Best Pie in Town, The Continental

Ronnie Hess
Madison Magazine
February 2000

I've always admired Cafe Continental for its atmosphere - intimate tables with candles, soft-textured walls. Until this assignment, however, it would never have occurred to me to order one of their pizzas over a pasta or seafood dish. Let's just say that I was pleasantly surprised. Judging on presentation alone, this was truly a admire. When it arrived, steaming, the table next to us stopped grazing to gaze unabashedly.

Baked on a deliciously thin crust, The Continental was comprised of fresh basil, eggplant, fresh tomatoes, sweet onion and roasted garlic with curls of prosciutto atop a veil of gooey cheese, giving the surface a ribbony texture. A marinara sauce was not to be missed with the many toppings, and while the ingredients weren't necessary wild in and of themselves, the pizza as a whole was tasteful designed to reflect elegance and style.

Cafe Continental offers several other designer pizzas, including a Roast Garlic Shrimp Pizza and a Barbecued Chicken Pizza, but neither of them was architecturally or aromatically as superb.

Salad Days

Ronnie Hess
Madison Magazine
July 1999

At Cafe Continental the mixed greens salad is a garden of colors, shapes and tastes. There's delicate oak leaf, curly endive, radicchio, and tender young spinach. The dressing is just the right mix of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, gently coating each leaf. Good, too, is the spinach salad with "pillows" of goat cheese wrapped in prosciutto, although the meat can be a bit overcooked. Less successful is smoked salmon and gorgonzola salad where the delicate champagne vinaigrette gets lost alongside bigger tastes.

Just Desserts

Ronnie Hess
Madison Magazine
February 1999

Cafe Continental. Forget the miniature cannoli which were soggy. Order the creme brulee, a rich, smooth, egg and cream custard laced with Cointreau, and topped with a burnt brown sugar crust with just the right crunch.