- Luke: This week on Wisconsin Foodie: - We're at Ruby Coffee Roasters in Nelsonville, Wisconsin.

Population: 191 people.

We try to, whenever possible, take the idea of specialty coffee and roast it in a way that is still approachable and sweet.

So, we're going to be doing a cupping.

So what I'm gonna do is take a little sample out of the bowl.

So, I go.

[slurps] - How are you doing that and why?

Why are you doing that?

Why is that important?

- Trying to intimidate you.

[Luke chuckles] - Yeah, it's working.

- Amy Wimmer: The Del-Bar is a supper club and steakhouse.

The food is going to be top of line.

- Oh, I adore this space.

I love how cozy and comfortable it feels.

It's got that steakhouse vibe, but it's classy.

It's really, really classy.

This is a super busy kitchen.

- Mike: Yeah, yeah.

- Like you were banging food through here.

- Mike: Even though we're just cooking a steak, we're trying to learn and do it better all the time.

And nothing really has changed.

- This is-- - The best of the best.

- The best of the best, which is why you've been here so long.

- Chef: This is the Michael Jordan of steaks, yes.

- Luke: This is the Michael Jordan of steaks.

- Mike: Yes.

- This is why I keep coming back to the Del-Bar.

This is so dialed in.

It's so classic.

It's perfect.

This is a Wisconsin treasure.

- Announcer: Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters: - The dairy farmers of Wisconsin are proud to underwrite Wisconsin Foodie and remind you that in Wisconsin, we dream in cheese.

[crowd cheering] Just look for our badge.

It's on everything we make.

- At Organic Valley, our cows make milk [cheery whistling] with just a few simple ingredients.

Sun, soil, rain, and grass.

[bubbles popping] And grass, and grass.

- Cow: Yee-haw!

[angelic choir music] - Organic Valley Grassmilk, organic milk from 100% grass-fed cows.

[banjo music] - Employee-owned New Glarus Brewing Company has been brewing and bottling beer for their friends only in Wisconsin since 1993.

Just a short drive from Madison, come visit "Swissconsin," and see where your beer's made.

[upbeat music] - Wisconsin's great outdoors has something for everyone.

Come for the adventure, stay for the memories.

Go wild in Wisconsin.

To build your adventure, visit dnr.wi.gov.

- With additional support coming from The Conscious Carnivore.

From local animal sourcing to on-site high-quality butchering and packaging.

The Conscious Carnivore can ensure organically raised, grass-fed, and healthy meats through its small group of local farmers.

The Conscious Carnivore, know your farmer, love your butcher.

- Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin is the largest local hunger relief organization in the state.

With your help, we ensure your neighbors in need don't have to worry about where their next meal may come from.

Learn more at FeedingAmericaWI.org.

- Additional support from the following underwriters: Also with the support of Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

[clapping along with energetic music] - Luke Zahm: We are a collection of the finest farmers, food producers, and chefs on the planet.

We're a merging of cultures and ideas shaped by this land.

We are a gathering of the waters, and together, we shape a new identity to carry us into the future.

[clinking glasses] [scraping knife] We are storytellers.

We are Wisconsin Foodie .

[paper rustling] Luke: Today is my favorite day.

I love coffee.

And we're on our way to Nelsonville, Wisconsin, to meet one of the premier coffee roasters in North America, Jared Linzmeier, owner of Ruby Coffee Company.

Big things come in small packages.

And this coffee company is nestled in one of the tiniest towns just outside of Stevens Point.

We're gonna walk through the roasting process.

We're gonna do a cupping.

And ultimately, I get to taste a lot of different coffees all at once which is one of my favorite things to do.

- Jared Linzmeier: So, we start the morning off, by first of all, warming up the roasters.

It's kind of like preheating an oven.

Heat it up for at least an hour before we get our day started.

And that allows us to have a ton of consistency with our batches.

Consistency creates quality.

I'm Jared Linzmeier.

We're at Ruby Coffee Roasters in Nelsonville, Wisconsin.

Population: 191 people.

We started roasting in a garage in unincorporated Portage County, about 10 minutes north of here, in a township called New Hope.

And that's where I grew up.

So we started roasting there, at the house that I grew up in, out in the country.

And as we were growing, Nelsonville was pretty close to where we already were.

And this building, even though it was in a very rough condition, my wife had a vision for it.

