Wisconsin Foodie

– Luke: This week on Wisconsin Foodie ... - Lauren: Farmhouse is a breakfast, brunch, lunch restaurant on Madeline Island.

A lot of the philosophy of Farmhouse is just bringing simple family recipes that maybe aren't extravagant or complicated in any way but using good ingredients and putting our own internal twist on it.

- I've never really met a pork sandwich that I didn't like.

- I think ultimately, I started making food because I was a wildlife biologist.

That's my degree.

So, to connect people with what they're eating and where what they're eating is coming from like that brings all the biology back together.

– Announcer: Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters: [energetic music, cash register rings] [gift card rustling] [pouring a beverage] [mystical swirling] [heart beats "lub-dub"] [bell chimes as door opens] - The dairy farmers of Wisconsin are proud to underwrite Wisconsin Foodie , and remind you that in Wisconsin we dream in cheese.

[crowd cheering] Just look for our badge.

It's on everything we make.

- At Organic Valley, our cows make milk [cheerful whistling] with just a few simple ingredients.

Sun, soil, rain, and grass.

[bubbles popping] And grass, and grass.

– Cow: Yee-haw!

[angelic choir music] - Organic Valley Grassmilk, organic milk from 100% grass-fed cows.

[banjo music] - Employee-owned New Glarus Brewing Company has been brewing and bottling beer for their friends only in Wisconsin since 1993.

Just a short drive from Madison, come visit "Swissconsin," and see where your beer's made.

[upbeat music] - Wisconsin's great outdoors has something for everyone.

Come for the adventure, stay for the memories.

Go wild in Wisconsin.

To build your adventure, visit d-n-r dot w-i dot g-o-v. - From production to processing, right down to our plates, there are over 15,000 employers in Wisconsin with career opportunities to fulfill your dreams and feed the world.

Hungry for more?

Shape your career with these companies and others at fabwisconsin.com.

- With additional support coming from The Conscious Carnivore.

From local animal sourcing to on-site high-quality butchering and packaging.

The Conscious Carnivore can ensure organically raised, grass-fed, and healthy meats through its small group of local farmers.

The Conscious Carnivore, know your farmer, love your butcher.

- Additional support coming from the Viroqua Food Co-op, Central Wisconsin Craft Collective, Something Special from Wisconsin, Crossroads Collective, La Crosse Distilling Company, as well as the Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

[clapping along to energetic music] - Luke Zahm: We are a collection of the finest farmers, food producers, and chefs on the planet.

We're a merging of cultures and ideas shaped by this land.

We are a gathering of the waters, and together, we shape a new identity to carry us into the future.

[clinking glasses] [scraping knife] We are storytellers.

We are Wisconsin Foodie .

[paper rustling] [dramatic electronic music] Behind me is beautiful Bayfield, Wisconsin, and it literally serves as the last point of departure for where we're gonna check out today.

We're on a ferry line, and we're crossing over to Madeline Island, where the restaurant 'Farmhouse' lives and operates.

[door bell jingles] - Lauren Schuppe: Farmhouse is a breakfast/ brunch/ lunch restaurant on Madeline Island that has an Inn next door with six sweet little rooms.

A lot of the philosophy of Farmhouse is just bringing simple family recipes that maybe aren't extravagant or complicated in any way but using good ingredients and putting our own internal twist on it.

Our idea here is to expose people to the produce and the food that's available in the region but also to understand what it means to eat sustainably.

And so, we have to kind of make up our own rules a lot of the time.

I think a lot of people who come to Madeline Island think that there's gonna be lots of options like you would have available in any larger city.

But I think what people don't necessarily realize about Madeline Island is that it's small and that the year-round population is, you know, only 200, and, you know, roughly 50 people, but the options that are here, I think, is part of the charm.

Living sustainably and sourcing things locally has always been a passion of mine, even in my personal life, so I think that the deeper philosophy is that it helps enrich the community that you live in.

And so, I've always wanted to be a part of a community that was self-sustaining in that respect.

So once we get to the fall, we pick up the school lunch program.

So Gip kind of splinters off and deals with making the food for the kids Monday through Friday.

– Gilpil Matthews: This is my third year as a lunch lady.

