Paige Green
Joe Papach and Shaina Robbins Papach.
Joe Papach and his wife, Shaina Robbins Papach, have signed a lease on the space that is the former baggage handling area in the historic Milwaukee Road Depot, 640 W. Washington Ave. Joe, who is originally from the Chicago area, and Shaina, who grew up in Madison, met 12 years ago cooking at New York’s Gramercy Tavern. Many restaurant industry stints followed.
For the last six years, Joe has been a sous chef at The French Laundry, Thomas Keller’s flagship restaurant in Yountville, California. Shaina worked for Alice Waters for five years, both in the kitchen at Chez Panisse and managing Waters’ Edible Schoolyard project.
Shaina has also worked on programming at the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in New York.
The two decided to return to Madison to open a restaurant. “It felt like a great place to start a business as well as raise a family,” says Shaina. The couple has a 6-month-old son and another baby on the way; Joe’s 10-year-old son is also with them part of the time.
The two have already relocated to Madison, but are in New York for the summer as Joe is working as a personal chef for a family. Restaurant planning will start in earnest when the couple returns to Madison in September. While it’s too early in the planning process to provide many details, Shaina says the menu will be “ingredient-driven.”
The space in the baggage area was previously slated to become Bandit, a taqueria from Gilbert Altschul, who also runs Porter, the coffee and sandwich shop at the depot. Altschul confirms that plans for Bandit are on hold for now but he is “excited for someone to bring new energy” to the space.
Bartaco, a national chain with locations in eight states, is coming to Hilldale Mall before the end of the year. It’s a full-service restaurant “inspired by the beach culture of Brazil, Uruguay and Southern California,” according to its website. The menu shows a wide variety of taco fillings but also rice bowls, rotisserie chicken and, you guessed it, poke.
Frutta Bowls is a rapidly expanding national chain of bowl restaurants. Açai bowls were the original inspiration for Frutta Bowls, but pitaya bowls, kale bowls, oatmeal bowls and smoothies are also on the menu. Madison’s Frutta Bowls is headed to the space formerly occupied by Dough Baby at 511 State St.