And she was like, "Yeah, this is it.

Let's do it."

So yeah, here we are.

So, Ruby's my grandmother on my mom's side.

She's still with us, and she loves her coffee.

She loves what we're doing.

She's so excited.

She's like our number one cheerleader.

So, you can see here, this is the green coffee or unroasted coffee.

This one's from Brazil.

You can see, visually, it looks a little bit different.

That's because of the way that this coffee's processed is slightly different than this coffee, which is from Colombia.

Stevens Point has been undergoing an incredible and super inspiring evolution.

I may have some retail experience.

I've worked in cafés.

But the majority of my expertise is really on the sourcing side of things.

But nonetheless, like, because as of my experience in cafés and seeing their ability to create these exciting social opportunities and just the place in the community.

My first thought was, "Let's move back to Stevens Point, Stevens Point area, and put a café in downtown" because I think that'd be so cool.

The Stevens Point community has embraced us.

So, yeah, it's been a blast.

I love it here.

So right now, Katie, our other roaster, is heating up the machine and getting ready to charge the first batch.

So when we charge it, it goes up into the hopper and sits there until the temperature is precisely ready for her to introduce it into the drum.

And then when it's ready, she opens up that gate, coffee floods into the preheated roaster, and then she manages some airflow and gas adjustments to guide the roast through its curve, its profile.

That process takes anywhere from about 11 to 13 minutes.

And so, the roasting process happens inside the drum.

The coffee, as it's being roasted, it loses moisture.

Moisture's being driven out, goes up and out through the exhaust, and the coffee turns brown.

And when it's finished, she opens up the door, and we have this stirring arm that'll be turning.

And what that does is keeps the coffee moving, cools it down.

There's air that's being pulled through this perforated tray.

And then when the coffee's done, it goes through the back, gets bagged up and shipped out.

An entire roast process from loading to cool, can take, I would say about 18 minutes total.

I'm looking for a connection.

I'm looking for exciting, but not necessarily exotic or experimental flavor.

I like to guide my menu by both seasonality, but also by the producers, and the farmers, and what's happening on the farm level.

What I feel makes or defines us, is that we try to, whenever possible, take the idea of specialty coffee and roast it in a way that is still approachable and sweet.

So, I try to start from that perspective of these people just want something delicious and balanced.

And they might be saying they want a dark roast, but really what they want is a properly brewed, nicely developed, delicious coffee.

So, cupping is basically another brew method.

And the idea with cupping, for people like me that need to taste a lot of coffees all at once is to provide a platform where you can eliminate or reduce as many variables as possible.

So you can really experience what makes each coffee unique and dynamic.

So like, it's just a constant learning process.

So, we'll take what we learn in cupping from a sensory standpoint and apply that to the production side of things with modifying roast profiles, changing things around, and stuff like that.

[lighthearted music] - Luke: Coffee, for me, is essential.

It is my lifeblood.

But that being said, I am kind of the guy who like throws a couple scoops in the grinder and like [mimics machine] burrs it up, throws it in the coffee maker.

- Yeah, well, I guess what I would say is we task ourselves with roasting coffee and producing it in a way that makes it as easy as possible for people with their coffee machines at home, whatever they have, with whatever degree of attention they're going to pay to their morning brew, that they of reasonably good results.

- Please, walk me through what I'm looking at.

- Okay, let me walk you through it.

So, we're going to be doing a cupping.

That's what this is.

So, these bowls of coffee have pre-weighed and ground doses.

So each of them is the same.

The idea with cupping is that it starts to, it helps eliminate as many variables as possible.

So that when we're tasting all these coffees through this brew method, which cupping is, we're tasting the coffees as consistently as possible.

Now, what I have are five selections from different parts of Colombia.

So they're all from the same country, but they come from some different farms and some different relationships that we have there.

So, I wanna show you how much variation there can be from one country.

So, we start with pouring hot water.

Basically, the next step, as part of the sensory process, so we smell the dry grounds, which we call the fragrance.

Now that water's been added, it's called the aroma.

So now that it's starting to actually brew, you can walk down the line and smell the crust of the coffee.

So, be careful not to dip your nose in or your beard.

- Yep.

- But this is sort of like, it's kind of getting acquainted with the coffee.

During this four-minute period of having added the water, while we wait for it to brew, next step is gonna be breaking the crust, which is this bit that's formed on the top.

