Having recently purchased a house in Madison Valley (moving Friday, aieee!), we've just started seriously exploring Madrona food in the last couple of weeks. Here's what we've got so far:
St. Cloud's
Dinner once and brunch once. Dinner with friends varied from not-so-good to yummy. The atmosphere was great: very cozy, although a bit *too* warm -- we were seated in one of the booths next to a window and were happy to open the window a crack to get some air.
Dinner was a mixed bag. The salads were competent but unremarkable. Appetizers of hot wings (tasty and spicy, although the rub tasted like Shake 'N' Bake) and calamari (breading a bit underdone/gluey) were good. My main was a "Saffron-Fennel Seafood Stew": boulliabase in all but name and good. Anita had BBQ ribs w/greens and cornbread. The ribs were good. The cornbread had been made (or more likely finished on the griddle) with what had to be rancid oil. The greens were very sour and uncomfortably spicy -- and we're both registered Friends of the Capsicum. Our dining companions ordered the Parmigiano-crusted pork tenderloin which was crazy good and worth returning for. Dessert was ice cream in various flavors -- very good.
Brunch is definitely worth coming back for. I had house-made corned-beef hash, which was pulled in long strips and cooked with red and yellow peppers and thin wedges of potato. Mmmm! Maybe a bit too "pickly", (tasting of vinegar and pickling spices), but that's a picky, personal opinion. Anita won that morning with soopa-yummy chicken fried steak with bacon gravy. It tasted every bit as good as it sounds, with crunchy, well-seasoned batter, delicious gravy, and even good-tasting meat. Coffee (latte) was good and plentiful.
***Madrona Eatery & Ale House***
Somebody needs to take the Tabasco bottle away from the chef. Nearly everything that we ate there at dinner had that unmistakeable vinegar/red chile zing, including Anita's spaghetti bolognese (complete with nearly a pound of meat in a single serving), AND the bleu cheese dressing on her salad. My french onion soup was passable, although I could have used less thyme. Service was friendly and low-key. BE WARNED -- the Eatery is aggressively kid-friendly. If you go for dinner during prime time (6-8), you run a fair risk of eating dinner in the midst of a full complement of screaming, running rugrats. Total Romper Room.