Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Saturday, July 05, 2008
Good eats: Riverfest is a celebration of food
 Mark Ambrose and his son Jarred check out the food tents last year at Riverfest. Tribune file photo |
Riverside Park is swelling with festgoers and the foods they love.
The busy food thoroughfare at this year’s Riverfest, which sports no less than 16 area food vendors, serves up choices sure to satisfy any palette.
Jack Kappler, who owns Good Eatts Catering, ran around handing garlic and wine sauteed mushrooms on a toothpick to everyone in sight.
“This is our first year,” Kappler said. “You gotta train the public. Once they eat it, they’re hooked.”
The long lines at the Rocky’s Supper Club booth indicated the crowd was already hooked on their cheese curds.
Manager Jaynne Lepke said the Stoddard, Wis., supper club has had a booth at Riverfest since the fest’s second year, and it can sell up to 4,000 pounds of cheese curds during the festival.
This year, she ordered 2,800 pounds, she said, and she always is worried they’ll run out. She also said she gets burned to a crisp working over the vats of oil.
“The reason we continue to put ourselves through the abuse year after year is because it’s great advertising for our restaurant,” Lepke said.
Teresa Pretasky, banquet manager at Drugan’s Castle Mound Country Club in Holmen, Wis., said it’s a chance for her restaurant to show off one of its popular menu items — the Chatwich.
To make the cheese, ham and tenderloin tips sandwich on a Kaiser bun, the restaurant will go through about 70 pounds of tips every day, she said.
They’ve spent a week getting ready for the event, Pretasky said, and they’ve seen a lot of folks stop by to eat.
“The weather has been absolutely perfect. We don’t usually get weather like this for Riverfest,” she said.
The good weather is expected to continue through today, with a chance of afternoon showers on Sunday, the festival’s final day.
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