And I liked doing it.

Before I even actually had the job doing it, I would help out.

They're actually not as big of protein eaters as I thought they would be.

They also do not like junk food.

I can't serve them processed cheese food.

They won't eat it.

- The big idea mainly is that the kids understand where their food comes from and they're very integrated, have a school garden back here, but they also participate at the community garden where they actually seed and plant out, you know, a fair amount of the food that we then use in their lunches.

A lot of big schools deal with distribution companies that sort of have a list of foods that they-- are the "okay" foods, and you have to sort of choose from that.

We are fortunate enough to have a small enough situation that we get to use a lot more local foods, which is not typically the case in a lot of schools, unfortunately.

We only have 17 students, which makes it a little easier.

- Yeah, we got a food shipment coming up here.

Oh, yeah, it did just come.

Yeah, so we have to go down to the dock and pick up food from one of our farms.

They bring it over on the ferry, So they'll drop it off.

It's called a "dock drop."

They'll drop it off on the other end, wheel it off, and then call you and tell you that it's here.

Oh, cool, we got leeks, lettuce or kale, apples.

[folksy music] - Luke Zahm: Coming across the water, I'm struck by the energy, beauty, and the feeling of separation that only islands somehow provide.

I'm excited to meet up with Lauren and her husband, Gip, from the Farmhouse, and hear their story and try some of their take on Wisconsin's island cuisine.

[door bells jingle] Do you ever kick yourselves for not opening the restaurant on the mainland?

– Lauren: No.

– Gip: No.

- Okay, you hesitated for one second.

Like, were you really searching your feelings there or whatever?

- I was.

[Luke laughing] Maybe I was thinking of opening a restaurant, period.

[Luke and Gip laughing] - Well, and of course you would maybe have a little easier, like easier time on the mainland sourcing product and all those things, but that's what makes this special.

– Gip: Living out here and being able to be our own entity every single day is great.

– Luke: Sure.

– Gip: There's never a day, even if you, you know, you have those hard days where at the end, I can look out at the lake and that, to me, is good enough.

– Luke: Sure.

I know that, like, we came in here and this is the shoulder season.

So, it's quite a bit quieter than the couple of other times I've been here, which is nice.

It's good to finally get to meet you and hang out.

But I wanted to taste some stuff that like you would normally have here because the food is always really good, but I want to be able to show it to the rest of the world.

So, what are we gonna try?

– Gip: Thai toast plate.

Pan-fried-in-butter toast, peanut butter on top of that, a slow egg, carrot slaw, with a cilantro oil and some hot sauce topped with fried Thai rice noodles.

- So, fried rice noodles on top.

Oh man, that's, that's hot.

I love these things.

They get so crispy and ridiculous.

And they have a little chew to them, too.

So, this, on first impression... Like, I love eggs.

Eggs are my jam.

And what I wanna do is I wanna get that egg as dispersed on this toast as I can.

That yolk, like he was talking about, is a little creamy, custardy.

It looks beautiful.

These are one of those foods that like, you can literally eat it with a fork, but I feel a lot more comfortable using my hands.

Here we go.

Bite number one.

[crunch] So, all those flavors, they kinda, they collide together perfectly.

You know, you get that same essence as like a Thai peanut sauce, which is really rich and luxurious.

And I think that the surprising part about a deconstructed plate like this is you look at it and your brain interprets it one way, but then when you actually put it in your mouth it all comes together in that cohesive process, which is awesome.

That was delicious.

But what do we have coming out next?

- I can do our Korean barbecue sandwich and we'll put a side of the smoked yolk Caesar on the side.

– Luke: Smoked yolk Caesar?

– Gip: Yes.

The Caesar has micro greens that some friends of ours grew on the mainland and some of the kale that we just picked up from the ferry and the sandwich is a sourdough with a house-made hoisin sauce, slow braised pork, Giardiniera pickles, and house-made kimchi.

- Oh, that looks beautiful.

I feel as if I have to try the salad first.

I can smell it.

I can smell that smokiness and also there's that richness of the Caesar dressing.

There's that fish.

Like, it has a really, really pleasant odor and you know, salad's good for you.

That's delicious.

