I started working when I was 14 years old, bussing tables at a bar and grill. By the time I was in high school, I was flipping burgers at the same establishment. A few years later I tried my hand at waiting tables. When I returned from college over summers, I bartended. The typical tavern fare over those nine years stayed fairly stagnant for the patrons – grilled meat and deep-fried carbs, mostly – but the staff was always busy concocting new recipes by combining the few ingredients we had. We carved people out of potatoes and deep fried them; we made a cake from pancake batter; we made cheese curd wraps and sandwiches; we mixed and matched sauces; we filled burgers with god-knows-what. Our experiments occasionally caught on with regulars and became infamous secret orders. But we were far from the only ones doing this. As Volume One has uncovered during the past three years of the Eat Scene dining guide, restaurants throughout the Chippewa Valley have employees that are inventing the next great culinary creation.

OFF THE MENU: Old-Fashioned Soda and Frozen Hot Chocolate
RESTAURANT: Dairy Queen
TIPSTER: Jesse Johnson, soft serve server 
    When you work at an ice cream place, as Jesse Johnson can attest, the options are almost limitless for combining fruit, nuts, candy, and other tasty treats to your ice cream. And while the items that made Dairy Queen famous (Dilly Bar, Blizzard, Misty, etc.) are always solid snack options, some employees have turned to new creations. “Imagine an old ice cream shop in the 50s,” Jesse said to introduce The Old-Fashioned Soda, which comes complete with ice cream, soda water, and your choice of flavors (berry, chocolate, etc.) all covered with whipped cream and a lone cherry. The Frozen Hot Chocolate, another secret favorite, involves the makings for a misty slush, plus hot fudge, and ice cream. Both run for around $2.50 at Eau Claire’s Menomonie Street location, and about 10 regular customers have caught on to the secret delights thus far.

OFF THE MENU: Amaretto Chicken
RESTAURANT: Menomonie Log Jam
TIPSTER: Ryan Perrigoue, bartender/cook
    As both a bartender and cook at Log Jam, Ryan fused the knowledge he’d accrued since the cozy bar and grill opened three years ago to create a secret, one-of-a-kind creation. “I like to make it for myself, but I don’t think anybody else knows about it since it’s not on the menu,” he said. You start with a chicken breast, he tells me, which you bread and brown on the stovetop before tossing it in the oven. Meanwhile he tosses a dash of amaretto liqueur in the pan to make a syrupy glaze for the chicken. He then tops the creation off with some sliced, roasted almonds, and serves it with a side of either rice or mashed potatoes. Amaretto Chicken is not something you’d expect at a bar and grill known for its Lumberjack Burger (I picture it on the menu at Houligans or The Creamery), but that makes this secret item even more unique.

OFF THE MENU: Mint w/ Green Coconut Maté
RESTAURANT: InfiniTea Teahouse
TIPSTER: Jeff Mares, co-owner
    “With 155 teas, I don’t know how you get bored,” Jeff Mares said. Yet, some of this teahouse’s regulars have experimented by requesting combinations of their teas, so much so that Mares and Andrew Seveland, the other owner, have kicked around the idea of having a combination competition for patrons someday. Mares’ statement, however, may be a bit of the teapot calling the kettle black, as he invents a new flavor combination every time the shop get a new corporate account. While he highly recommends the State Theatre’s Chai with Caramel and the dreamsicle-esque Orange Black Tea with Vanilla, something everyone should give a try is Dessert First’s Mint with Green Coconut Maté. “It doesn’t sound that great to say it, but trust me, it’s amazing,” Mares assured.

OFF THE MENU: Sopa Azteca
RESTAURANT: Tacos Juanita
TIPSTER: Gina Gonzalez, manager
    If you’ve never heard the words “decadent” and “soup” mentioned in succession, then you’ve never tried the Sopa Azteca, a chicken tortilla soup secretly available at Tacos Juanita. The basis for this big bowl of wonderfulness is a red chili broth — not thick — mixed with chicken and crisp tortilla pieces. The cooks then add a wallop of sour cream, throw on some cheese, add fresh avocado, and tuck in little “fingerlike” tortilla strips to crown it off. According to Gina, it’s not super spicy (about as spicy as a typical bowl of chili) and is very popular among the regulars that know to order it.  Order it in small or medium quantities, or splurge on the large — an “extra huge meal-in-itself.”

OFF THE MENU: Deep-fried stuffed roasted jalapenos
RESTAURANT: Milwaukee Burger Co.
TIPSTER: Alex Krukowski, assist. manager
    There are some people, believe it or not, that have never heard of deep-fried cheese curds. The poor souls. That single, ingenious creation led thousands of Wisconsinites to try deep-frying everything (Twinkies, candy bars, frozen turkeys, Cornish game hens, watermelons, you get the idea). Well Milwaukee Burger Co. is apparently no different, as staff members recently upped the ante on an existing menu appetizer. The Stuffed Roasted Jalapenos are vertically halved peppers, filled with cream cheese, bacon, and spices. Their new invention involves dipping them in cheese curd beer batter, deep frying them, and dipping it in ranch dressing. It’s like taking your run-of the-mill jalapeno popper and dropping it in a vat of green toxic goo, accidentally creating a superhero with the powers of “gooey, delicious mess.”

OFF THE MENU: The Conductor
RESTAURANT: Mancino’s Grinders & Pizza
TIPSTER: Sam Biwer, owner
    Whenever Mancino’s announces its employee of the month, the proud staff member gets to invent his/her own grinder for a special. Since the restaurant has done it for about four years now, Sam Biwer said they’ve had all manner of grinders imaginable – from the weird (a recent Veggie Taco grinder had sour cream and tortilla chips on it, for instance) to the wonderful (like The Maui Tuna or Sgt. Wilson’s Pizza Grinder). “A few have even made it on the regular menu,” Sam said, citing the Veggie Gourmet and The Gobbler. The Conductor falls into the latter category. “There’s a few regular customers that don’t order anything but The Conductor!” Sam said. This spicy flavor train has roast beef, mayo, horsey Dijon sauce, pickles, cheese, lettuce, tomato, bacon, mushrooms, and chipotle.