By Patricia Summerfield
July 30, 2009
One o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock, four o'clock... as the beginning of the popular song goes, from the 1950's era TV show Happy Days. I blasted back to the past, circa 1950, with cashmere sweaters, saddle shoes, poodle skirts, and letterman sweaters; that is what it felt like when I walked into the restaurant Zesty's. What a fun place, it is a bright and clean family restaurant which is located in Allouez on the East side of Green Bay. It is designed and decorated with black and white tiles on the floors, aqua and pink colored booths, 45 rpm records hanging on the walls, cute wooden cut outs of painted teenagers dressed in the 50's style of clothing, and old juke box selectors. The staff wears uniforms of bright pink aprons with pink hats.
Zesty's menu is on a side board with many items ranging from perch, to wraps but what they are most noted for are their great charcoal grilled burgers and homemade custard. You order and pay for your food at the counter, and help yourself to extra ketchup, napkins and water. Also behind the counter is a chalkboard which tells you the specials of the day. After you order they give you a number and when your order is ready the number is called and you pickup your food at the counter. I ordered a 1/2 pound hamburger for $4.88, their homemade potato chips for $1.99, and for dessert I ordered the half size homemade Belgian Waffle with their homemade custard and your choice of topping for $3.79. My burger was luscious, the bun was fresh and crunchy, with two charcoal grilled patties with genuine butter melting on top, ketchup, dill pickle slices, and chopped onion; what a combo. The homemade potato chips were scrumptious, they were served warm, done to a light brown, salted, and they were not greasy.
My dessert looked wonderful - for my topping I chose raspberries. The waffle was warm and browned nicely with a great flavor, but when you add their homemade vanilla custard, so creamy and sweet with the berries and whipped cream, what can I say? It is worth all the calories.The staff was friendly and they were kept busy with cooking or cleaning out front. Zesty's also has a little outside patio which is located in front of the restaurant with iron patio furniture and a couple of potted plants.
