Tornado Steak House
by nate on 03/01/10 at 10:46 am
As Featured in the May 2006 Issue of Madison Originals Magazine.
If 1940’s nostalgia and fine dining is what you are looking for, look no further than the Tornado Steak House. Located in the former Crandall’s Restaurant at 116 S. Hamilton Street in downtown Madison, Tornado is a trip down memory lane for those who remember Crandall’s.
Owner Henry Doane retained much of the interior of Crandall’s when he designed Tornado Steak House ten years ago. The bar and back-bar in the lounge are original as is the dark-wood paneling throughout the restaurant. Old adages painted on overheard wood beams in the main dining room are also original. One saying, “I love everything that is old—old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wine,” is especially apropos.
The building itself dates back to 1873 and originally housed the Park Bakery and Restaurant, and H.C. Christopher furniture and undertaking. After 1909, the upper stories of the building housed the offices of Fighting Bob and Belle Case LaFollette’s La Follette’s Weekly, a nationally known progressive journal that became known as the Progressive maga¬zine. The building was designated as a historic Madison site on July 11, 1994. Tornado Steak House has two entrances: one at 116 S. Hamilton that leads into the dining room and one at 115 W. Main which enters into the lounge.
For the ultimate dining experience, start in the lounge at one of the half-round booths with a selection from their extensive wine-list. Wines from California, Spain, France, Switzerland, Argentina, New Zealand, and Australia are featured. Or try one of Tornado’s 16 specialty cocktails. The Key Lime Gimlet made with vanilla Stolichnaya vodka, fresh lime juice, pineapple, and cream came highly recommended by our server on a recent visit.
Other specialty cocktails include raspberry margaritas; chocolate martinis; orange, peach, vanilla, and raspberry cosmopolitans; and a mangopolitan made with mango juice. Old-fashioned glasses stocked with green olives, maraschino cherries, oranges, limes, and lemons line two sides of the bar awaiting cocktails to garnish.
Hot drinks including a Hot Toddy (brandy, honey, lemon, and sugar), Irish coffee, and a flavorful concoction called the Raspberry Mocha with Godiva white chocolate liqueur, Chambord, coffee, and whipped cream are among the eight selections that will warm your soul. Sherry, port, malt scotch, bourbon, cognac, brandy, tequila, and beer round out the two-page drink menu.
The list of appetizers includes shrimp cocktail, escargot, Coquille Saint Jacques, oysters and a selection not found on many appetizer lists, frog legs, will satisfy any hunger pangsuntil dinner.
“Tornado Steak House offers a real taste of Wisconsin,” said general manager Mel Trudeau. “We’re accessible not only to the gourmet, but to the everyday diner.” Tornado has become known for their steaks which include: a 21 oz. T-bone, an 8 or 14 oz. filet, a 16 oz. New York Strip, a 16 oz. Sirloin, and a 28 oz. Ribeye on the bone. Bartender Loren Wollerman said that when she first started working at Tornado just over a year ago, she didn’t eat red meat. After savoring one of the steaks, she was hooked and hasn’t gone back. “It’s not the same when you make a steak at home; Tornado has a well-seasoned broiler and high-quality meat,” said Wollerman.
Even though the name of the restaurant is Tornado Steak House, other menu specialties include: venison, pork tenderloin, rack of lamb, flank steak, rabbit, duck, Alaskan crab legs, walleye, and gulf shrimp. Head-chef Karl Haasman also creates a fresh fish selection every night featuring Atlantic or Coho salmon, lake trout, halibut, yellow fin tuna, and other selections depending on availability. On Friday nights, Tornado serves pan-fried perch. Prime-Rib is featured on Saturday nights and Roast Chick¬en with stuffing is the special onSundays. All entrées are served with a salad or soup, and vegetable or potato.
Tornado has three rooms for parties that will accommodate from 14 – 65 people. The Corral Room, located in the lower level of the restaurant, is used for private parties, wedding rehearsals, wine-tastings, holiday parties, and other celebrations. These events may also be held in the Spice Room. Trudeau said that she is grati¬fied that other restaurants choose Tornado for their staff parties as it supports the fact that Tornado is a great place to eat.
For late-night dining, Tornado offers a lounge menu from 10:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. Savor a bacon bleu cheeseburger, steak sandwich, salmon sandwich, crab Louis, shrimp cocktail, Coquille Saint Jacques, or a basket of French fries or onion rings. A recent 10:00 p.m. visit to the lounge showed just how popular the menu is. All of the booths in the lounge were filled with diners enjoying its selections.
Tornado Steak House opened on June 1, 1996 and Trudeau has been general manager since the restaurant opened. Head-chef Karl Haasman has also been at Tornado since the beginning. Many of the employees are also long-term to which Trudeau commented that they don’t have the turnover of restaurant staff that many other restaurants experience.
Tornado has many regular customers that come in three or four nights per week to sit in the same booth and enjoy their favorite selection from the menu. “We don’t change the menu as people crave certain things and we don’t want to disappoint them,” explained Trudeau. Business people from the downtown area as well as UW students are regulars. Trudeau said that with all of the new condominiums being built around and near the square, they are now seeing a lot of new customers who are fast becoming regulars.