So I can say, honestly, I've made a lot of Caesar dressings and I've never done a smoked one.

I think this is really, really playful.

The garlic is right where you'd want it to be with the Caesar.

You know, kind of pushing that envelope a little bit, but it's really nicely balanced with the acid and then the fish and just the general creaminess of the eggs, as well.

The richness of that Caesar with that smokey element coming at it from a couple different angles, it's almost the sensation of bacon and you know, a bacon salad that contains no bacon is quite possibly a miracle.

It's delicious.

I would eat this every day.

Now it's time for the main attraction.

And that's a tall order given the amazingness of the Caesar salad.

Here we go.

I've never really met a pork sandwich that I didn't like.

[crunching] That's really good.

The crunchiness of the Giardiniera, the pickles, is banging.

You really get a chance to have a lot of different mouth feels going on.

And then, when the flavors come through... That hoisin!

Hoisin is best described as like an Asian-style barbecue.

You get a little bit of sweet and you get a little bit of spice, a little bit of salt, but it's one of those comforting, pleasing sauces that, you know, American diners, we love it.

The funk in that kimchi kind of pushes through that a little bit.

And then the richness of the pork.

It all works.

The sourdough doesn't fail you there.

This was delicious.

But the thing that I taste most of all, and it's the taste that's nearest and dearest to my heart, it's all the amazing energy that you guys are putting into this food, into this place.

To be in here is like taking a step into any one of our family members' homes, where you feel welcomed, you feel seen, you feel acknowledged, and you feel comfortable.

And I think a lot of that comes through the mentality of sourcing ingredients the way you do: by not taking shortcuts, by being pillars in your community, and holding people up around you to create the world that you want to see.

When you think of the future of the cuisine at Madeline Island, what do you all see?

Like, what does that look like?

– Gip: Going forward, we're trying to make our menu smaller, but yet more complex and local at the same time.

So I think going that direction, instead of trying to grow larger, larger, larger, larger, larger we're kind of going smaller, smaller, smaller, smaller, smaller, but more efficient.

- Our restaurant, by nature, is a luxurious experience.

And I think that we both agree that offering a luxurious experience as far as having available what we have available is a incredible way to build on sustainability and take it into a different form.

How can we diversify what people's idea of breakfast or lunch or dinner is, you know?

- I'm so glad you can taste the flavors of this island, and I can't wait to come back.

[gentle music] [upbeat music] The second stop on our tour of the islands takes us across the waters of Death's Door.

We're looking forward to meeting Heidi Gilbertson of the aptly the named Island Caf & Bread Company and checking out pizza night, a favorite with island locals and the tourists alike.

- Hi there, I'm Heidi Gilbertson.

We're standing in Island Caf and Bread Company on Washington Island in the middle of Northern Lake Michigan.

Okay, so two sandwiches and four smoothies.

– Customer: Yeah.

- I think ultimately, I started making food because I was a wildlife biologist.

That's my degree.

And I think instead of being a biologist, I decided I would feed people because not everyone cares about the frogs and the snakes and the butterflies, but everyone eats food every single day.

So to connect people with what they're eating and where what they're eating is coming from like that brings all of the biology back together.

All of our produce that we can get from the island comes from the island.

Hoot Blossom Farm, Folk Tree Farm, or Island Harvest.

The biologist in me wanted to make bread.

And then, the reality is, like, you can't just make bread if you're dealing with this few people.

So what can you give them with the bread?

Espresso and coffee goes with baked goods, which I was also doing besides the bread and then sandwiches and pizzas and everything else kind of goes with bread.

When I first moved to the Door, nobody was really doing anything like fresh food.

And now it's like a cornucopia of anything you want, especially in August and September and even October up here.

We're like the smoothie capital of Washington Island.

It's very seasonal in terms of your customers.

So say June through May, you have the 750 people who live here, and they all go out at the exact same time every day for breakfast and then the same time for lunch.

And so, you know in those months, like, who's coming and when.

But then, it's a tourist destination.

So your business goes from a trickle to like a full-on storm, maybe within the course of a week.

While this year, the beginning of the season was terrible.

Nobody was traveling anywhere, even after the lockdown ended.

But then there was a week where all of a sudden, everyone was traveling everywhere, and the island has been way busier than ever before.