- Luke: Yep.

- So, that basically kinda stops the brewing process and then we'll skim the crust and then we'll start tasting.

You don't wanna stir the grounds at the bottom.

But I think on the break, you'll really start to see a lot of variation.

You'll see a more significant range from one coffee to the next.

So, what I'm gonna do is take a little sample out of the bowl.

So, I go... [slurps] - How are you doing that and why?

Why are you doing that?

Why is that important?

- Trying to intimidate you.

- Luke: Yeah, it's working.

I feel very small.

- So it's a skill.

It takes time, you know, and practice.

But basically, aspirating the coffee throughout the pallet is something that when done consistently provides an opportunity just to experience more of what that coffee has to offer.

To make sure that you're tasting the full thing.

- Sure.

- As opposed to just sipping.

- Sure.

- Jared: 'Cause when you sip it, you kind of just, the liquid, yeah, it sits and then it kinda moves around your mouth, but you're not getting-- It's a little more inconsistent.

- All right, so in the first part of this sip, I get a acidity, like a little bit of acidity, but then it mellows very quickly.

It's like a two or three second blast, but now it's hanging on the sides of my pallet.

There's a sweetness that kinda creeps in with that, as well.

It's delicious.

- That's Aguacate.

That's from Noriño.

We've been buying that coffee-- That was actually the first coffee I ever bought or ever sourced for the Ruby menu.

But yeah, I agree with you.

Nice acidity.

To me, it has like a little bit of a sugary quality, like cane sugar and an apple kind of note, some lemon.

Super clean.

- Mm-hmm.

- Super clean, lingering, like you said.

So 100%, kind of a honey note to it.

- Mm-hmm, that's good.

- Yeah, we're gonna move on to Guacharos.

[slurps] - Gosh, how do you do that?

- Jared: You just do.

[Luke slurps] [Jared laughs] - Okay, one more time.

- One more time.

That's your bowl, that's your bowl.

[Jared slurps] [Luke slurps] First impressions, Guacharos?

- Okay, first impressions.

So to not be comparative, it's very mild, very smooth.

I didn't get a lot of the acidity that I got with the Aguacate.

It's balanced on my pallet.

I don't feel it undulating between different sensory points.

- Yeah.

- I just get a really nice, robust.

And now, there's a sweetness, actually, at the end, that kinda fills in and is very delicious.

Like, this is like an all-day drinker.

[Jared slurps] - Rich sweet, robust.

Yeah, more fudge.

I feel like I get some darker fruits, some cherry, things like that, dried fruits.

- Mm-hmm.

- I really like that coffee.

- Luke: I do, too.

- It's pretty tremendous.

And you know, I just like the range, you know, again, that I was mentioning.

- This coffee is incredible.

And it's no wonder that Ruby is kind of the shining jewel of coffee here in the state of Wisconsin.

But also, you're doing amazing things for people around the world.

And I gotta say like, you're doing amazing things for me because I'm not gonna put these down until they make me put them down.

- You can have it.

- Oh, thanks.

- You can have it.

- Thank you so much for taking the time to walk me through this process.

I love it.

The Châteauneuf-du-Pape, good to the last drop.

Ruby Coffee, right here in Stevens Point.

[Luke chuckling] [Jared slurps] Luke: Yeah!

I'm headed south from Nelsonville.

About the only thing that I can think of that would make this day better for me is checking out one of Wisconsin's oldest and most iconic supper clubs and steakhouses.

For those of you in the know, it's none other than the Del-Bar.

Located downtown Lake Delton.

And I am so excited to get there and check out their big beefy flavor.

[elegant music] - Hi, my name is Amy Wimmer with the Del-Bar in Wisconsin Dells.

The Del-Bar is a supper club and steakhouse.

You can expect walking in and seeing a Frank Lloyd Wright- style building.

All of our additions were designed by a man named James Dresser who studied under Frank Lloyd Wright.

The food is going to be top of line.

When you look at our steaks, everything is Prime grade.

We source vegetables locally.

You're gonna find hash browns, typical supper club items, also fresh seafood and everything is homemade.

All of our desserts are homemade.

All of our dressings are homemade.

My grandfather and grandmother, Jim and Alice Wimmer, they ran the restaurant from 1943 to about mid-'70s.

And that's when our father took it over, and ran it with his wife for, up until 2018.

And that's when we purchased the restaurant from my dad and his wife.

