maxie's southern comfort: take two

last night, after bryan and i went to the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible: Ancient Artifacts, Timeless Treasures exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum (which we highly recommend seeing, by the way), we headed over to Maxie's Southern Comfort for dinner and a drink. sadly, our experience was not as good as my last one.

as before, the service was great. the staff is quick, attentive, and knowledgeable about the menu. the hostess (or is she the manager?) knows her job is to make everyone feel like they know you there, and she does her job very, very well (and none of it seems forced). she absolutely adds extra points to the whole experience.

we sat in the upstairs lounge for a few minutes while we waited for a table, and ordered drinks. i ordered the maker's mark mint julep, and bryan ordered the bloody mary. my julep had a lot of mint in it, but it wasn't muddled at all, so it didn't taste at all minty. but i really didn't mind much, since i love bourbon. god, i really love bourbon. it's just so dang yummy. anyways. bryan enjoyed his bloody mary quite a bit as well.

when we got to our table, we immediately were presented with corn bread and whipped butter (which has a hint of... orange?... in it). not shabby, but mine is better. mine is pretty rockin', though, so it's kind of an unfair comparison. (bryan says the only place to get better cornbread than mine is daddy d'z, and they have a secret recipe, and we're pretty sure they don't bake their bread, but rather somehow cook it just near the smoker through, perhaps, magic. that stuff is like candy, at least in my memory.)

one of the appetizer specials that evening was chicken chips - fried chicken skin, as made famous by Top Chef contestant Kevin Gillespie. when bryan saw kevin do it, he immediately wanted to try it. his version didn't come out quite right, but we later found the recipe, though we haven't tried recreating it at home again yet. so when we had the opportunity to try it last night, of course we had to. yummy. not quite as good as rendered pork fat, but really, what is? they served the chicken chips with some kind of sweet, thick vinaigrette-y type of sauce, which didn't do much for me. bryan was on cloud 9 though. (and on the way out, the hostess was joking that the chicken chips were good for you, and don't worry about the fat... she obviously doesn't know us. we have no problems with fat, thank you very much. i'll hide pork fat from my dinner guests and eat it myself, i'm that possessive and mean.)

sadly, our entrees were far less delicious. they weren't bad, they were just... not fully there.

bryan had the Pulled Pork Plate: eastern north carolina-style, creamy slaw, bbq beans. while the pork was very tender and nicely smokey, they either forgot to put the vinegar sauce on, or aren't too clear on how to make a vinegar sauce. there was no sweet, no hot, no vinegar tang. the pork was, well, watery. like it had been sitting in a steam tray full of water. which, it probably was, and we understand why, but... there's a better way to serve that. the creamy slaw wasn't very good either. the sauce just lacked flavor, completely. and the cabbage tasted a little old. i understand it's january in wisconsin, it's probably cold storage cabbage, but then, come up with a better option to dress it. bryan did enjoy the beans, however. he also ordered a side of their maple collard greens. if you've ever seen a raw collard green leaf, you know those suckers have to be cooked a looooong time. they are tough. i'm pretty sure you cold thatch a roof with raw collards. unfortunately, these were not cooked long enough, and were still a little too tough. and the the maple, though seemingly a good idea, didn't work, bryan said.

i ordered the Blackened Catfish Po'Boy w/ tartar sauce. it came with cajun fries (seasoned waffle fries). blackened fish is usually coated in a heavy seasoning - the spices are what blacken. while there was blackened something on the fish, i'm not sure it was spices. the fish just completely lacked flavor. it was tender, it was moist - but it was flavorless. as was the tartar sauce (mayo mixed with pickle, red pepper, and capers) - all you could taste was mayo. i'd much rather have a traditional remoulade. there were tomatoes on the sandwich, which is a traditional addition, but really - tomatoes, in wisconsin in january? just leave them off. we won't miss them. the fries were good - very nicely seasoned, which just highlighted the lack of flavor in the sandwich. i didn't eat 2/3 of the sandwich. there was just no point. i like to think i make a mean po'boy, so maybe i was over critical, but i don't think i was (bryan validated that the fish just had zero flavor - which is just so odd for anything blackened!).

we got everything wrapped up to go, hoping we may be able to salvage the leftovers at home.

i'm not ready to give up on this place yet. the beef brisket was really good last time, and i'm willing to try a few more things on the menu. i'm fully willing to admit that maybe i just want to like this place. maybe i just want a place that reminds me of atlanta. maybe i just want more of that beef brisket. if anything, i can at least count on getting a nice glass of bourbon there.