Booyah Shed & Grill

My mother's side of the family has always nurtured a love of food.  Growing it. Cooking it.  Eating it.  It's as much a part of what the Nitkas are as football is a part of Green Bay.  I remember one of my three uncles for the huge gardens he's always kept.  I remember another of them for the bees he keeps and the amazing wonders of raw honey.  But neither of these is the one that I'll now have to start calling Chef.  That would be the third and final brother, the entrepreneur of the family, Uncle Dan.

This January I had the pleasure of visiting his brand new restaurant up in Wisconsin.  So strap yourselves in and come for a ride!  There will even be pictures.


My journey begins with the name: Booyah Shed & Grill.  Outside of northeast Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota, the word "booyah" is known mostly as an exclamation of joy... which in words doesn't really capture the spirit of the youtube videos which are probably being conjured to your mind right now.  In northeast Wisconsin, however, the foremost meaning of this word is in reference to a soup.  Perhaps the soup.

Saved for special occasions mostly because of the large numbers of people it feeds, Booyah is a very fond memory to those of us who grew up with it.  It's synonymous with friends and family, with parties, and with really cool outdoor fires.  Well, maybe that last one is just me.

I often wonder where the current slang version of "booyah" originated from.  I remember as a young child the only time I used the word "booyah" was to exclaim it in a very similar fashion to the current slang, typically when I was surprised and ecstatic to discover that the previously boring community function I was being dragged to would actually be fun (or at least tasty).  Coincidentally I also happened to fall into that young child category during the late 80's and early 90's, which is around the time when the slang version started appearing.  Of course, correlation is not causation.  I have no idea what the real reason behind the slang is, but in my little world that's what I'd like to imagine.

Like slang, Booyah Beer is also not soup

The history behind the soup's name is easier to track down.  There the name "booyah" descends from the French "bouillon" which is pronounced the same and means "broth."  The exact path from that to its current phonetic spelling isn't 100% agreed upon, but it likely involves Walloon immigrants at some point.  If you're the sort who loves history or random trivia, I'd suggest checking it out.  It's quite interesting in a nerdy sort of way.

So booyah is a soup, but what kind of soup?  Probably the best kind.  It's the savory kind of soup where a large variety of hearty and delicious ingredients hang out at a simmer for hours on end until all of the flavors have infused one another and saturated every bite.  It's also has so much stuff in it that its probably closer to a stew than a soup.  Whole chickens, cabbage and potatoes, beef and carrots all are the primary basis for booyah, and when you measure your main ingredients by the pound in the double or triple digits then you know there's a lot of room for secret ingredients and finely balanced family recipes.  Where there's room for that, you know you're going to find competitions, and booyah has competitive cook-offs similar to the way chili does.

Chef Dan

So what happens when you combine a family that loves cooking, an old cultural tradition, and an entrepreneurial spirit?  One of the tastiest darn restaurants I've visited in the Green Bay area!  So lets get to that visit!

To start it all off, here's jolly old Chef Dan.  Don't let that big smile fool you, this man works harder than most of us.  A lot harder.  He has specially designed 90 gallon kettles.  He gets up at 3 am to make sure the booyah has enough time to simmer all its flavors through before the lunch crowd shows up.

And yet, he does it with that disarming grin!  That's the result of love, people.  And who wouldn't love good food?




Even the physical restaurant itself is a labor of love.  Before the first plate was served, Chef Dan was Builder Dan who did all of the woodworking in here himself.  Have you seen these tables?  They're gorgeous!  Check out the Booyah Shed's Facebook page to see pictures of the work-in-progress before the restaurant opened.

Booyah Shed & Grill has a cozy atmosphere

But as much as I love my uncle, the real star here is the food.  The booyah is amazing, but that's not the only thing they serve.  There are all sorts of other recipes, both old family favorites and new Chef Dan inventions.  For now, though, you'll have to settle for tales about the stuffed french toast and apple pie pancakes.  I only have pictures of what my parents and I ordered when we visited, which unfortunately was not at breakfast.  When next I find myself in Wisconsin, you can bet there will be new pictures added!



I started off my evening with an absolutely divine hot chocolate.  Let me also say that I consider myself something of a picky chocolate lover.  I love chocolate.  And because I'm crazy enough to seek out things like the Northwest Chocolate Festival, I'm one of the few in this country lucky enough to have tasted fresh cacao fruit (which tastes like watermelon but has the texture of a lychee).  To make a long story short, I'm not exaggerating when I say that I really love chocolate and that I think its a crime to bury that wonderful flavor under heaps of sugar.  But while Chef Dan's hot chocolate isn't the 85% dark I seek out on my own, it's still 100% bliss.  You can tell he uses real chocolate in it, melted to perfection (just like my heart at that first sip).

Oh heavenly chocolate!

In this take on Swedish meatballs, both the noodles and the sausage are old family recipes.  And since this is Chef Dan we're talking about, of course they're made from scratch!  If you've never had fresh hand-made noodles, then you probably have no frame of reference for why Chef Dan's Shed Noodles are so amazing.  If you've never had homemade sausage, then that's another reason why you won't (yet) be able to comprehend this wonder.  Go find yourself some, and then go try out his to compare.  You won't be disappointed!

Shed Noodles offer the delight of homemade noodles and sausage

Have you ever noticed how when going to restaurants with family it doesn't matter what the specialty of the restaurant is, someone is going to order a burger?  No?  That's just me?  Oh... well, anyways, Chef Dan makes a mean burger.  This is a 100% black angus with bacon and cheese that will melt in your mouth.

Black Angus Bacon Cheeseburger

Now come the Wisconsin staples.  If you've never had cheese curds or Friday fish fries, then you've never lived in Wisconsin.  If you've ever lived in Wisconsin and then left, like I have, you'll quickly appreciate just how special those things are.

Pan-fried Walleye

Cheese Curds!  Fried ones!

And what homestyle restaurant in America can get away without their own special apple pie?  Note to self: no matter how good it looks or smells, next time you will take a picture before attacking the awesome cinnamon crumblies on top of your pie!

Engage camera before mouth?  Hmm.... working on that.

If you're not hungry yet, did you just eat?  Are your tastebuds broken?  For the rest of you, if you ever find yourself around Green Bay Wisconsin, it's definitely worth a trip to the Booyah Shed & Grill!

Booyah Shed & Grill:  website, menu, facebook, videos