I can remember as kids, we would be working the, we had a Sunday brunch back in the seventies, late seventies, early eighties.

And we'd come in and, I mean, eight-years-old, we'd be bussing tables.

I mean, I think we were working, really working and interfacing with the customers by age 13, or washing dishes.

It was just a really cool experience to be here.

We'd always walk in and, you know, my grandpa would be in the back cutting meat.

And my grandma would be like preparing the flowers and getting ready for the night.

It was kind of a big deal.

It was a lot of fun.

- Luke: Oh, I adore this space.

I love it.

I love how cozy and comfortable it feels.

It's got that steakhouse vibe, but it also has, you know, a little bit of like that supper club piece.

But it's classy; it's really, really classy.

- Amy: Thank you.

- Luke: Of course.

- All right, let me show you to your table right over here.

- Oh, this is beautiful.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- One of my favorites.

- All right.

- So, I love this menu.

This is a perfect combination of, like, classic Wisconsin comfort food, but you had a couple adventures thrown in there too.

What would you recommend?

- Well, there's a lot of different things on the menu that people love and come back for year after year.

Some of our signature dishes that have been on the menu for over 50, 60 years are the schnitzel, the shrimp Dijon.

We've got a lot of fresh seafood dishes, our pan-fried walleye.

What are you in the mood for?

- I think, beef.

- Amy: Okay.

- Now y'all serve like USDA Prime grade beef, correct?

- Correct, yep.

All of our steaks are Prime grade.

I might suggest the bone-in filet, which is a 16 ounce cut on-the-bone filet.

Really incredible steak.

And then, maybe top it with the bone marrow butter.

- Yeah.

- Amy: And a side of the roasted organic mushrooms from a local farm.

- Dang girl.

[laughing] That sounds amazing!

Okay, that sounds good.

Do you do hash browns?

- Oh, absolutely.

How could I forget the hash browns?

Our hash browns are famous.

Definitely get an order of the hash browns.

- I'll tell you how you can forget it.

Bone marrow butter.

- Amy: Yeah, exactly.

- And local organic mushrooms!

Like that's enough to make anybody forget just about anything.

- Amy: Right.

[elegant music] - Man, this place is awesome.

I'm Luke.

- Thanks.

Luke, Nice to meet you.

I'm Mike.

- Nice to meet you, Mike.

Thank you so much for letting me come back in here.

- Yeah.

- How long have you been part of the Del-Bar?

- February 1990.

- How old were you when you came on board here?

- Fourteen, washing dishes right over there.

About six months later, I was pushed onto the line.

- Luke: This is a super busy kitchen.

- Mike: Yeah, yeah.

- Luke: Like you are banging food through here.

And you're the head chef here now, right?

- Correct, yeah.

- And how long have you been doing that?

- It was probably the late '90s.

I don't remember exactly when, but it was somewhere around probably '98, '99, I took over.

I was in my early twenties, probably 22,20.

It was somewhere in that range.

I don't remember exactly when it was.

- You were a baby.

- Yeah, I was a baby, yeah, yeah.

- What's it like now?

Like, you've been doing this for so long, like, it's an operation.

Has it smoothed out for you?

- The menu hasn't changed a lot, but we just-- better relationships with the vendors.

And we just, even though we're just cooking a steak, we're trying to learn and do it better all the time and-- - Luke: Sure.

- Mike: Nothing really has changed.

- So I'm gonna try, I think, that bone-in filet tonight.

- Fresh filet, sure.

- Yeah, I mean, I love the bone-in steak.

Like, basically, whatever it is, if it's got a bone in it, I'm gonna be a sucker for it.

But that thing is a massive piece of meat.

Talk to me about this beef.

- We get all of our beef from Neesvig's, right outside of Madison.

It's a smaller company.

We're using 100% Prime beef, which you can tell by, like, the amount of marbling in these steaks.

It's the best of the best of beef, basically.

- Luke: You know, I think it's one of the hallmarks of a really successful business when they have successful relationships with their vendors, their purveyors, their farmers.

- Mike: Yeah.

- Luke: And then, their customers, finally.

- Mike: Yeah, exactly.

- It makes the whole story transparent.

The crazy thing about USDA Prime beef, all the beef that's produced in the United States of America, only 2%, as a matter of fact, even less than 2% of all beef in America- - Yes.

