Dylan Brogan
Grisham: Back to cooking for small groups and creating stories about food.
Madison chef Rob Grisham is paving his own way in the local food scene. After a successful kickstarter campaign last November, he launched Isthmus Dining Company to focus on private dinners and customized meal plans for families and individuals. Recently, Grisham has branched out into pop-up dinners. His first was held last week at Macha Tea, 823 E. Johnson St., and featured a “tea-inspired” menu including salmon smoked with yunnan tea, served with yogurt, river cress and cured lemon.
“My goal is to one day have a restaurant space with 12 seats only, something really small. This is my way of testing the waters,” says Grisham.
Grisham says pop-up dinners are still popular in larger cities, but the concept is less frequent in Madison. A self-identified control freak, Grisham enjoys cooking for small groups because he can give individual attention to each plate. “It’s also an opportunity to talk about the food, and then people have a story to take home at the end of the night,” says Grisham.
Before starting Isthmus Dining Company, Grisham was the head chef at Hamilton’s on the Square and, prior to that, Brasserie V. He currently also works part-time at Heritage Tavern.
More theme-inspired meals are in the works in the months ahead. Grisham plans on hosting at least nine dinners at different venues this summer.
