Two new food carts have arrived on the Capitol Square weekdays. (They were both in operation last year and made the cart rankings, but were not located on the Square.)
Bonne Journee, parked on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. near the Risser Justice Center, sells beignets ($2), crepes (in two different flavors, Nutella and lemon, $2) and "Les Brikes" ($5), a kind of savory pie made with phyllo dough.
Electric Earth Cafe has a cart parked in front of the Tenney Building. Nine different sandwiches can be made on three different types of bread. Also on the menu: five salads, soup of the day, cookies, iced coffee, tea and lemonade.
A sustainable agriculture tour coordinated by Family Farm Defenders will hit some highlights of south-central Wisconsin, or slightly to the western edge of that region, on Friday, April 23, as part of Earth Day activities. The tour will leave from Just Coffee, 1129 E. Wilson, with the eight-person Family Farm Defenders van available and others carpooling. First stop, Cedar Grove Cheese, at Plain, to see its "Living Machine" wastewater system, which takes the water byproducts from the cheese-making process and cleans it via microbes and hydroponic plants - up to 7,000 gallons a day. From there the tour heads north to John Kinsman's organic milk farm near Lime Ridge. Lunch will be at Reedsburg's Deli Bean Cafe, and then to Vernon Hershberger's farm outside Loganville. It's hoped that the tour will make it back to Madison by 5 p.m., and if there's time, the final stop will be at the north side's Troy Gardens. For more info, call 608-260-0900.
On Sunday, April 25, Friends of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve will host an Eat Local hike so you can learn more about foraging for wild edible plants. Cattail, grape leaves, dandelion, waterleaf, nettles, bergamot and wild mustards, including garlic mustard, are on the tasting menu. Meet at the Picnic Point parking lot at 3 p.m.; call 608-249-0409 for more info.
Fitchburg at a glance: Kickshaw, the Fitchburg fine dining restaurant that followed Good Times and Fitch's in the space at 5957 McKee Rd., has closed. It opened in October 2009.
The former Ancora-Fitchburg at 2690 Research Park Dr. (near Lacy and Fish Hatchery) is now True Coffee. Ownership remains the same, but the cafe is no longer serving Ancora coffee. True Coffee serves coffee from Anodyne, a small roaster out of Milwaukee. The phone number remains the same: 608-277-1455.
Nearby, in the former Kelly's Grill (a.k.a. R & R Kelly's), remodeling work is proceeding on the new Atomic Koi cocktail lounge, adjacent to the new Roman Candle-Fitchburg.
