Belly Up: Taste it all

Before the summer festival season is reduced to nothing more than a bunch of lonely port-a-potty graveyards littered with plastic beer cups and windblown food wrappers, Madison rings in the fall with a celebration of culinary excess during Taste Of Madison. On September 5-6, 67 restaurants will hawk their 6 ounces-or-less wares for the incredibly friendly prices of $1-$4. Some hunting and pecking is necessary, as you’ll have to skirt the likes of Steak Escape, Chili’s, and Perkins to find good stuff like Bahn Thai’s squash curry or The Old Fashioned’s mac and cheese, but hey, who the hell ever said eating until you can’t walk was easy? While you’re resting, kick back on the Capitol lawn and enjoy one of the 35 shows on multiple stages featuring acts like Candlebox and Asher Roth, or hang around and watch the Badgers home opener on the big-screen that'll be set up especially for this event. Maybe best of all, Taste Of Madison raises thousands of dollars for United Cerebral Palsy, so you can write off all your gorging as nothing more than philanthropy (no matter how self-serving it actually is).

Fatsometer: 10. There’s certainly some healthy stuff to be found, but no amount of nibbling can ever overcome mass like this.