Widgets from Dari Ripple

As the summer draws to a close, I’m left with thoughts of sweet corn, tomatoes and soft serve. I’ve been spending lazy days on, in and around Lake Geneva, the summer respite for so many Chicagoans. With an abundance of farm stands in the area, the thought of cooking dinner every night is simply exhilarating. But stranded without an ice cream maker, we’ve been making almost nightly treks to the legendary Dari Ripple (no typos there, by the way) in Walworth, Wisconsin. After a few nights of cones, sundaes and the inevitable Flurry (essentially a Blizzard without the copyright), I notice a word on the individually-lettered menu board: “widgets.” In a nutshell, it is dough (perhaps a biscuit variety from the folks at Pillsbury?) cut into small pieces, then briefly deep-fried and coated in a choice of sugar or cinnamon. I wouldn’t necessarily have a bag of them after pounding some Sheboygan brats and drinking a New Glarus Spotted Cow, but then again, it’s summer in Wisconsin; I don’t want to offend anyone.