The holidays are over, but comfort-food season is not. The media has made a lot of jibber-jabber about the habit of turning to comfort food in times of crisis. Wowza! What a revelation. Instead of turning to a pint of expensive ice cream, I prefer to go to Nick's.
Many people I have talked to don't know where Nick's is; for those of you not in the know, Nick's is at 226 State St. Nick's touts itself as the \Home of Good Food."" I myself know it as ""Home of the Bestest Burger in the World."" For my money, Nick's serves up the most moist, satisfying and best burgers in Madison straight off the dumbwaiter. However, the restaurant's other food is similarly great; there are other things to consider when discussing Nick's.
Nick's is flat out the best place to hang out in a booth. Go there in the afternoon for an excellent bowl of chili and a beer for about $6 total and do your Spanish homework in one of the roomy booths.
Nick's serves breakfast, so if you don't want to walk to Bennett's On The Park (416 S. Park St.) and watch sleazy porn, you can get your Bloody Mary here. There are three booths in which you can smoke during the day.
The whole bar is open for smoking, and food service stops at 9 p.m. This is when you can go push tables together with your friends and take over a whole section. Just because dinner is over does not mean that you can't eat. Pie is always available and is fantastic.
There are other notable entrees to be had besides burgers. Although the patty melt is a burger, it is also so much more. It comes with fried onions smothered in swiss and cheddar cheese and served on rye bread. They also have a feta burger which is mind-bogglingly good, and the Boss Burger, which comes stuffed with your choice of cheese, bacon, onions or mushrooms.
But enough about burgers. Nick's has a great fish fry, and it comes with a boiled potato. The sandwiches are all very good, particularly the reuben and the grilled cheese. The gyro here is also quite good. However, I do not suggest the surf and turf here. If you stick to sandwiches or the fish fry, you are in for some seriously satisfying comfort food.
Adding to all this comfort is the d??cor, which is what attracts all the cool people. The velvet paintings, the black vinyl booths with gold accents, the wood bar and even the gigantic old cash register all come together in a Milwaukee-meets-old-Vegas kind of vibe. Other bars are good for meeting people, partying and all that other social crap, but this bar is the best place for a smokey conversation over a beverage.
