Braise North — Restaurant in Town of Lakewood

My wife and I were really excited about dining at Braise North because Lakewood, Wisconsin, does not have a lot of restaurants to begin with, much less any that make and serve orange cardamom beignets. We recently made a reservation for a Friday night on the deck outside, and we looked forward to dining in this former Presbyterian church while on our Wisconsin vacation in sleepy Lakewood. The Friday we chose happened to fall on the first night of Lakewood's annual "Mardi Gras in July" festival, and the Braise staff had decided to prepare and offer a "small plates" menu featuring New Orleans dishes like jambalaya, etouffee, BBQ shrimp, gumbo and smoked red beans and rice. It's important to note here that the portions at Braise North, while not tiny, are not what you might receive at a North Woods supper club. Hence the term "small plates" on the menu. There were five women in the dining room when we arrived, and several of them asked if we had a reservation. We had; they checked for our name and told us we were "table six" in the dining area. They gave us a metal widget with the number 6 printed on it. We took a look outside on the deck and discovered it was almost full of diners (7 tables of 3--4 seats), so we decided to dine indoors. To be charitable, chaos was the order of the night. We waited a while before one person came to our table with water in glasses and asked if we wanted anything else to drink. Instead, we ordered red beans and rice and gumbo (over rice). We waited another 30 minutes for our dishes to be brought to our table. This was odd because both of these dishes were presumably made in large pots earlier in the day, not individually made to order. Unfortunately, both of our dishes, which were not very large ("small plates" was very true), were disappointing also because of the undercooked, gloppy rice that made up about half of each dish. There was also not much chicken or sausage in the gumbo. When you are offering several dishes that rely on rice as the base, you must prepare the rice properly by parboiling it. Any cook worth her salt knows this, and we were shocked and disappointed that the Braise team (which has been running a successful restaurant in Milwaukee) had flubbed the rice--and served it anyway! Maybe they thought the locals wouldn't know any better? Shame! We had also ordered a plate of mixed greens that never appeared until we asked the waitperson about it (after we had eaten our entrees). She scurried about and finally came to the table with a small plate of tired looking greens. We had planned to order a dessert, like orange cardamom beignets, but after the slow, confused service and the general disorder in the dining room, we opted to get an ice cream cone at the local ice cream shop down the street.

We really hope the Braise team will pull together and get better organized. Having family members help out is all well and good, but they should all be well trained. Of course, we hope the undercooked rice was a one-off also. And portions could be "medium plates" for the...

Who puts a flag out to say you're closed?!?! When you're driving by, the wind is fluttering the flag, you're looking for a place to park, navigate other traffic...only to find the door locked. Then I could see the flag said closed but not until I was right next to it. I think that attracting attention to say you're closed in that manner is just silly. Edit: Hey, thanks for taking the time to reply that's great. Just wish you hadn't done so to take a swipe at me about your Temporary closed status online. As someone who has vacationed in the area for 25+ years, I do not bother searching the internet BEFORE stopping by. I do so when I'm in the area. That being said, I wish you had acknowledged the validity of my complaint. There are far better options to achieve what you're trying to do than an attention grabbing flag. You could have a light up closed sign. You could have one you tape onto your door. You could have a sandwich board - Sorry we're closed in large print, then in smaller print "stop by soon and see our improvements!" How's that for a fab idea? Then people in the area strolling around will be excited to come see. Well, unless they read reviews first and see you'd rather take a swipe at someone than show appreciation to someone took their time out of their day to THOUGHTFULLY share their experience and frustration at your (unfortunate) choice of flag to fly. So, good luck with your reno/revamp whatever it is. Hope you bring great things to the area, I love Lakewood and want to see...

Braise North has an atmosphere of comfort and sophistication. The mild church themes and limited seating give an air of elegance and fine dining, while the relaxed decor and breakfast bar gives you comfortable simplicity. The level of detail that the staff and owners show in their attentiveness shows a strength of pride in their business, from the in-depth knowledge of each dish to casual conversation and wanting to get to know the customers. The meal presentation is a worthy competition to many 5 star restaurants. They started off with a wonderful welcoming drink of a select wine or specialty drink. Then appeased our taste buds with a light and beautifully flavored salad. The main dish was a gnocchi with pistou, amazingly flavored, with a well balanced savory herbal blend. And finished the night with the Opera cake. A delicious dessert layered in coffee and chocolate that melts in your mouth. With all this said, the experience and service you will receive at Braise North is unlike anything else you will find in the small town of...