Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Carol Deptolla

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on flavors at Kickapoo Coffee, Steaming Cup

Big salads benefit from dressings made in the kitchen, like the mustard vinaigrett­e for roasted beet and arugula.

People can’t live off coffee alone, even if some have been known to try. Here are two coffeehous­es where I’ve particular­ly enjoyed the food lately, one a newer Third Ward cafe that brews coffee roasted in Viroqua, the other a longtime Waukesha coffeehous­e that changed hands last year.

Kickapoo Coffee Cafe

Kickapoo Coffee Cafe gleams like a coffee laboratory, washed over in sunlight that passes through enormous glass windows across the front of the building.

In this clean-lined cafe owned by Scott Lucey and the Viroquabas­ed Kickapoo Coffee Roasters, the menu is minimalist, too, though it spares nothing when it comes to flavor and quality.

Biscuits are at the center of this brief menu, and they’re terrific: light and tall and tender.

Served with butter or sweet toppings for breakfast, the golden biscuits are turned into sandwiches for lunch.

Smoked trout ($9) made an especially fine sandwich, layered with roasted red pepper, microgreen­s and some crème fraîche.

There are two more: avocado, shredded carrot and sun-dried tomato pesto ($8) and roast beef, red onion and horseradis­h ($8).

The soup lately is smooth, soothing carrot curry ($6, or $8 for a bowl with a biscuit); the soup, from Bavette, changes every few weeks.

At the counter are jumbo cookies ($2.50), including the Blind Date, sweet with dates and coconut.

Streusel-topped mini coffeecake­s are a natural with any of the precisely made pour-over coffees and the notable, excellent cortado, served in a petite jar.

Biscuits and sweets are baked on site from recipes developed with Allison Sandbeck of Crumb in Viroqua.

The cafe is sort of a best-ofViroqua showcase — it also sells Wisco Pop soda, including honeysweet­ened cherry.

If all you want is water, two self-serve taps in the counter dispense sparkling and still, a thoughtful detail.

232 E. Erie St. (414) 269-8546. kickapooco­ffee.com Hours: 7 a.m.- 7 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday.

The Steaming Cup

It was a good sign last summer when the buyers of the decade-old Waukesha coffeehous­e the Steaming Cup were a couple with years of fine-dining experience.

Jason and Cristina Tofte met at Eddie Martini’s; he was the chef for 10 years, and she later managed restaurant­s for Sanford and Angie D’Amato.

These days, made-from-scratch soups and more are prime reasons to visit the Steaming Cup, aside from the coffee from Minneapoli­s’ Up Coffee Roasters.

Soul-satisfying soups vary by the day, like grilled eggplant one day, chili with sweet potato and red quinoa another ($3.75 cup, $4.75 bowl).

Big salads benefit from dressings made in the kitchen, like mustard vinaigrett­e for roasted beet and arugula with almonds, goat cheese and tomato ($8.75).

Roasted meats are sandwich stars, such as beef stacked on a ciabatta roll with caramelize­d onion, arugula, tomato and horseradis­h ($9.25), or pulled pork with ham, cheeses, pickles and mustard ($9.25).

But the cafe combines jack, cheddar and Muenster for a perfectly gooey grilled cheese ($7.95) with bacon and tomato, and brightens a grilled hummus wrap ($8.25) with pickled onion.

Sandwiches come with tart house pickles and sides like redpotato salad or fruit salad in fine cubes.

The bakery case might hold the excellent house coffeecake ($3.50) flavored with coffee, fittingly, among its offerings.

Wednesday to Saturday nights, musicians play at the cafe, one of several spots within a block with live music. It’s a completely pleasurabl­e evening for the cost of a bite or a sip and a stop at the tip jar.

340 W. Main St., Waukesha. (262) 522-3605. thesteamin­gcup.com Hours: 6:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 6:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday.

Contact Carol at (414) 224-2841, cdeptolla@journalsen­tinel.com or on Twitter @mkediner.

 ??  ??
 ?? / MSEARS@JOURNALSEN­TINEL.COM ?? The Steaming Cup in Waukesha serves up a beet salad with house-made mustard vinaigrett­e.
/ MSEARS@JOURNALSEN­TINEL.COM The Steaming Cup in Waukesha serves up a beet salad with house-made mustard vinaigrett­e.
 ?? / APETERSON@JOURNALSEN­TINEL.COM ?? Biscuits, such as this one filled with smoked trout and roasted red pepper, are at the center of the menu at Kickapoo Coffee Cafe.
/ APETERSON@JOURNALSEN­TINEL.COM Biscuits, such as this one filled with smoked trout and roasted red pepper, are at the center of the menu at Kickapoo Coffee Cafe.
 ?? / APETERSON@JOURNALSEN­TINEL.COM ?? Kickapoo Coffee Cafe is streamline­d like a coffee laboratory; plants, wood and pops of color give it warmth.
/ APETERSON@JOURNALSEN­TINEL.COM Kickapoo Coffee Cafe is streamline­d like a coffee laboratory; plants, wood and pops of color give it warmth.
 ?? / MSEARS@JOURNALSEN­TINEL.COM ?? New owners repainted the Steaming Cup in downtown Waukesha in warm tones.
/ MSEARS@JOURNALSEN­TINEL.COM New owners repainted the Steaming Cup in downtown Waukesha in warm tones.
 ?? / MSEARS@JOURNALSEN­TINEL.COM ?? The Steaming Cup roasts meats for its sandwiches, such as beef for the Bomb, with cheddar cheese and caramelize­d onions.
/ MSEARS@JOURNALSEN­TINEL.COM The Steaming Cup roasts meats for its sandwiches, such as beef for the Bomb, with cheddar cheese and caramelize­d onions.
 ?? / APETERSON@JOURNALSEN­TINEL.COM ?? Dark chocolate chips flavor a jumbo cookie at Kickapoo Coffee Cafe.
/ APETERSON@JOURNALSEN­TINEL.COM Dark chocolate chips flavor a jumbo cookie at Kickapoo Coffee Cafe.

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