutters for a very low price. Quite often cookie cutters are priced at 99¢ or less. Candy molds are more expensive at $1.99 and more. There is just so much to see! I like watch the cake decorating classes in session and it always smells so good in cake and baking stores.

World Market

I discovered WorldMarket® a few years ago on the food network. This is a chain store that I find quite amazing! The closest one to us is a fair drive so I only get to shop there two or three times a year but they also sell online so I might try that sometime. The closest WorldMarket® to the kids is only about a 15 minute drive so of course we had to stop.

This store has just about everything kitchen and entertaining related from furniture to dinnerware to kitchenware and of course the part I like the most foods from all over the world. There is a large wine and beer section as well. Each of the food aisles is divided into the country of origin for easy shopping. Spice blends and herbs are incredibly inexpensive at WorldMarket®. The smaller 7 g (.25 oz) bulk packages are 99¢ and the 85 g (3 oz) packages are $1.99. They also carry specific spice blends used in regional cooking as well as regional sauces.

I didn't buy a lot this trip and much of it will be used during the holidays. My purchases included: dobla dark Belgian chocolate dessert shells, Albatros® mini toasts, certified organic Japanese secha green and tropical roast mate teas, basil oil, Azienda 100% Italian extra virgin olive oil, Bronco Bob's roasted mango chipotle sauce, Argentine steak rub, Ghirardelli intense dark premium assortment chocolates, Hengstenberg Bavarian style sweet mustard, curry powder, Herbs de Provence, lavender and cinnamon sticks.

Jelly Belly®

I don't keep a lot of candy in the house mainly because no one eats it. What candy we do have in the house tends to be homemade in small batches usually for entertaining purposes. The commercial candies I'm partial to are Maynards wine gums, sour suckers and black licorice while my husband likes an occasional chocolate bar and jelly beans.

The kids gave us a Jelly Belly® dispenser and a 2 lb bag of the gourmet jelly beans. Now this is just a really cute gift! You have to put a quarter in it then twist to get out 5 jelly beans. It is going to be a huge hit with the grandbabies and for entertaining matching nicely with my husband's circa 1973 jukebox (picture here).

Cheese & Butter

Each region of the countries we travel have must bring home foods. Wisconsin says dairy mainly cheeses. Not only are they good quality cheeses they are fresh and inexpensive. I gave a bad rap to cheese sticks (strings) in one Frugal Kitchens 101 post. I should have clarified that I am against individually wrapped cheese sticks not the bulk cheese sticks that some cheese factories like Cedar Valley make available. These would be a frugal, environmentally friendly substitution to the individually wrapped cheese sticks and they taste so much better! They are quite large so I would pull them in half for children. Our other dairy purchases included: 3 lb butter, mozzarella cheese, Swiss cheese, brick cheese and medium cheddar cheese.

Dinner

Saturday morning before heading out shopping we enjoyed a lovely bacon and eggs breakfast. One of the kids cut up beef tenderloin then poured over a homemade marinade. We left the house just after lunch and didn't finish shopping until close to 6 pm arriving back at the house about a half hour later. It would have been so very tempting to stop somewhere to eat out. We were exhausted! Instead of sitting in a restaurant making the night longer we were able to go back to the kid's house, change into comfortable clothes and wrap presents while dinner was cooking.

The beef slices were broiled to perfection forming a lovely, rich and flavourful beef au jour. Sides were mixed vegetables and mashed potatoes with sour cream and cream cheese.

Cedar Valley Cheese Store

Cheese is a staple in our home! Many of the grocery stores here store brand sell cheese in bricks and often but the 900 g bars on sale. While they are named (sharp, cheddar, colby, marble, mozzarella) they basically taste all the same for what little taste they have. A step up in flavour are those bars by Kraft and Cracker Barrel. I seldom buy either of the store brand or brand name cheese because I do find them lacking in flavour. Some stores in our area sell cheese from Pine River Cheese Factory located on Hwy 21, 6 kilometers south of Kincardin, Ontario. We always stop there when in the area. Pine River Cheese has an online store if you can't find it in your area. The cheese is shipped in special coolers packed with ice by ground so they do not deliver to PO boxes. Other cheeses like Emmental, Asiago, Havarti, Swiss, Gouda, Parmesan etc are available as well as specialty cheeses. While these are more expensive than the store brand or brand name they are considerably more flavourful and well worth the extra cost. This means that in some dishes you can reduce the amount of cheese without reducing the flavour of the dish. So spend that little bit extra for good quality cheese.

