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The Second Thing to Love About Madison: State Street

December 9, 2006 2:34 AM

ou know that scene in The Fellowship of the Ring where Sam stops and he says that if he takes one more step, he'll be further from home than he's ever been before? Well, I had one of those moments when I left Flagstaff and drove East. Although I had been to New York City and Boston before, I hadn't driven further East than the Eastern Arizona border. Yes, even though I had lived in Arizona my whole life, I had never been to New Mexico. Now that I have, I know I wasn't missing much.

Anyway, my friends were nice enough to accompany me on the drive from Flagstaff to Madison. It was a hell of a drive, and we arrived in Madison in the late evening. Although my car still had the big Uhaul trailer attached to it, we decided we'd drive downtown and see what we could find. And what we found was State Street.

We parked across the street from what I would learn was Memorial Union. Ironically, this was right by the Law School, although I didn't know that at the time. Anyway, we walked around and (after being impressed by the Red Gym), we walked down State Street towards the capital. I have to say, Flagstaff had a decent bar scene, but that night, walking down State Street at bar time, I knew I was in the big leagues. Or, well, at least the minor leagues. Or something.

Anyway, as I had more time to explore, I got to know State Street a little better, and I have to say that, though it can be a bit of a mixed bag, it's definitely one of the things that makes Madison awesome. Some of my favorite restaurants in Madison are on State Street. For example, Med Cafe's one of my favorite restaurants right now. You've got Buffalo Wild Wings, which is pretty much an awesome place to go if you need chicken wings, even if they charge for ranch, which I think is evil. Then you've got Rising Sons Deli, which is pretty new but a recent obsession of mine. There's Casa de Lara further up, Noodles & Co., the Q (which is way better than Chipotle), Potbelly's, Tutto Pasta, the Parthenon (if there's a better place to go when drunk, I don't know about it).

There're also some pretty decent bars. My favorite State Street bar is probably Paul's Club, just because of the absolutely ridiculous things that have happened there. The City's decent, the Pub's dirty but cool. There's just so many place on and around State Street. It's pretty awesome, especially compared to the four blocks of downtown that Flagstaff had.

There's Halloween, Scanner Dan, the guy who offers to tell you dirty jokes for change, the Chocolate Shoppe, the Overture Center, Crazy Orange Piccolo Guy, the various street performers . . . the list goes on. In the end, even though State Street's gots some pretty shitty establishments (for example, State Street Brats (fratboy douchebags), Frida's (racists), and The State (ugh)), it's still a great place to be sometimes.

And, more importantly, it's one of the things that makes Madison both awesome and unique.



6 Comments


kristin said:

Do not forget the awesomeness that lies just off State Street - the Plaza, Silver Dollar and Red Shed are each within a block of it.

December 9, 2006 10:25 AM



kristin said:

Unless I should save those for your post on dive bars. Because they are definitely one of my 150 favorite things about Madison. Actually, let's not lie. Top 5. Top 2? That's as far as I go. I will not admit publicly that my favorite thing about Madison is a dark, dingy bar with a busted-up bathroom and no food.

December 9, 2006 10:29 AM



Vice said:

I wholly agree about State Street. I'm going to be sad to move out of the downtown, mostly because of this street. I've never really taken full advantage of what's all on it, but I just love the fact that pretty much everything I want is within a two minute walk. Every so often I find a new restaurant (new to me, usually introduced to me by other people), or go into a new store and buy something (like the popcorn shop that I walk past every day and never got anything at until recently), or the filthy hippie shops (like the one with the book about shapeshifting in the window) which I wouldn't go into, but like that it exists for me to make fun of, or the comedy club, which I hadn't been to before this year, or...the list goes on. All leading up to the awesomeness that is the State Capitol building. It's all hella sweet.

December 9, 2006 11:06 AM



morenonesense said:

I, too, think that state street kicks ass, although I don't know it that well. You didn't mention that one of the coolest things about it is that there are no cars on it. The whole street has a great feel to it, I think in large part to the walk-ability.

December 9, 2006 1:09 PM



TheExpat said:

Wow, this Red Gym of yours is pretty awesome. Do they teach Defense Against the Dark Arts there? I'll be disappointed if all they do is hold stuffy parties for university donors.

December 9, 2006 9:27 PM



:EYG: said:

I'm fairly certain they teach the dark arts, straight up, at the Red Gym. You just have to know who to ask.

Also, Ismael, you have good taste in bars. The only other good place to go for food after bar time (it was once La Bamba, but they've moved) is Pizza Di Roma. Their garlic knots can kill a man with pure delicious.

December 11, 2006 10:40 AM



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