Little Brown Jug   

The blackboards listing the daily specials just inside the door are the first indication that Little Brown Jug is someplace special. You don't just get a fish feature and a soup of the day; you also get a daily charcuterie (game sausage, such as venison with cherries), a rotation of artisan cheeses like Wisconsin blue, a daily featured wine and a martini special such as the frozen appletini. There's even a philosophical quote of the day. If you still need to look at a menu, you'll find boullibasse and shrimp and beggars' purses (pan roasted shrimp in tangy lobster cream with five cheese-stuffed pasta sachets) rubbing shoulders with burgers, devonshires and wings. The restaurant has a vintage idiosyncrasy, with album covers from performers like Bing Crosby, the King Cole Trio and Bobby Vinton on the wall and colorful lampshades that defiantly don't match in the front dining room. In 2005, the restaurant reopened under CIA-trained owner/chef Gary Jones, whose parents owned the place in an earlier incarnation.