I owe a great deal of my home cooking inspiration to social media. Take for instance, the post from Goodkind restaurant I ran across last weekend on Instagram.
My first instinct was: "Whoa. I’ve got to get there and eat THAT." But, a quick look in my wallet told me that staying home was the more prudent thing to do (after all, it’s not like I would stop with poutine; I’d have to get one of their great brunch cocktails and then…)
I’ve made an occasional habit of recreating restaurant dishes at home. And I’ve had pretty good luck with both the artichoke a la mode pizza from Pizza Man (I was suffering from withdrawal when the original restaurant burned down) and the Stendler burrito from Comet Cafe (which is the best way -- ever -- to use up leftover corned beef).
Most recently, I replicated the salted honey pie from Honepie Cafe -- mainly because they don’t put it on their menu half as often as I’d like (OMG, so good).
So, I looked around my kitchen to see what ingredients I had on hand.
Potatoes – check.
Eggs – check.
Milk – check.
Breakfast sausage – check.
Cheese curds – check.
All the necessary components were there, with the exception of the arugula (but I had kale and parsley in the garden, so I figured I’d just make a quick substitution in that case). And I always like a nice excuse to drag out the deep fryer. So, the challenge was on.
I chopped up some of the Yukon Gold potatoes in my pantry, and then soaked them for a good half-hour (could’ve gone longer, but I was hungry). Then I gave them a good drying with kitchen towels and left them to air-dry the rest of the way. In the meantime, I fried up some breakfast sausage and made a quick milk gravy. When the gravy was just about done, I double fried and salted my potatoes, and whipped out a nice three-minute egg for the top.
It took about an hour, all told. But, when I finished I had a pretty darn good replica of Goodkind’s breakfast poutine. And I can’t lie. It was pretty amazing.
Now, of course, I’m dying to try the "real thing." So, I guess I’ll have to head over to Goodkind one of these days for brunch. If I’m lucky, they’ll also have the pork doughnuts on the menu (cuz a girl just ain’t got the time to make those herself).
BTW, I have it on good authority that the breakfast poutine is on the menu again this weekend at Goodkind. So, feel free to head over on Sunday and try it out for yourself. I’d love to know what you think.
As a passionate champion of the local dining scene, Lori has reimagined the restaurant critic's role into that of a trusted dining concierge, guiding food lovers to delightful culinary discoveries and memorable experiences.
Lori is an avid cook whose accrual of condiments and spices is rivaled only by her cookbook collection. Her passion for the culinary industry was birthed while balancing A&W root beer mugs as a teenage carhop, fed by insatiable curiosity and fueled by the people whose stories entwine with every dish. Lori is the author of two books: the "Wisconsin Field to Fork" cookbook and "Milwaukee Food". Her work has garnered journalism awards from entities including the Milwaukee Press Club. In 2024, Lori was honored with a "Top 20 Women in Hospitality to Watch" award by the Wisconsin Restaurant Association.
When she’s not eating, photographing food, writing or planning for TV and radio spots, you’ll find Lori seeking out adventures with her husband Paul, traveling, cooking, reading, learning, snuggling with her cats and looking for ways to make a difference.
