Driftless Cafe has been written up on many food sights and we looked forward to trying this farm-to-table place.  It was about a 2 hour drive from Madison, where we flew in.  Chef/Owner Luke Zahm was a 2017 James Beard semi-finalist for Best Chef Midwest as well as recognized with a Madison “Local Hero Award” and the host of “Wisconsin Foodie.”   There are over 200 certified organic farms in Vernon County, the second highest concentration of organic farmers in the U.S.  Zahm bases his dinner menu on what is seasonal and fresh from these farms and it changes daily.  They serve lunch and dinner Tuesday through Saturday.  The original structure has been expanded to include adjacent buildings so there are several rooms for seating.  We were in the original space that has tree trunks cutting through the room.  The room had light woods, tin ceiling, music in the background and art for sale on the walls. Bench seating lines one wall that had windows to the street on one end and the service counter on the other.  While I applaud his  restaurant concept the food did not live up to the hype on our visit.  Not sure if it was an off night or the combinations weren’t to our liking but I really wanted to like it more than I did.  It’s not easy when you visit once and declare whether you endorse a place or not.  I’d have to say I hope you’ll try it and let me know about your positive experience because I think the place is capable of much better.

Set-up

Food

Our starter was a braised pork belly, glazed with a miso honey and mixed with a watermelon cucumber salad and feta cheese in a chilled cantaloupe gazpacho with pickled red onion, basil and mint.  The pork belly was the driest pork I’ve ever had.  It had no succulence.  The watermelon was sweet and nicely ripe while the gazpacho was thickened and sweet.  The leaves had little flavor and overall it was an odd combination of flavors but the dry pork was what ruined the dish.

All entrees come with a house salad.  I chose blue cheese dressing and my huband got a maple vinaigrette.  Both dressings came in cups on the side.  The mix of greens were topped by shaved carrot and cherry tomatoes (they forgot my husband’s and had to bring them separately,.  I dislike having to toss unwieldy ingredients on the plate rather than having them come dressed but more importantly neither dressing had much flavor.  I found a slight spark when I combined both of them but this was sad for such lovely ingredients.

Some pork ribs were brushed with a raspberry barbecue glaze on top of chipotle smashed potatoes with braised local greens on the side.  A corn and jalapeno cornbread with maple miso butter was also hidden underneath.  Unfortunately the ribs suffered from the same dry pork that the belly had.  The very sweet sauce couldn’t save them.  The mashed potatoes were tasty but the cornbread pieces were sweet and gummy.  The local greens were kale and I enjoyed the sweetened chewy greens more than my husband did.

Thai red curry was with fried filet beans, eggplant, and tempura fried delicata on jasmine rice topped with basil, mint and lime.  The curry sauce came in a separate pitcher with a strainer for the leaves in it, which unfortunately made it pour very slowly.  I finally dumped it all on and just picked out many of the leaves.  A lovely variety of vegetables were in the dish but the curry was way too mild.  The delicata were fun while hot but faded afterwards.