- Is certified USDA Prime.

This is-- - The best of the best.

- The best of the best, which is why you've been here so long.

- This is the Michael Jordan of steaks, yeah.

- Yes.

- Brother, thank you so much-- - Yeah, thank you, thank you.

- For taking the time.

- Yeah, it was good to meet you, yeah.

- Always a pleasure to meet a kindred spirit, man.

- Yeah, yeah, thank you.

♪ ♪ - Oh, thanks, man.

- Absolutely.

Main event right there for you.

Bone-in filet, bone marrow, button mushrooms, and a hash brown.

- Thank you.

- My pleasure.

[Luke makes sounds of approval] - When a plate of food like this comes in front of you, it's really hard to know what to attack first.

Obviously, all the sensory pieces are going off.

I get the richness of that beef coming off of that broiler, and it smells amazing.

The earthiness of the mushrooms.

And then, that familiar crispy, fluffy, fried-potatoey feeling that you get when you eat something that's so comfortable.

It's like putting on that sweater in the wintertime or maybe, that extra blanket.

But now, this beef and the bone marrow butter.

I can't wait.

Now, when I order a tenderloin like this or a filet, I think the less cooked it is, the more flavorful it is.

In such that, there's not a lot of fat in this.

So, if I was ordering a fattier cut of meat, I would wanna make sure that I cooked it a little longer so that fat could break down, along with any connective tissues.

Since tenderloin is one of the cleanest pieces of meat on an animal, I have no doubt that ordering it rare is gonna suit my needs.

The moment of truth.

This is why I keep coming back to the Del-Bar.

Every time I eat here, it's absolutely consistent.

Like Mike said, not a lot has changed in the 30 years that he's been in the back, but this is so dialed in; it's so classic.

It's perfect.

If a steakhouse or a supper club is what you're looking for, this is exactly, exactly what you want.

Every single bite, it's awesome.

I can see exactly why this place has been in business for almost 60 years.

It's this attention to detail, this consistency, this decor, this atmosphere, and these amazing people, that keep the stories and traditions of their family, of their community, and of this food alive.

This is a Wisconsin treasure.

Yeah.

Mmm!

3, 2, 1.

What are we doing?!

[Luke laughing] - Okay, Luke, so what I've got for you.

Now, my heart rate is back down.

- Luke: Is it?

- Well, you came out guns blazing, [punching palm] like, he's excited.

- Oh, you got nothing.

- I was like.

[phew, phew] - Luke: We're just getting started here.

- Like, what does that mean?

How excited is he?

This guy does not need more coffee.

- I definitely need more coffee!

That's why we're here.

- Psych, it's all decaf!

- And like this-- no, I'm kidding.

[laughing] - Luke: This is making the episode.

- No.

- So, I don't know whose this is, but-- - Cameraman: Oh, please.

- Okay.

- Luke: Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters: - Jared Linzmeier: Careful!

- The dairy farmers of Wisconsin are proud to underwrite Wisconsin Foodie and remind you that in Wisconsin, we dream in cheese.

[crowd cheering] Just look for our badge.

It's on everything we make.

- At Organic Valley, our cows make milk [cheery whistling] with just a few simple ingredients.

Sun, soil, rain, and grass.

[bubble popping] And grass, and grass.

- Cow: Yee-haw!

[angelic choir music] - Organic Valley Grassmilk, organic milk from 100% grass-fed cows.

[banjo music] - Employee-owned New Glarus Brewing Company has been brewing and bottling beer for their friends only in Wisconsin since 1993.

Just a short drive from Madison, come visit "Swissconsin," and see where your beer's made.

[upbeat music] - Wisconsin's great outdoors has something for everyone.

Come for the adventure, stay for the memories.

Go wild in Wisconsin.

To build your adventure, visit dnr.wi.gov.

- With additional support coming from The Conscious Carnivore.

From local animal sourcing to on-site high-quality butchering and packaging.

The Conscious Carnivore can ensure organically raised, grass-fed and healthy meats through its small group of local farmers.

The Conscious Carnivore, know your farmer, love your butcher.

- Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin is the largest local hunger relief organization in the state.

With your help, we ensure your neighbors in need don't have to worry where their next meal may come from.

Learn more at FeedingAmericaWI.org.

- Additional support from the following underwriters: Also with the support of Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel, where you'll find past episodes and special segments just for you.

♪ ♪