Some places rely on their amazing food, while some places serve up good food in an amazing atmosphere. AJ Bombers definitely falls into that second category. The food my mom and I got had some high points, but the great atmosphere and staff is what made our experience at AJ Bombers awesome; not to mention the fact that the Badgers beat Arizona in the NCAA tournament to make it to the Final Four. We went down to State Street to find a place to watch the game and ended up at AJ Bombers. Originally the hostess told us we might have to wait through part of the game for someone to leave (which we were completely fine with), but some idiot came in and threw a fit that a back room he had sat in before wasn’t open. So the super nice manager opened the back room so that guy’s party and we could get a seat for the game. The manager was extremely nice and even though they didn’t have the staffing for that extra room he made sure we had a great time during the game. SIDE NOTE: Sorry about the lack of pictures, the Badgers game was so exciting I forgot to take pictures of the cool peanut dispensers, the awesome dining room decor (you get to write on the walls!), and the sign.
While waiting for our table and for our food we got to munch on peanuts and throw the shells onto the floor. When I first started tossing the shells on the floor I felt bad, but the floor throughout the entire place was covered in shells so I got over that. There are peanut troughs and dispensers throughout, and it was a great option while we were originally waiting for a table. The peanuts are a great gimmick and pretty unique. It’s such a simple thing to offer, but I have never seen it before.
We started with the AJ’s frickles because how can you pass up fried pickles during a basketball game?! The long oval pickle chips were heavily coated in batter and fried. They came out hot and crispy. They weren’t the most amazing fried pickles I’ve had, but they were pretty good and were a great accompaniment to the start of the game.
You have to order sides separately from burgers and sandwiches so we decided to split an order of sweet potato chips. The homemade chips were crispy, perfectly salted and not at all greasy. They were the perfect compliment to the pretty heavy burger I ordered.
I got the Milwaukee burger that comes with Wisconsin colby cheese, Berkshire bacon and Schlitz onions. The Wisconsin ingredients are what drew me to the burger and they delivered. The onions sauteed in Schlitz beer added a great flavor that, just like the peanuts, were so simple and unique. The bacon was thick and cooked perfectly, and all of the ingredients were on a super moist potato bun. The one suggestion I have for the burger would be some type of sauce, a garlic aioli or garlic ranch sauce would be pretty good with the ingredients.
To end the meal and the game we got a root beer float with Sprecher’s root beer. The glass came probably 75 percent filled with ice cream and almost a whole bottle of root beer to keep adding to it. It was the prefect sweet, but not overly sugary end to an awesome meal during an awesome basketball game.
FOOD NOTES: AJ Bombers has a great atmosphere and has some super simple touches and ingredients that really add some unique experiences and flavors to what feels like a chain restaurant. AJ’s originated in Milwaukee and there are only a handful of locations so it’s not a chain, but I was expecting chain food. They definitely surpassed my expectations. The things that impressed me the most, like the peanuts, Schlitz onions and potato bun, are so simple but actually added a lot to the meal. I will definitely be going back even if the Badgers aren’t playing (but if they are that would be a bonus!!!).
Small Town Tourist 