Downtown is built horizontally on flatlands by the Ohio River, surrounded by hills. Although you can see newer homes atop some of these hills, the effect is that of a hidden gem, and it feels like an open air museum.
In 2006, the majority of Madison's downtown area was designated the largest contiguous National Historic Landmark in the United States—133 blocks of the downtown area is known as the Madison Historic Landmark District.
Conversely, past the hills where the uplands begin -- the hilltops -- there's a whole other Madison. It's the newer part along the highway, built out during the past three or four decades, where the chain stores and big boxes are. The historic downtown is invisible from here, apart from wayfinding signage directing visitors to it.
My business in Madison tends to take me into the heart of downtown, where civic fests like this weekend's RiverRoots are held, and where the Thomas Family Winery is located. I seldom wander up onto the hilltop, but yesterday there was a RiverRoots pre-party at an establishment called BoneYard Grill, located on Clifty Drive (State Road 62). Blake and I were promoting NABC beers, and The Tillers were playing music.
Just as people used to say when visiting the Pizzeria & Public House for the first time, BoneYard's location is decidedly nondescript, in a commercial, slightly-bigger-than-strip-mall building. But inside is a pleasing, family-friendly sports bar atmosphere.
I was impressed with the joint, which is a ground floor indie operation.
The specialty of the house are chicken wings, grilled and not fried. BoneYard has creative sauce options for the wings. Later in the evening, I order jalapeno poppers, assuming them to be the sports bar standard, deep-fried artery busters, but BoneYard's version used fresh peppers, cream cheese and a sprinkling of bacon; tasty, and not entirely unhealthy.
BoneYard has a bottled beer list with a few choice imports and American craft beers, and last night, two Indiana beers were on tap: Barley Island Sheet Metal and Quaff On (formerly Big Woods) Hare Trigger IPA. I had one of each. Staff was energetic and helpful. Overall, it was a wonderful time.
I don't issue recommendations without genuinely believing in what's I'm writing, and even then, I don't always get around to remembering. This time, I wanted to make sure I gave BoneYard a tip of the cap, both because of the quality of my experience, and the fact that it's good for me to be displaced from my preferred comfort zones and explore other neighborhoods. In the future, I'll still revisit my downtown Madison haunts, including the aforementioned Thomas Winery, Red Pepper Deli; Madison Coffee & Tea and 605 Grill.
But now I have a place to go up on the hilltop.
No comments:
Post a Comment