The cliché “we’re regulars” is a bit of an understatement for our family. Whenever someone comes to visit from out-of-town, Ellas is a mandatory stop on our makeshift Madison tour. A friend of ours introduced my husband and I to Ella’s before kids and we were hooked even then (now it’s just easier to point obnoxiously at all of the things flying and moving around the room without seeming like you’ve lost your mind).

On the top of a hill, smack-dab in the middle of suburban sprawl sits the same restaurant on the same spot it claimed over fifty years ago. If you think, “this can’t possibly be right,” take faith and keep driving. You’ll see a sign for The Lookout Bar and Grill around the next bend.

Be honest now. Back in the day (before the mini additions to the family) you rated the best places to watch any game, no matter how big, by how sexy the servers were, how cold and cheap the beer was, and obviously, how plentiful the TVs were. Now you worry whether your kids are even invited, and dream of a place with cold beer, TVs, sexy servers and a gigantic game room or daycare.

Anyone new to Organ Piper Pizza in Brookfield, Wisconsin (Western Milwaukee Suburb) will notice two things right away…a full house and a smile on every face. It’s fun to watch them take it all in. The lights, the games, the crowd. And, then, the giant Wurlitzer pipe organ on the far side of the room. And by giant, I mean all-encompassing in a non-invasive way.

I lived in Wisconsin for five years. Until recently, I thought I knew cheese. Heck, my arteries are probably as hard as a cheese hat at a Packer’s game in late November. Then, one day last summer my neighbor Tracy, from St. Louis (as in Missouri!), introduced me to a little thing called provel cheese.