Door County Weekend Trip – Part 1

My guy decided that we needed a little getaway and asked if I was interested in a long weekend in Door County. I jumped at the opportunity for a mini-vacation with him and checking out a part of the state that I haven’t been to in decades.

We headed out Friday morning and had a smooth ride up to Sturgeon Bay.

Once in Sturgeon Bay, we stopped at The Draft Haus for lunch. The bar has a nautical, sports bar feel – light fixtures made out of boat wheels and awesome etched mirrors with sports team logos on them. Our server recently moved from Milwaukee to the DC–she welcomed us and told us a bit about the area. It was at this bar that I tried the only Door County beer of the weekend, Door County Brewing Polka King Porter. It was pretty heavy with coffee and hops but it warmed me up on the cold day.

From the menu, I chose the Asiago Chicken sandwich that came topped with a sundried tomato and kalamata olive spread. It was really tasty. The warm chicken melted the spread and brought the flavors together well. 

My guy had a giant walleye sandwich, that was the special that day. It came with fresh tomato and really good tartar. I found out my guy doesn’t understand the value of a pickle after a meal. That is one of my favorite parts of the meal! A crisp pickle spear is lunch’s dessert. I got half his pickle from him 🙂

After lunch, we had some time to burn before we could check into the B&B, so we decided to drive around and explore. The Wisconsin Motorcycle Memorial is in Sturgeon Bay, so we made a stop hoping to pay our respects to a fallen rider friend. I found out from the family that this park is the only one of its kind in the US currently. Although the memorial bricks were covered with icy snow, and we couldn’t find his, the park was very peaceful. You can see and feel the love that friends and family of fallen riders have put into the park.

After the memorial stop, we tried to check out a few stores on Hwy 42 but had no luck–they were closed for the season. We back-tracked to downtown Sturgeon Bay and walked the main drag, wandering in and out of stores. We found a great antique shop and picked up some unique finds, and the owner suggested we check out two other antique shops in the city that would be open this time of year. We also found a candy shop with amazing chocolate dipped pretzels, a home decor store with cute Christmas items on sale, and a really interested kitchen gadget store. You want a gadget, they had it!

Then it was time to head to the Chanticleer Guest House and check in. It’s out of town a bit on a back country road. When we arrived, I already loved it. The barn building is adorable from the outside and it’s the main building for the B&B. Next to it is another building with guest rooms and both face an open field where we saw lots of animal prints in the fresh snow. I’m sure in the morning, guests see lots of wildlife.
  

We met one of the owners and got the key to our cabin. Chanticleer built four cabins across the road from the main building tucked into a wooded area. My guy thought this would be a little more private for us and we would have our own kitchen to cook together in. He is always thinking about my love of food, not to mention he is a huge fan of my cooking 🙂

Here is a video tour of the cabin.

Because my video doesn’t do justice to the beautiful sunset, here is our view from the upstairs of the cabin.

Although we had a full kitchen, we did decide to go out to eat for night one. Many friends told me we had to try Wild Tomato and to get there early so you don’t have to wait. Wild Tomato is located in Fish Creek, so we got in the car and headed north up the peninsula. We arrived shortly after five pm and the restaurant was already hopping. It’s not a very large place–a community table for eight, six tables of two and a bar that seats four people is the entire dining area. The wood-fired oven is viewable from all the tables. It was very awesome to watch the cooks toss the dough in the air and move the pizzas around in the oven.

The last seats left in the place were at the community table, so we joined another couple whose meal was already in progress. We picked out wine and beer to enjoy and then had the daunting task of deciding on a pizza. Everything sounded so good and the place smelled soectacular. Our server informed us that we could do half and half but substitutions aren’t allowed. I let my guy pick and he made the decision to do half Fun Guy and half Sausage and Pesto.

The pizza was beyond amazing. The crust was thin and crisp at the edges but softer in the middle. Our server brought us freshly grated Parmesan too. My first piece was the Pesto and Sausage. The sausage had a ton of flavor and wasn’t too spicy. The pesto tastes fresh and was a nice compliment to the sauce and sausage. I really enjoyed this slice, but it didn’t compare to the Fun Guy slice I had next. The onions were caramelized perfectly and the garlic cream cheese sauce was amazing. I couldn’t figure out all the different mushrooms but each held its own on the pizza. My guy loved the Sausage and Pesto the most and raved about the sausage and how much flavor it had.

I wanted to eat more but I just couldn’t find any more room in my tummy. We took half the pizza back with us to the cabin. Then it was time to for us to relax after a long day of driving, shopping and eating.