Restaurant review: The prices at Stone Porch Alehouse in Verona are a nice throwback

My generous cocktail was $8, my huge beet salad was $13, and my friend’s burger was $11 before he started adding lots of extras.

Sarah and Ross Thomas of Sugar River Pizza fame opened Stone Porch in Verona on Sept. 16 with a menu that has almost anything you might be looking for, other than pizza.

Thomas said they may add Neapolitan pizza since they have a wood-fired oven. “You know, something a little bit different and more old-school.”

When I talked to Thomas recently and said that I appreciated the reasonable prices, she said with her degrees in computer science and math — she used to work at Epic Systems as a developer — she always has to make sure her calculations are correct. “We’re trying not to gouge the customer any more than we need to.”

She said she could relate because she was out for lunch that day at a cafe and spent $24 on a sandwich and a cup of soup “and was floored.”

Two friends and I showed up at Stone Porch at 1 p.m. on a Saturday to watch the second half of a Badgers football game and found a decent-sized crowd in the bar area, while the rest of the huge place remained largely empty.

The name Stone Porch refers to the building’s wraparound stone patio, which is ideal for outdoor dining in warmer weather.

The day’s special cocktail, the Fuzzy Maiden, was an inventive, excellent and generous drink for $8. It had Valhalla red vodka, which is made in Stoughton. It also contained fresh-squeezed lime and sweet-and-sour Amarena cherry juice. It was served in a Mason jar mug and had the right strength and amount of sweetness.

One of my friends enjoyed a pint of 1919 brand craft draft root beer ($4), but we weren’t aware that while refills on other sodas are free, you’ll be charged an extra $4 for a refill of 1919, which is fair because it’s a premium product.

Sandwiches are a good value considering they come with a choice of side, something that wasn’t mentioned on the menu. When I asked Thomas about that she said they’ve been changing the menu every few weeks and that fact got left out.

Both sides we had were standouts: the crispy, well-seasoned fries with a perfect texture, and the creamiest, cheesiest mac n’ cheese any of us could remember.

The BYO burger ($11) was a ⅓-pound burger with local beef. My friend added pickles, onions, Swiss cheese ($1), bacon ($1.50) and a crispy egg ($1.50), but there are plenty of other build-your-own options. The supple, grilled brioche bun couldn’t have been better.

Thomas said about half of the beef comes from cows raised on their family farm, and butchered at Hoesly’s Meats in New Glarus. Their farm is Steepleview Farms in the town of Perry south of Mount Horeb. The rest of the beef comes from nearby Garfoot Farms.

The Cuban ($13) was another winner, packed with smoked pork loin and ham, plus Swiss cheese, pickles, red onion and mustard on a sturdy roll.

The roasted beet salad ($13) didn’t have much curb appeal, but once we dug in, there were plentiful red and gold beets that had been nicely roasted and lots of goat cheese that was almost too creamy. The bowl was also loaded with pistachios and pumpkin seeds. The citrus vinaigrette didn’t work for me, but I didn’t want to bother our server for a different dressing.

We ordered brisket poutine ($14) to start, but there was some problem with the brisket so it came out last. It was just as well because although it was fine, everything that came before it was better. The main issue was that those fries we loved were covered in a homemade onion gravy that was appropriately salty, but took away from their crispness, which is what we loved about them. The brisket was tender and delicious.

The rectangular white curds were breaded and fried, instead of plain, as we had expected. Still, the curds were tasty with cheese that comes from Northside Fried Cheese in Monticello.

Sarah, along with her parents, Deb and Daryl Watterson, started Sugar River Pizza 14 years ago in Belleville. They opened a New Glarus Sugar River in 2013, and Sarah and Ross opened the Verona restaurant in March 2016. It’s about a mile from Stone Porch.

The family closed the original Belleville restaurant in slow 2016.

The newest Sugar River Pizza, owned by the Wattersons, opened in Sun Prairie in October 2020.

Our Stone Porch server impressed us by taking our order, including the detailed BYO burger, without taking any notes. Not only did he get everything right, but he checked on us a lot. The only issue was that he was tough to find when we wanted our check. Then again, it got more hectic with everyone leaving around the same time at the end of the game.

When I talked to Thomas in June about her plans to create Stone Porch in the former Boulder Brewpub, she said, “We’re trying to see — are we good at restaurants in general, or just good at pizza?”

The verdict is in: restaurants in general.