Kroll’s West

You don’t have to be a Green Bay Packers fan to enjoy Kroll’s, but it helps. When the home team plays at Lambeau Field across the way, Kroll’s West’s beer garden is open from early in the morning for game-prep and celebrating. Green and yellow rule.

There are many items on the menu, from peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to broasted chicken and battered perch, but it is Kroll’s butter burgers that put this rollicking sports bar on the Roadfood map. Lunch-counter rounds of beef are cooked through and juicy enough; the magic is mostly in the way they are dressed. As is Wisconsin custom, each hot burger is topped with a pat of butter that melts into the meat, making the beef absolutely delectable. In addition to butter, a Kroll’s burger ordered with everything includes ketchup, onions, and pickles. It is sandwiched in a crisp-crusted roll and presented wrapped in wax paper. Bacon, lettuce, and tomato are available at extra cost; and it actually is possible to ask the kitchen to substitute margarine for butter (but that is a mortal sin here in the Dairy State).

Hamburgers (and cheeseburgers and Big K half-pound burgers) are Kroll’s claim to fame; but don’t diss the prime rib sandwich. Similarly configured, it is a pile of shaved prime rib that is like the most tender sliced roast beef you ever had, but even more tender. Inside a toasted-crisp bun, the meat’s juice combines with plentiful melting butter in a slurry of luxe. Add au jus either by pouring it on or dipping the sandwich as you eat and get a side order of cheese curds. Here you face a feast of irresistible edible profligacy!