Nobody asked me, but I would have said the Kollege Klub -- for breakfast. Only a few of us knew the popular campus night spot was open weekday mornings. It was great to sink into a booth with coffee and the Chicago newspapers -- purchased a half block away at Rennebohm's -- and try to remember (or forget) the indiscretions of the night before.

The summer 2008 issue of On Wisconsin, the magazine of the Wisconsin Alumni Association, just out, includes a fun piece by Jenny Price in which she asks nine prominent UW-Madison alums to recall their "favorite place" in Madison during their years at UW.

Former Gov. Tommy Thompson picks the old Varsity Bar on State Street, where he worked and, as he says, "had a chance to meet a lot of lovely co-eds that I dated out of that bar." Former football star Al Toon gives the nod to Mickie's Dairy Bar on Monroe Street, because the welcoming atmosphere and comfort food made him less homesick for Newport News, Va.

Like a lot of alumni, I suspect, I may not race for the mailbox when the quarterly On Wisconsin is due, but once it arrives I always find several things inside worth reading.

That's why I was interested to see an article in Monday's New York Times indicating that like seemingly all print media, university alumni magazines are re-examining their role in the Internet age.

"Alumni magazines serve many purposes," the Times story noted. "They highlight the news and research at their institutions, and serve as prettied-up fund-raising vehicles. But their main appeal -- as dormitory common rooms for grown-ups -- has increasingly been usurped by Facebook and similar Web sites."

On Wisconsin, which has a print circulation of 312,000, has a section I suppose you could compare to a grown-up dormitory common room. They call it "Alumni News" and it includes several pages of updates on what UW-Madison graduates are doing today, with the names bold-faced.

On Friday, On Wisconsin co-editor Niki Denison told me that the magazine will be putting its alumni news section online in the next academic year, with the capacity for reader input as well. The section will also appear in the print magazine, at least for now, but as Denison noted, if that changes it would free up more space for features. I think the magazine 's true appeal lies there.

On Wisconsin runs several features in each issue, light pieces like the "favorite places" story as well as deeply researched articles that can stand with any magazine journalism being done in the state.

For instance, in the letters column of the current issue, several readers applaud On Wisconsin's willingness to tackle a tough subject in a spring 2008 piece that was titled: "Can of Worms: The UW's worst scientific scandal in decades exposes the ways that extended funding has increased the vulnerability of two of the university's most valuable assets -- its integrity and its graduate students."

The article detailed how graduate students discovered that their UW-Madison genetics professor had fabricated research.

In the new issue, a reader from Minnesota writes that the article "was an important and well-researched/written piece. I am very pleased that your alumni magazine is willing to print information that may not, on the surface, shed a positive light on the UW, but which is ultimately critical for adding credibility to the magazine and the campus environment."

The only scandal in the "favorite places" story in the new On Wisconsin is how former UW basketball star Mike Kelley could rhapsodize about Glenway Golf Course -- the nine-holer on the city's near West Side -- and not mention Glenway's biggest selling point: the Village Bar across the street. Great burgers on the softest bun in town and a view out the window at the golfers finishing their rounds.

Former UW swimming star Carly Piper chooses the campus Nitty Gritty as her favorite place, while Chicago celebrity chef Charlie Trotter mentions Quivey's Grove restaurant, recalling it as "a sophisticated farmhouse with such charm and history to it."

I've never spoken to Trotter, but I've always wanted to ask him if a story I once heard is true. The story involved my late friend Peter Wright, co-owner of the old Fess restaurant on East Doty. Trotter worked at the Fess for a time during his Madison days, and the legend is that Peter once told him: "You have a great future ahead of you, just not in the restaurant business."

Other celebrities contributing "favorite places" include TV host Greta Van Susteren; Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Anthony Shadid; U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin and beer-tap entrepreneur Matt Younkle.

The Kollege Klub, incidentally, is still open weekdays for breakfast. If you see an old guy in a booth with the Chicago newspapers, be nice to him.

Contact Doug Moe at 608-252-6446 or dmoe@madison.com