Restaurants in Madison

The Village Inn may look like an simple country kitchen, but the food is nothing short of gourmet. Chef and owner John A. Martino calls on his training at the Culinary Institute of America and Le Cordon Bleu to craft a menu of contemporary American Continental cuisine, which ranges from potato-crusted Chilean sea bass to a veal porterhouse topped with sautéed mushrooms. After the chef inspects the dishes for quality, presentation, and political leanings, they emerge from the kitchen to waft gourmet scents through four separate dining areas. Everyday diners sidle up to white-clothed tables amid floral carpets and drapes in the Fireplace Room, while top-shelf liquors come together to form a host of creative cocktails in the wood-lined bar. For private occasions, groups of up to 20 gather at a long oak table beneath the cozy, low ceilings of the Wine Cellar Room, and large events bask in the glow of a towering chandelier in the bright and airy expanse of The Great Room.

At The Original Primo Pizza & Grill, chefs whirl handmade dough and whole, peeled tomatoes into a variety of thin-crust pizzas. While the menu includes classic standbys such as the hawaiian pizza, customers can also create their own perfect pies from toppings such as garlic, mushrooms, pepperoni, and sausage. What really shines through, however, is the restaurant’s large selection of specialty pies: buffalo-chicken pizza is topped with chicken and zesty buffalo sauce; Nutella pizza with brown and powdered sugar; and the American-style pizza gets topped with steak, peppers, onions, american cheese, and a pervasive dislike of the metric system.

While pizza dominates the menu, diners can also explore traditional Italian entrees, including dinner specialties such as chicken scampi, veal milanese, and spaghetti with clam sauce.

Rattlesnake Ranch Cafe first alerts the senses with the sight of sunset-pink walls. Around the room, a Southwestern-themed mural and bison head express the restaurant’s touch of the eclectic. Traditional Latin meals and wild game highlight the plates. Chef Miguel Garrido has exemplified this unique flavor since 1997 with cooking techniques that he brought with him from Guatemala. His blackened catfish and chicken habanero evoke recipes from the Gulf with Cajun spices and spicy peppers, and the country-fried alligator serves up a tamer version of the snapping specimen, with battered strips of alligator tenderloin and country gravy.

The Fieldhouse Pub beckons to visitors with the inviting smell of American-steakhouse fare mixing with that of Italian, French, and German cuisine. Head Chef Hans Jurgen Stender loads the tables with saucy veal schnitzels, spinach- and ricotta-cheese-stuffed capon, sauce-laden pastas, and juicy blackened steaks. Like 2001: A Beer Odyssey, his pub menu explores beer's longtime on-and-off relationship with burgers, overstuffed wraps, and shareable finger food.

Hanging plants hold court alongside a sun-friendly, greenhouse-style glass wall in the dining area. Upstairs, grainy timber accents define a bar that features a jukebox and stools clad in billiard-table-green leather. DIRECTV sports packages keep guests entertained with the glory of games, and occasional karaoke and all-ages stand-up routines keep them in stitches over the antics of professional comedians or amazed and terrified at human Auto-Tune impersonations.

Mediterranea’s cuisine pulls influences from all around the Mediterranean Sea, integrating village traditions from Spain to Syria. The restaurant is owned by the Homsi family, who emigrated from Syria in 1987. Their roots shine through in baba ghanouj, spicy shrimp arrabbiatta, half-roasted chickens, and kebabs. While making kebabs, chefs marinate morsels of filet mignon, lamb, or chicken before grilling them and serving them with a yogurt garlic dip.

The Homsi brothers decorated the space with custom-made furniture from Damascus and illuminated it with delicate beaded chandeliers from Turkey. Colorful artwork adorns the walls, coordinating with the cream and gold hues that dominate each chair or pillow-strewn bench. In the hookah lounge or on the patio, patrons lounge on cushy couches, exhaling sweet blooms of hookah smoke and sipping from BYOB bottles of wine.

A local business for more than 22 years, Alan’s Avenue Delicatessen and Caterers’ freshly sliced deli sandwiches continue to entice the palates of locals and of prestigious patrons such as Tony Bennett, Roger Daltrey, and Rosie O’Donnell. Owner Alan Bispo captains a skilled staff of sandwich smiths as it carves honey-smoked turkey, baked virginia ham, and hot pastrami into heroes, club sandwiches, and sloppy joes. Each served with a smile, fresh pasta salads, deli meats, and cheeses line the glass display case of the cheerful downtown delicatessen, where diners order before feasting upon the culinary treasures on tabletops inside or outside the shop. Special occasions, such as birthdays, meetings, or retired-circus-performer reunions call for bites from Alan’s extensive catering menu of continental breakfast items, fresh sandwiches up to 6 feet long, and hot entrees.: