Mad City Fry Guy

Fry Fantastic
Location: Corner of South Carroll, South Hamilton and East Main Street (Capitol Square)

By: Anna and Kailey

Time to dust off the old streeteating blog and get back to what we’ve been waiting the whole mild winter for: eating at food carts. Anna and Kailey picked a blustery and chilly April day to venture out to the Capitol Square carts and discovered Mad City Fry Guy.

Lucky us, the day we visited was Mad City Fry Guy’s opening day. We were able to give the fry guy a hearty welcome from the Streeteats crew. They may be newcomers to the Madison food cart scene, but their decked out cart and friendly manner made them seem like pros.

Mad City Fry Guy cart - the rookies look like pros!

The extensive-looking menu isn’t really that extensive. Hot dog, brat, fries and a boat-load of toppings are your choices (Kailey’s official count: 34 different toppings).

Holy choices of toppings Fry Guy

Kailey got the brat with 3 toppings ($4.50) and Anna got the hot dog with 3 toppings ($3.50). We panicked over the topping choices and asked the self-proclaimed fry guy what he likes the best. We ended up with grated cheddar, onions and Madcity sauce. (Madcity sauce=a mix of mayo, ketchup and cayenne that’s sorta takes like Gritty sauce.) The one choice that wasn’t difficult to make: to poutine or not to poutine? Always poutine ($6).

Wait, what the heck is poutine? If you’re a poutine-rookie like Anna was, let us break it down: fresh cheese curds + fries + brown gravy = the most ridiculously delicious (and gluttonous) Canadian dish ever. (Ey?). Fry Guy’s curds were squeaky, the fries were hot and the gravy, well that was the gravy icing on the cake.

We waited about five minutes — understanding, considering 1) it was their first official day of opening 2) all of our items had to be carefully constructed and wrapped up for transporting. Consider yourself warned: the poutine is a two to three napkin job and can/should be shared. Don’t attempt to eat this while lounging on the Capitol lawn. Eat this in privacy. (Or as a guest in Kailey’s work cafeteria…?) The brats and dogs tasted great, especially drowning in toppings, and while it would be difficult to mess up something as tasty as poutine, the fry guy delivered a paper boat of greasy, cheesy goodness.The portion sizes were generous and toppings were heaped on our entrees – we weren’t even able to completely conquer the gravy cheese fries.

Brat, hot dog and poutine. Look at all those toppings! Ahh, a delicious pairing of America and Canada.

This newcomer gets major points for their flashy signs and cart (truth: from a block away Kailey wasn’t sure if it was a cart or some kind of mobile advertising parked on the square) and sheer enthusiasm. The two workers were just so stoked to be dishing up dogs and fries on a freezing April day, it almost made the stomachache and sleepiness that results in eating poutine tolerable.

Deliciousness: 4/5 plates
Price: 4/5 plates
Speed: 2/5 plates
Authenticity/Originality: 5/5 plates

Overall: 4/5 plates