The Best of Whitewater survey conducted by the Royal Purple has concluded with 527 responses. The survey has revealed which locations and businesses in Whitewater are the most beloved and popular among the Whitewater community. Click through the photo gallery below to see all the top winners of gold, silver and bronze:
Among the notable winners are Generac Power Systems, which was voted the best Manufacturing Company to work at and Fairhaven Senior Services which was voted the best elderly care facility. Some of the other winners are Gus’ Pizza Palace for best pizza and Cozumel Mexican Restaurant for best taco or burrito. Also in food, China House won the best Asian Food category by a landslide with 55.3% of the vote. Jessica’s Family Restaurant won the best brunch or breakfast category with 60% of all responses.
In housing DLK Enterprises won first place, Underground Cutz lead the hair salon category and St. Patrick’s Catholic Church won first too. On campus, fans sure love their football, women’s basketball and wrestling.
One location that dominated its category was Fanatico which 62.9% of respondents said was the best place for Italian food in the city. The manager Astella Ademi was proud to talk about the restaurant which she says is getting bigger all the time. In fact, according to Ademi, the restaurant has gotten so popular that they have had to renovate their lounge so that it could seat more people. Ademi says that the restaurant is so popular because it uses fresh local ingredients, and because it combines traditional Italian cooking with regionally popular flavors.
“Our student workers are great but they leave us every May,” said Ademi. “We would like to get more community members into the restaurant.”
Ademi said that right now their goal is to get more community members into the restaurant, both as diners and employees.
One of the closer competitions of the survey was for the best gift shop in Whitewater. The most popular gift shop outside of the UW-Whitewater campus was a unique store located at N. 8660 Clover Valley Road named Fuzzy Pig. Besides winning 25.3% of the vote for the best gift shop and having a unique name, the store is also notable for being located inside of a renovated barn. The owner of Fuzzy Pig, Pam Kraus, was happy to tell us about the origins of such a peculiar store. Pam and her husband, Dick Kraus also own the store Floral Villa in Whitewater. Pam said that their gift line at Floral Villa became so successful that they decided to expand it into a new business.
“We have pretty much anything you could want, we have a unique variety of products,” Pam Kraus said.
The unusual name “Fuzzy Pig” actually comes from a cat that used to visit Dick while he was renovating the barn where Fuzzy Pig is now located. The cat had very long hair and thanks to treats from the renovators soon became rather large. This led to Dick calling the cat “Fuzzy Pig.” When it came time to name their new store they decided to name it after their feline friend.
Fuzzy Pig eventually stopped hanging around the store, however, he left a legacy, his daughter whom the Kraus’ named Winey because she liked to hang around the beer and wine bar. Winey remained part of the Fuzzy Pig Family for twenty years before passing away in 2020.
Fanatico and Fuzzy Pig are just two of the many businesses that won a top place in the eighth annual Best of Whitewater survey. They, like the other businesses on this year’s list, are sure to continue to grow and prosper.
