Food review: Ken's Meats & Deli in Monona will put a smile on your face (2024)

Ken’s Meats & Deli on Monona Drive in Monona is a time capsule, a throwback to a time when a butcher shop might also be a deli and a general store.

Joe Mazzara, 60, who has been working at Ken’s since he was 16 and took over the business eight years ago from Ken Fellerson, said he loves carrying so many beloved local brands.

“Basically, what we do, we grab as much local product as we can to sell here. And then we’ll go from there after we can’t get anything local,” Mazzara said, citing Pasqual’s and Pedro’s tortilla chips and salsa, Stella’s bread and Hook’s cheese.

My big discovery was the caramel apple pie from Elegant Farmer in Mukwonago in Waukesha County, just southwest of Milwaukee. On the box it says “pie baked in a paper bag,” and the results are amazing. More on that later.

The butcher shop, which dates to 1964, is known for its burgundy pepper sirloin ($15.99 per pound, or $12.15 for my piece), which Mazzara said the shop marinates, but doesn’t age.

I pan seared it with olive oil and it didn’t need any embellishments — no butter, no seasoning. It was tender and juicy with fantastic flavor. You’d pay at least $50 for this caliber of meat in a steakhouse.

Mazzara said volume-wise, the burgundy pepper sirloin is his biggest seller.

I asked for the smallest piece and when I unwrapped it at home, it was enormous. I also noticed then that the friendly woman who waited on me drew a smiley face on the butcher paper. It reinforced that it sometimes doesn’t take a lot to make someone’s day. This did for me.

Ken’s 7-layer salad ($6.99 a pound) was the perfect accompaniment. It had layers of romaine and iceberg lettuce, peas, green pepper, celery, red onion, shredded cheddar, bacon bits and a sweet mayo dressing. If a salad could ever be considered a comfort food, it would be this one.

If you can’t cook your own steak, there’s an excellent BBQ pork sandwich ($3.99). The sauce was perfect, with a touch of sweetness, and it came on a fresh roll that let the meat shine.

Mazzara said Ken’s preps and bakes its buns and bread daily, but doesn’t make them from scratch. The proofing and baking process goes on most of the day, he said.

The mac ‘n cheese ($3.99 a pound) had a creamy sauce that was plenty cheesy. I got a small side with my sandwich. The person after me got the last serving of the day and it was 12:30 p.m. on a Monday, so I felt lucky to get to try it.

On an earlier visit, I had the Italian Stallion sandwich ($4.49) with various deli meats and onions on Ken’s standard round roll, but it needed some condiments, and since I was a newbie, I didn’t know to ask for them. I was splitting it with my sister-in-law, who doesn’t eat onions so I was more concerned with getting it cut in half and only getting onions on my half.

I was happy with a delightful petite tuna salad sandwich ($2.99), which would be perfect for a party if you were to order a tray of these mini sandwiches. Kelly Regge, a Ken’s employee, said the store will make party trays of those sandwiches and also sells salads in bulk.

Ken’s has three types of potato salad. I’ve had grandma‘s ($4.49 per pound) and the deviled egg ($6.49 per pound) and enjoyed both.

Mazzara said Ken’s doesn’t make its own potato salads. “You know how hard it is to make potato salad. And when you’re going through hundreds of hundreds of pounds ...”

He said Dawn’s Foods, a 63-year-old food service distributor in Portage, makes two of them.

Ken’s does make seven of its own pasta salads, along with chicken salad and ham salad. “Those are the kind of things we can make that you’re not selling a thousand pounds a week on,” Mazzara said.

I wasn’t a fan of the taco pasta salad ($4.99 per pound); it came on too strong. I much preferred the Greek asiago ($7.99 per pound) with penne pasta, black olives, tomato, chunks of cheese and the right balance of oil and vinegar.

Ken’s is a good resource for cut fruit when you’re in a pinch. A large container for my group of four ($16.78) had pineapple, cantaloupe, blueberries and green and purple grapes, all sweet and fresh.

The chocolate chunk pecan cookies ($4.99 for four) were worth the indulgence. But back to that exceptionally good Elegant Farmer caramel apple pie ($12.99): It was 5 inches wide and had a lot of depth, both in size and in flavor.

Mazzara said they get the frozen pies weekly and bake them. Once at home, the instructions on the box say to heat it at 425 degrees for five to 10 minutes. The crust gets crisp and puts most other pies to shame.

The Elegant Farmer’s website calls it the “Home of The Best Gourmet Apple Pie in America!” and uses a Wall Street Journal quote: “Quality: Best Overall. Best Value. Almost a cross between a cobbler and a pie. Baking method clearly makes for a crisp crust and tender filling.”

The other WSJ is right on. That pie makes me want to end this review with a smiley face. :)