PRINCETON — The sign on Horseradish Kitchen and Market touts “food, drinks and vibes,” foreshadowing there’s something different inside than a typical small-town diner.
Even so, my wife Kris and I were surprised when we entered the place on a late Saturday morning and started looking at the menu. I was torn by several unconventional offerings: Korean Nachos (tortilla chips, pulled pork kimchi, jalapeño crema and more), the Kinda Cuban (shredded pork, Cuban sauce and pickle slaw on an herbed focaccia bun) and the Midwest Beat sandwich (beets, pistachio goat cheese, basil pesto, beets, mixed greens).
As Kris and I stood there, the gears in our minds spinning, a woman walking out stopped and said, “You’ve got to try the Midwest Beat. It’s to die for.”
Then she was gone. In my experience, when strangers recommend a menu item at a restaurant you’ve never been to, you take their advice. Midwest Beat it would be, especially since it was offered on ciabatta bread made by Horseradish’s neighbor, Renard’s European Bakeshop.
I am a bakery aficionado, and I’m willing to go out of my way to buy top-quality breads and pastries. I found Renard’s on an internet search of Wisconsin bakeries, and I stopped there about a year ago on my way home to Wausau from the Milwaukee area. I found a great bakery with old-school chewy bread, and I also learned about Horseradish, which seemed like it was built just for me. I love small-town diners that offer up big-city-style food and drinks.
The two help make Princeton one of those out-of-the-way towns that you have to discover.
Horseradish Kitchen and Market helps pull people to Princeton
Owner and Princeton native Matt Trotter and his team originally opened Horseradish as a food truck in 2015, according to a history posted on the eatery’s website (horseradish.com). A couple of years later, a regular named Alex Pearsall, who spent summers in the Green Lake area since he was a kid, approached Trotter with an idea of creating a brick-and-mortar version of Horseradish in a downtown building he purchased. In 2018, today’s version of Horseradish Kitchen and Market opened.
It hasn’t gone unnoticed. The cafe, with its intriguing, vegetarian-friendly fusion menu, was one of several Princeton attractions listed in a January 2025 Midwest Living story titled “How to Spend a Day in Princeton, Wisconsin.” The story also gave a shout-out to the restaurant’s boutique, which offers things like incense, clothing, and notebooks and pencils that were hard to leave behind. (Had to, though; the nooks and crannies of my house are filled with half-finished notebooks.)
According to the Midwest Living story, Trotter was a designer in Chicago before he came back to Princeton, which may explain why Horseradish’s atmosphere is so appealing. The place is filled with art, amusing and thoughtful signs, and piles of cookbooks. The decor is Nordic mixed with industrial, and there’s an inviting deck that overlooks the Fox River.
My wife and I went to Horseradish after we got boiled by heat and humidity at Princeton’s weekly flea market, so we opted for a cooler table inside. People-watching was fun, the multi-generational patrons were happy and smiling, and I slowly cooled off and relaxed into a mellow mood.
Hours are limited at Horseradish Kitchen, but the tastes go on forever
Summer hours (June to August) at Horseradish are fairly limited: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday through Monday and 6 to 9 p.m. Sunday, with live music from 7 to 9 p.m. those nights.
I’ve noticed that when a restaurant is only open for one or two meals a day, the food is great. Horseradish only bolstered that notion.
The woman who suggested the Midwest Beat sandwich was spot-on. The thick-cut beets were an earthy foundation for a sandwich, and I’ll be trying that on my own. And wow, that pistachio goat cheese danced on the tongue.
My wife ordered the Capri sandwich, and we shared the two orders. The Capri is made with the ciabatta bread, fresh mozzarella, fresh tomato slices cut as thick as an Agatha Christie paperback, basil pesto, mayo and balsamic syrup. The sandwich wasn’t as dramatic as the Midwest Beat, but it was refreshing, light and satisfying — great eating for a hot day.
Of course we’ll be back. Ever since our foray to Princeton, I’ve been yearning to try the Korean Nachos. I also want to sample the New Deli Sliders, made with curried chicken salad. The Kinda Cuban is pulling at me, too. What fun all that will be.
Keith Uhlig has been writing about Wisconsin, its people and all it has to offer since 2000. Raised in Colby, he loves wandering around the state. He can be reached at kuhlig@gannett.com, and is on Facebook, X and Threads.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Horseradish Kitchen and Market full of big-city taste in small-town Princeton
Reporting by Keith Uhlig, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
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