Happy New Year friends! We have a great menu for New Years Eve and will be running the specials all weekend!
In the spirit of supporting his local community and the dairy industry, Chris Davis of Davis Family Dairy has decided to use his stimulus check to provide local restaurant patrons with a piece of his passion and livelihood. Davis and his parents own and operates Davis Family Dairy in Wisconsin Dells, with 220 Jersey and Holstein cows.
High Rock Café in downtown Wisconsin Dells has collaborated with Davis Family Dairy and Mullins Cheese for June Dairy Month. Every customer that dines at the restaurant will be gifted fresh cheese curds from the local Davis dairy farm, for the entire month!
“When I received my stimulus check, I wanted to put it right back into our local community,” explained Davis. “We are also excited to showcase some of our state’s finest dairy products to consumers who hopefully will look to buy more local dairy products next time they are in the store.”
With many Dairy Month events cancelled due to COVID-19, including the ever-popular breakfast on the farms, local farmers are seizing new and creative opportunities to educate customers about what they are eating and how communities can still come together to support dairy farms.
Wade Bernander and Justin Draper, the co-owners of High Rock Café, attended elementary and high school with Davis, and immediately loved the cheese curd idea and appreciated Davis’s gesture. “We know that the dairy industry, just like the restaurant industry, has been hit really hard throughout the pandemic,” says Draper. “We wanted to do something to help show how proud we are of our farmers and offer our patrons a special treat of the fruits of their labor.”
The milk from the Davis Family Dairy is delivered directly to Mullins Cheese in Knowlton, WI where it is made into fresh squeaky cheese curds, specialty cheeses, whey, and many other delicious dairy products every single day. Each customer that dines at High Rock during June will hear about the dairy month promotion, receive free
curds, and will be given a pamphlet explaining where the curds came from, about the family farm, and the importance of buying local dairy products.
“I was outside with my kids just last week, watching the Mullins milk truck drive by after filling up at the Davis Farm. It was one of those moments that made me realize how connected we are and how close this all is to home,” says Wade Bernander. “It is really important to support one another right now.”
They say time sure flies when you’re having fun, and that couldn’t be more true with the past 15 years at the High Rock Cafe! Our restaurant has grown and changed greatly since we opened the doors in 2004. Justin and Wade started out when they were just 22 years old, with a small menu, plastic utensils and a staff of just the two of them that first summer. Now 15 years later, they’re running a thriving full-service restaurant with over 40 employees!
High Rock is consistently striving to bring relevance to the restaurant scene with an ever-changing eclectic menu. In the early days before Justin and Wade opened High Rock Cafe, they traveled all over the U.S. working in restaurants and gaining knowledge of dishes and flavors in places like the Florida Keys; Portland, Oregon; Tempe, Arizona and Vail, Colorado. High Rock continues to be a unique staple of the Wisconsin Dells area because it regularly bring a wide variety of flavors to an area that wouldn’t normally be exposed to them.
A fun fact about the building where High Rock Café is located is that it is a fourth-generation restaurant for the Drapers. Justin’s great grandfather and grandfather previously owned and operated the Dells Cafeteria restaurant in the building from the late 1940’s to the late 1970’s. Justin’s father Dennis revamped the space that gives High Rock the greenhouse feel it has today when he ran the Upper Crust restaurant in the 1980’s. Justin and Wade took ownership of the building in 2004 and in 2010 they took the space a step further with a large renovation which expanded the restaurant into the downstairs space creating more indoor seating, outdoor deck seating and a large bar area.
We are proud to be a staple in the Downtown Dells area, and we can’t wait to see what the evolution of food trends will bring to our menu and our guests. Cheers to the next 15 years!
Join us New Year’s Eve for our specialty menu and dishes that are 2018 worthy!
NYE Menu
New Year Sparkler Martini- Deep Eddy vodka, St. George raspberry liquor, prosecco, and simple syrup served with a lemon twist. $7
Wedge Salad- Iceburg wedge salad with bacon, blue cheese dressing, tomato, and hard boiled eggs. $7
Entrees:
Prime Rib- Slow roasted prime rib served with garlic mashed potatoes, fresh sauteed vegetables, topped with a creamy horseradish sauce, and au jus on the side. $23
Frosty’s Chicken and Waffles- Noisy, crispy fried chicken with waffles, garlic mashed potatoes and fresh sauteed vegetables, topped with a honey lime and pink peppercorn drizzle. $22
Hawaiian Salmon- Sweet chili crusted salmon, baked, and with ancient grains, sauteed vegetables and with a fresh mango salsa. $24
(Add onto any entree)
Crab Cake- $5 each
Jumbo Sea Scallop-$5 each
Desserts:
Black forest cupcake served with a champagne float – $7
HOOK, LINE AND SINKER. At High Rock Cafe we have caught something BIG for you!
We know your mouths have been watering at the idea of this announcement and we are pleased to announce the 4th Annual Carnivorous Tour, an “Off the Hook” edition!
High Rock Cafe’s 4th Annual Carnivorous Tour will be underway come Wednesday, January 3rd, 2018, a time where we explore the oceanic world of fish, giving customers what they asked for with three different preparations of the fish each week over an 8-week period. The High Rock has a desire to educate our customers and expand their palette to different types of fish and seafood and flavors with which they might not be familiar. The High Rock kitchen staff is excited to explore the many different way to prepare these dishes where we will blacken, poach, ceviche, sauté, serve raw, you name it, in serving up some of the most creative dishes offered nowhere else in the Dells!
Having already covered beef, pork, and poultry, our newest focus is surprisingly not fresh water fish that many Wisconsinites may be familiar with, but instead ocean saltwater fishes. Fish is known to be loaded with essential nutrients, such as protein and Vitamin D that are important for proper brain functionality. It’s also known to contain omega-3 fatty acids which are crucial fighting against depression literally raising your mood with each bite. Because we care about the body and brains of our customers we are excited to offer these oceanic fish for the overall health and palate satisfaction of everyone!
Sustainable seafood is seafood that is either caught or farmed in ways that consider the long-term vitality of harvested species and the well being of the oceans, as well as the livelihoods of fish-dependent communities. When it comes to sustainability of the featured fish, think of a stop and go light. On our special menus we will provide graphics of each of the featured fish, where it is farmed, and the sustainability level to suffice curiosity about what you’ll be eating as well as to educate you before you stop in. Red signifies that the specific breed of fish in terms of sustainability have a depleting population. Yellow serves as a medium sustainability rate while green is encouragement enough to feast readily and often on that type of seafood. Sustainability is important to us at High Rock and how it affects the market.
Our fish choices over the next 8 weeks are: Grouper, Snapper, Swordfish, Shrimp, Salmon, Mahi-Mahi, Lobster, and Tuna.
A punch card will be available to all those who choose to take part in this culinary adventure and prizes will be awarded for continued participation. Every Wednesday the menu will change, so don’t forget to pick up your punch card and check out our website for the upcoming menu!
First Catch of the Tour: Grouper
ASIAN GROUPER- Vietnamese marinated grouper cheeks served on a bed of kimchi with a sweet and spicy peanut cucumber sauce. $10
BLACKENED GROUPER SANDWICH- With a Cajun blackening seasoning and served with lettuce, tomato, and our house remoulade served on a hoagie bun, and served with kettle chips. $11
GROUPER + GRITS- Grouper poached in a smoked tomato and saffron broth. Served with cheesy grits, wilted spinach, and fried capers. $24
