Calories from Kopp's

This would be Tess, the Tub, reporting to you from Kopp’s restaurant on Bluemound and Brookfield Road. Oh, my. Do they make good, but calorie-laden food! It’s been three hours since we ate at Kopp’s and I’m still tempted to lie flat on my back and groan.

So tonight it was a lovely 80 degrees and no humidity – perfect weather for al fresco dining. West of Brookfield Road there were two restaurants I was still compelled to report from: Kopp’s and Emperor’s Kitchen. The Emperor has no al fresco seating. Winter is long. We chose Kopp’s.

Oh, the agony of decision: do I order a Sprecher root beer float (with frozen custard, of course) ($2.40) or wait till after I eat my fish sandwich and have a scoop of my favorite flavor at Kopp’s – turtle sundae? Float or cone, float or cone... Such a trauma. Eventually I decided on the root beer float, figuring that Kopp’s will again have turtle sundae custard on Sept 28th (it’s on their flavor-of-the-day list) – though I doubt my digestive system will recover sufficiently by then.

Kopp’s patio was busy at 6 PM. The Man With The Patience Of A Great Blue Heron Waiting For His Fish Dinner To Swim By waited for our food order to be prepared while I grabbed one of the last available tables outside, overlooking all of Bluemound Road’s scenic beauty. It’s odd. I’m getting accustomed to the traffic noise. It actually seemed pleasant tonight. The patio has a narrow bed of flowers – petunias mostly – surrounding it. The tables are of some manmade stone-like material, and tonight they weren’t even sticky.

The food and The Hungry Man joined me shortly. My fish sandwich ($2.70) and his cheeseburger ($3.60) were HUGE. The buns (soft, uninteresting affairs) were about 5 inches across. The fish was a large, square slab, very generously breaded and crisply deep-fried. I ordered tartar sauce and cheese (of course) on it. Good choices. It was yummy. What’s not to like about fat on fat on carbs? The cheeseburger was judged to be – believe-it-or-not – better than McDonald’s, said The Gourmet Man. He’s becoming so discerning. I tasted the burger and was unimpressed, though the fried onions were ample and tasty. I think my George Webb’s bacon double cheeseburger was better somehow. It’s probably the bacon. What’s not to like with fat on fat on fat with salt – and carbs? The Man managed to eat part of an order of onion rings (generic, with more heavy breading for $1.95) and a chocolate malt ($2.70) with his meal. We had to eat fast to consume that many calories in one sitting. Boy-oh-boy, was I stuffed! Good thing I worked in my garden for about three hours today. How many calories can you burn off digging up and dividing daylilies that are growing in clay soil? Probably not enough.

Far from hungry while
Kitchenless in Brookfield