Cedar Valley Cheese Factory

I had been looking forward to our Wisconsin trip not only to share the milestone wedding but also to stock up on cheeses. I have heard so many good things about Wisconsin cheese so planned ahead by bringing a large cooler. We stayed at the kids from Thursday through early Sunday afternoon and enjoyed cheese each day. Talk about a cheese lover's mecca!

Saturday the kids took us sightseeing. One of our first stops was the Cedar Valley Cheese Store located in Belgium, Wisconsin just outside of Random Lake. Shown in the picture is the back of the massive factory. Midway up in the photo in front of the second white sign there is a road that the factory faces. Not visible in this photo as we are on Side Road 57 is the store which is tucked into the far left corner facing the road in front (Jay RD) of the factory.

Cedar Valley cheese can be ordered by calling them at 920-994-9500. A list of their products can be found on their website. They do not recommend having cheese shipped between May and August but next day service is available. Shipping is by UPS or USPS so they will ship to PO boxes by USPS.

Cedar Valley Cheese Store

Pictured is the store portion facing Jay Rd. of Cedar Valley Cheese, makers of fine Italian cheese. Not shown is the massive factory portion extending to the left of the store. The store in tucked into the far right corner of the factory with ample parking out front. There are plenty of signs so you won't miss it regardless of what road you take.

The store is bright, cheery and spacious yet small in comparison to the factory. There is a entrance before the doors entering the store. There you can find pamphlets for other area attractions as well as store notices. The main attraction here is of course the cheese!

Cheese!

The store portion is not all that large. As you enter the store to your left is a table with various cheese samples. The aroma of smoked cheese greets your senses. Samples that day included string cheese, fresh mozzarella ball, tomato bruschetta and Sesmark Savory thin sesame rice crackers. Lining the wall behind are gift shop items. To your right and running the length of that wall is various foods, jams, jellies, maple syrup, honey and anything else that goes nicely with cheese. A wide aisle separates this wall from the cheese coolers that run the same length. There's cheese, cheese and more cheese! Just before the coolers, closer to the doors is an open cooler with specialty cheese including some for taste testing. Above this cooler are cheesehead (the name for Green Bay Packer's fans) hats.

Our Purchases

I can't help but share the purchases we made. Immediately you will notice the focus was on cheddar cheese. There is a method to our madness! Cheddar is our most used cheese so we go through a lot of it. I want quality cheddar with lots of flavour. Our second most used cheese is mozzarella but really we use a lot of cheese. I have a cheese keeper in my fridge that is the size of a vegetable crisper, a nice selling feature for the fridge. It is usually stuffed with various cheeses spilling out onto the cheese shelf. As you can see a good portion of refrigerator space is dedicated to cheese.

Their cheese strings are award winning so I had to get two packages, one for snacking on there and one to bring home. They come in a plastic bag with a tie or vacuum sealed. There is no difference in quality only in packaging. I should also mention that their cheeses with the exception of cheese strings, curds and shredded cheese are vacuum sealed. Vacuum sealing extends the self life of the cheese. Cheese is one of your more expensive food items so vacuum sealing is a must. When I use cheese, I cut from the block the amount I want to use then immediately vacuum seal the remainder.

• garlic cheddar (0.89 lb)
• white cheddar mild (1.24 lb)
• 2 year aged cheddar (1.13 lb)
• garden monterey jack (0.84 lb)
• mozzarella (1.34 lb)
• mozzarella (1.29 lb)
• red wax cheddar longhorn (1.15 lb)
  
• string cheese (0.76 lb)
• 1 year sharp cheddar (3.37 lb)
• white cheddar curd (0.79 lb)
• two tone cheddar curd (0.87 lb)
• shredded mozzarella (1.72 lb)
  

Be sure to check back often to see some of the foods I make using cheese bought on this trip :)