In a recent profile here at OnMilwaukee.com, 5 O'Clock Steakhouse executive chef Rich Alvarado predicted the next big restaurant trend to be "economy discount / economy dining. BOGOs (buy one, get one) and coupons ..."
In at least one Milwaukee suburb, Alvarado appears to be right on track.
In Hubertus -- where the population hovers between 5,000 and 6,000 -- a landmark Wisconsin restaurant built in 1845 is trying something new to draw in diners -- a buy one, get one free dinner special that runs Sunday through Thursday.
The "new" Fox & Hounds Restaurant and Tavern, 1298 Friess Lake Dr., spent many years in the Ratzsch family before the current owners, Thomas Masters (also owner of the Mineshaft in Hartford), took control with his brother, Will, and Jim Constantineau.
I visited the Fox & Hounds to scope out its new BOGO special and was pleasantly surprised. Ambience here is worth the haul from Downtown Milwaukee on a weekday -- the décor is amazingly woodsy and old-fashioned, and the clean scent of fresh country air and a wood burning fire hits you in the parking lot, making you yearn for springtime.
The mammoth building that houses Fox & Hounds is perched just off of Highway 167, two miles east of Holy Hill. The interior features a labyrinth of rooms, many with fireplaces, exposed brick, and beams. We were seated in a nook off the main dining room floored with tiger print carpet, and several buck heads were mounted on the walls. The dim lighting and the table configuration made the seating comfortable and woodsy, rather than garish.
Dinner entrees on the buy one, get one special include steaks, ribs, pasta and seafood dishes. All come with choice of soup or salad, vegetables, and choice of potato, and most are moderately priced, in the mid-to-high teens and low 20s.
Dinners begin with a bread basket and flavored butter of the day. On our visit, it was cinnamon butter, which would have been great with breakfast toast. Salads come with mixed greens and fresh slices of cucumber, red onion and a smattering of grape tomatoes.
We sampled the Fox & Hounds' "famous" settlers stew ($16.99), which came served in a porcelain skillet with piped garlic red skinned mashed potatoes over the top, and was a good portion size with thick gravy, and solid flavor. Pan-fried Northwoods walleye with almonds ($19.99) was also decent, with a side of mashed potatoes and steamed green beans and carrots. Considering the reasonable price, this was a solid meal.
Including a moderately priced bottle of red wine, dinner for two rang in at just $49.11. The stew was our free meal, so otherwise dinner would have run more than $67, which admittedly, is still pretty good. Fox & Hounds gives you the ticket to show you pre-promotional pricing as well so that you can adequately tip your server.
The buy one, get one free promotion runs Sunday through Thursday, with no slated end date for now. But, notably, Friday and Saturday specials also come at reasonable prices, and if you're in the area and looking for an inexpensive, solid meal, Fox & Hounds may be exactly what you're looking for.
Amy L. Schubert is a 15-year veteran of the hospitality industry and has worked in every aspect of bar and restaurant operations. A graduate of Marquette University (B.A.-Writing Intensive English, 1997) and UW-Milwaukee (M.A.-Rhetoric, Composition, and Professional Writing, 2001), Amy still occasionally moonlights as a guest bartender and she mixes a mean martini.
The restaurant business seems to be in Amy’s blood, and she prides herself in researching and experimenting with culinary combinations and cooking techniques in her own kitchen as well as in friends’ restaurants. Both she and her husband, Scott, are avid cooks and “wine heads,” and love to entertain friends, family and neighbors as frequently as possible.
Amy and Scott live with their boys, Alex and Nick, in Bay View, where they are all very active in the community. Amy finds great pleasure in sharing her knowledge and passions for food and writing in her contributions to OnMilwaukee.com.
