Daisy Café and Cupcakery

I wound up having the day off today but I couldn’t stay at home.  The maintenance guy was going to be at our place all day installing new oak floors.  Bonus.  This means, however, that my kitchen is completely inaccessible given that all of our living room furniture is camping out in there.  This would be the perfect opportunity to try out the Daisy Café and Cupcakery, which I had driven by many times but had yet to see for myself.

I have to admit I was a little confused when I walked in.  It almost looks like a self-serve restaurant where you order at the counter but for future reference, you should wait for your server at your table.  I recognized my waitress from Monty’s, who was very pleasant and helpful but also more or less let me enjoy my meal without subjecting either one of us to artificially sweet small talk.  I like that, especially when I’m dining alone.

I sat down with an Isthmus and the menu and immediately I found myself in a bit of a food crisis.  There were several meatloaf options (the turkey pesto meatloaf with feta nearly won me over) and although my better judgment told me to avoid the Wisconsin Pride Burger – a half pound patty with cheese curds and bacon on top – I may just need to go back so I can try it.  I didn’t even look at the brunch options, delightful as I’m sure they were, because I was having enough trouble choosing from the lunch entrées.  Best to keep things simple.

I wanted to get something that I hadn’t seen anywhere else and so after getting a nod of approval from the waitress when I asked about the New Mediterranean sandwich, I sealed the deal.  The New Mediterranean sandwich is comprised of thinly sliced deep-fried eggplant with mixed greens, tomato, edamame hummus and a cucumber yogurt sauce between soft whole grain pita.  I loved that the eggplant remained crispy and the fiesta veggie slaw on the side had a nice kick – I could taste the cayenne and jalapenos against the coolness of mayo and cilantro.  My sandwich looked and tasted great, but I could barely taste the edamame hummus, which was one of the components I was really excited about, and the yogurt sauce may have been too heavy – most of it wound up dripping onto my plate.

A recommendation would be to thicken the consistency of the yogurt sauce (or even use Greek yogurt and add fresh cucumbers to the salad) and bulk up the hummus serving.  Otherwise, it was a highly satisfying meal and I appreciated that everything had a homemade quality to it.
I had to get a cupcake at the cupcakery.  I chose the chocolate mocha cupcake.  I couldn’t quite place what was in the frosting but the consistency was delectably smooth and airy – probably due to whipped cream and/or egg whites in the mix.  I thought the cupcake itself was a bit on the plain side.  Although it was very moist, the top of mine had obviously run into another cupcake and been forcibly split.  I’m down with eating aesthetically imperfect cupcakes, but my thought is that these little things might count to some people.  I walked in with the impression that I might find some really crazy flavors or garnishes but everything was pretty basic.  And that’s okay.  I was very happy with my mocha chocolate cupcake, but as the café expands and develops, it might be nice to go the extra distance with garnishes – for example, a chocolate curl or a chocolate covered espresso bean could have been a nice touch.