Jeremy Ratliff
Editor
Following the completion of their dining room renovation in late-May, the Wild Badger Sports Bar and Grill began offering the community a new dining option, located at 1404 W. Main Street.
As owner Brent Scantlin explains, he’s owned the building at 1404 W. Main Street for several years and at one-point operated Park City Pub. He then began leasing in 2010, when the building reopened as DAT Bar. When former bar owners Dennis and Traci Fick decided to retire in October of 2018, Scantlin decided to go back into business.
Following six months of renovations, the Wild Badger Sports Bar opened last spring.
“The kitchen has been here since Dennis and Traci opened it several years ago,” Scantlin said.
“But the dining room used to be on the end of the bar closer to Foster Street. We decided to switch it around and put the bar on that end and the dining room on the other end by the main street entrance.”
The new dining room can seat up to 40 guests, and serving those guests items from a brand new menu is Scantlin’s daughter and professional chef Larissa Wahlstrom.
A 2008 graduate of Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School in Minneapolis, Wahlstrom has run kitchens at various fine dining establishments since then. When she learned of her father planning to offer food service, she relocated from the Sheboygan area to take the lead.
“I’ve always enjoyed cooking but especially cooking and serving others,” she adds.
“I enjoy getting creative in the kitchen.”
While Wahlstrom and Scantlin agree the menu is a work in progress, current offerings reflect Wahlstrom’s culinary creativity; including homemade appetizers such as pasties, haystack onions and Gouda cheese bites. Other signature items include burgers, pulled pork tacos served with Asian slaw and pretzel crusted chicken breast sandwiches.
Kitchen hours at the Wild Badger are Thursday 4-9 p.m., Friday 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Saturday 2-9 p.m. and Sunday, 2-7 p.m. Fridays feature an all-day Fish Fry while Saturdays feature made-from-scratch woodfired pizzas.
For more information, the Wild Badger Sports Bar and Grill can be reached at (715) 722-1211 or via Facebook at WildBadgerSportsBar.