We've had a closed door all summer.

So everyone comes to the door and takes their food away or goes and sits in the parking lot tables.

Everything's from scratch here.

So it takes longer than maybe they think it's gonna take.

And this year, people just don't seem to care that much, which is nice.

[upbeat music] We do pizzas every Monday.

I think I've done pizza every Monday for 13-ish years.

It started very small, and then there were nights where we did 165 pizzas out of this little space.

People, especially in the summer, islanders: they want a thing to do.

They want a routine, some kind of any routine.

And especially in this COVID year, routine is way more important to people.

[upbeat music] - Luke Zahm: So, what is going on here right now?

What are we doing?

– Heidi: Right now, we're making Diana Ross with extra stuff on it.

– Luke: So what, what is the motivation for a pizza named "The Diana Ross"?

- So I just wanted to make pizza that had like you know, Naples, Italy, when you get a pizza, it's got a smear sauce, it's got a little bit of fresh cheese, and then they throw it in the oven, and it gets really crispy, and then they throw some fresh basil on it.

That's the kind of pizza I wanted to make, okay, but the people wanted all the stuff on their pizza.

Our best best-selling pizza is right here.

The Diana Ross.

So they wanted all the stuff on their pizza like a supreme pizza.

So I was like, all right, a Diana Ross.

- I get it now.

- I didn't want to call it a Supreme pizza.

I wanted to call it, you know, something different.

– Luke: I was like, why not the Quincy Jones or the Stevie Wonder Pie?

One of the things that I see happening on Washington Island is this, like, local food movement.

What is it like to watch this kind of, you know, take flight by your work, by your actions to see what's happening here?

- I mean, when I first moved up here, no one cared about this.

No one was doing this sort of, I didn't start anything here, but I definitely got people thinking about it more, I think, and doing some of the same things, and that's really cool.

It's really cool to see more and more people like, "Oh, she's doing that.

We can do that."

Like, "Let's all do that."

And then we can support these farms that are trying to make it here.

– Luke: Heidi, talk to me about your relationship with food.

How long have you been here on the island?

– Heidi: This is actually my 13th year on the island.

- Okay.

- Unbelievably, 13th year.

But mostly what I want to do is make a place for people to come together and hang out and eat, drink, be merry, and then, give people a place to work that they care about working.

I think people feel really comfortable here no matter who you are, where you're from, what you do in your life.

You know, food is love.

Love comes from the kitchen.

The heart of your home is your kitchen.

"The Remy" is a pizza that was created by Trevor Olsen, who helped me all summer for the last three summers making pizzas.

He like took on pizza night as his thing.

And we were talking about all this produce that we had coming in from the farms, and Casey and Sean at Folk Tree were like, "We have all this broccoli.

We don't have anything to do with this broccoli."

I'm like, "Well, I'll take it."

And then, "Oh, we have all this eggplant."

Like, "Okay, well, I'll take the eggplant and the peppers and the tomatoes."

And like Trevor and I just sat around talking, "What can we do?"

And he's like, "Let's make, let's make Ratatouille on a pizza."

And then, we had to call it "Remy."

'Cause you know, the rat is Remy.

So almost everything except for the cheese, and, of course, it's Wisconsin cheese 'cause why would you use anything else?

That whole pizza is all about the island.

It was like the island.

We should call it the Islander, the Remy.

Ratatouille on a pizza, all island, except the cheese.

- This looks amazing.

And I can't help but notice that you have a pile of tickets back here.

- Mm.

- I'm wondering if there's a possibility we can throw this in now and I can taste this so I can get out of your hair.

- Perfect.

We'll throw it in the oven.

We'll get you guys a nibble and then, I'll carry on.

- I can't wait to try the pizza and taste the flavors of the island and the community that supports it.

- I would say tonight's our biggest big night because everyone is leaving for the summer after today.

I'm going to get all emotional on you because these people mean a lot to me.

A lot of the people that are gonna come tonight haven't been anywhere all summer because they've been staying away from gathering places because COVID.

They're coming out to support the caf.

'Cause that's what they do, the locals that are here all the time.

And then, these kids have one last hurrah to show off what they do best.

[gentle music] - Heidi: Luke?

Pizza for Luke!

- Yeah.

– Heidi: Anybody seen Luke?

Oh, hey, there you are.

[Luke chuckles] - Yes.

- A Ratatouille pizza.

Everything from the island.

- Yeah, thank you so much.

- You're very welcome.

- This is amazing.

Not only do I get to eat this pizza that literally is the essence of this place.

I get to eat it in the company of somebody who's also a Driftless native, which is so awesome to see out in the world, doing amazing things.

Thanks so much, Heidi.

- Thank you, Luke.

Thanks for coming, you guys.

- Of course.

We appreciate it.

Boom!

Elbow bump.

This pie, the Ratatouille pie, is the essence of the island.

Hoot Blossom vegetables, that Wisconsin cheese, the tomato jam.

All these things come together to culminate in this!

This is a restaurant of stories.

The tickets on the line, the people that are working and taking your order, every single one of them has a story.

And the beautiful part about a community like this is that they're all appreciated.

As a chef though, this looks delicious.

This is the taste of summer.

And I can't wait.

That crust is dynamite.

Like, literally, it's one of the best crusts I've ever had.

It's that careful calculation between like crispy and chewy.

And it serves as like a palette for all the flavors that are on top of it.

To be able to visit a place like Washington Island has an exotic feel to it.

Taking the ferry, finding yourself on an island, but to taste something that is so enmeshed in comfort and love and community is truly a one-of-a-kind experience.

The flavors of Door County, and the peppers, and the eggplant, the pesto, the tomato jam, the cheeses, all the garlic.

Like, I get a little bit of that hot mouth feel.

That's some good stuff.

The salt, the black pepper that's cracked on top.

Everything about this lends itself to balance.

And as a chef, that's one of the things I look for the most in cuisine.

How does it balance?

Is one flavor out of sync with the rest?

And this is wonderful.

It's a medley of like the way things are here.

It's a medley of summertime.

It's a medley of people, of stories, of faces that comprise the community of Washington Island.

[Bruce Springsteen parody] Oh, I'm on fire You're watching on the TV at your home Maybe you're watching on your phone, it's true You got a crazy desire This television is made right here at home Wisconsin is the greatest state in the Union I'm not saying that because I get paid to, it's true I got a mad desire Oh, we're gonna set Illinois on fire [Luke chuckles] Woo hoo-oo!

- Announcer: Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters: [energetic music, cash register rings] [gift card rustling] [pouring a beverage] [mystical swirling] [wind whooshes] [heart beats "lub-dub"] [bell chimes as door opens] - The dairy farmers of Wisconsin are proud to underwrite Wisconsin Foodie , and remind you that, in Wisconsin we dream in cheese.

[crowd cheering] Just look for our badge.

It's on everything we make.

- At Organic Valley, our cows make milk [cheerful whistling] with just a few simple ingredients.

Sun, soil, rain, and grass.

[bubble popping] And grass, and grass.

– Cow: Yee-haw!

[angelic choir music] - Organic Valley Grassmilk, organic milk from 100% grass-fed cows.

[banjo music] - Employee-owned New Glarus Brewing Company has been brewing and bottling beer for their friends only in Wisconsin since 1993.

Just a short drive from Madison, come visit Swissconsin, and see where your beer's made.

[upbeat music] - Wisconsin's great outdoors has something for everyone.

Come for the adventure, stay for the memories.

Go wild in Wisconsin.

To build your adventure, visit d-n-r dot w-i dot g-o-v. - From production to processing, right down to our plates, there are over 15,000 employers in Wisconsin with career opportunities to fulfill your dreams and feed the world.

Hungry for more?

Shape your career with these companies and others at fabwisconsin.com.

- With additional support coming from The Conscious Carnivore.

From local animal sourcing to on-site high-quality butchering and packaging.

The Conscious Carnivore can ensure organically raised, grass-fed and healthy meats through its small group of local farmers.

The Conscious Carnivore, know your farmer, love your butcher.

- Additional support coming from the Viroqua Food Co-op, Central Wisconsin Craft Collective, Something Special from Wisconsin, Crossroads Collective, La Crosse Distilling Company, as well as the Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

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