Tipsy Cow
The Tipsy Cow downtown has introduced burritos as a new, travel-friendly entree for delivery.
Strategies to keep restaurants serving customers have evolved from the beginning of the pandemic shutdown last March. Many restaurants have created or updated online ordering, and many have signed on with a delivery service or two.
The Food Fight restaurant group created “Waunakee Wednesday,” offering free delivery from five Food Fight restaurants (Bassett Street Brunch Club, Canteen, Cento, The Coopers Tavern and Miko Poke) to residents of Waunakee. Online ordering starts on Thursdays and ends Tuesdays at 1 p.m.; delivery is Wednesday between 5–6:30 p.m. It’s one way to get food to an area where customers might not travel all the way to central Madison to pick up curbside.
Sometimes, the best strategy has been to keep the menu simple. Phillip Hurley and John Gadau of Gates & Brovi finally reopened the Monroe Street restaurant for takeout and delivery at the end of October, bringing back staff from all three of their restaurants (Sardine and Marigold Kitchen as well). “We’re trying to keep it simple and break even,” Hurley says.
They’re doing that by sticking to favorites like burgers and pizza and avoiding food that doesn’t travel well. They’re also forgoing most specials, because they’re harder to plan and order for.
“We’re doing better than I thought we would,” says Gadau, reflecting on “how good it feels to be busy and back together working.” Most of all, they’re optimistic about the vaccine. “It seems like there is light at the end of the tunnel,” adds Gadau.
Both are hopeful that people will be ready to be together again — in restaurants — after what we’ve been through. “We are wired to want to be together,” says Gadau. “When more people are vaccinated than not, people will be excited to move on.”
Michael Banas, of Lombardino’s and the Tipsy Cow, says Lombardino’s has been doing well with carryout, especially on Friday and Saturday nights. “We’re sticking to comfort food,” says Banas, “all of our staples, the Bolognese, orecchiette, eggplant,” as well as some specials. The restaurant also offers wine pairing suggestions that customers can purchase with their takeout. “They’re all Italian wines, and we try to have ones that are a bit different from other places in town,” Banas says.
Lombardino’s no longer takes reservations, finding it easier to manage the 25 percent capacity with a first-come, first-served policy.
A recent innovation is a Lombardino’s pop-up out of the Tipsy Cow Sun Prairie location. All orders are placed in advance and picked up at the Prairie Lakes Drive location, so Lombardino’s fans who live in Sun Prairie and DeForest don’t have to drive all the way to the west side for takeout. Five appetizers, three entrees, several salads and tiramisu for dessert comprise the pop-up menu. “We toyed with the idea of special delivery nights,” says Banas, with the food coming all the way from Lombardino’s to the suburbs, “but this way, it’s easier for the food to be fresh.”
The first pop-up did well, says Banas. “People seemed really happy and multiple people ordered again for the next one, which we were so happy to see.” Orders are still being accepted for the next Sun Prairie pop-up on Jan. 27.
The Sun Prairie Tipsy Cow continues to serve its regular menu on the Lombardino’s pop-up nights, so if one person in the family wants the Tipsy’s fries and a burger, the takeout orders can be combined.
Banas says that The Tipsy’s spacious Sun Prairie dining room is doing okay with indoor dining. People in Sun Prairie seem to be more comfortable with dining in than those around Lombardino’s, he says, and the suburban dining room’s size means that “you can have 75 people in there and it still seems roomy.”
On the other hand, the Tipsy’s downtown location “is struggling, but downtown is struggling,” says Banas. The kitchen at the King Street location has made some changes to the menu, opting for food that withstands takeout and delivery. The new burritos “travel better than our fries,” says Banas, and “it’s fun to do something different with our Mexican ingredients.” The kitchen has also expanded the salad menu.
Brasserie V front of house manager Alex Soglin says that the restaurant’s take-and-make family meals with simple reheating instructions have been working well, but also have the added benefit of keeping the staff safer. “Normally we have five cooks on the line and they are close together. With family meals, they are able to distance more.”
Since Brasserie V started selling family meals, they have made a few adjustments, says Soglin, such as making servings for two or three persons as well as the original four to six persons. The restaurant has also updated its point of sale software to better take orders online.
The Monroe Street restaurant is not serving indoors, because the space is too small. It did have outdoor seating when the weather was warmer thanks to the Streatery program, and Soglin says that staff will still put tables and chairs outside for anyone who asks. “People go ice fishing,” she observes. “Bring a lap blanket and wear some mittens!” She says the restaurant recently put out a table for a patron who called saying it was her birthday and all she wanted was to be able to celebrate with a beer and the Brasserie’s smoked turkey sandwich.
If it’s too cold to have a beer on the sidewalk, the restaurant sells beer for takeout and also offers several curated four-packs — picked by staff members — as well as the tempting special “mystery grab bag” with “two beers and corresponding swag” for $10.
Francesco Mangano of Osteria Papvero is also doing takeout and delivery only. “Our employees have been concerned” about the safety of having the dining room open, says Mangano, and with the restaurant’s small size and at 25 percent capacity “it’s not worth it, basically.” The restaurant had a successful GoFundMe campaign to help it through the winter months, and Mangano credits Papavero’s “good loyal customers who’ve been ordering and giving big tips,” but it doesn’t make up for many months of lost revenue.
In addition to the dinner menu and charcuterie by the pound, Osteria Papavero has been selling special dinner boxes; the next one will be for Valentine’s Day: “[Restaurants] have been proactive and inventive, and you have to have a positive mindset,” he says.
Mangano hopes the restaurant can reopen in spring, though it’s hard to plan because “every day, there’s a change” in the COVID-19 situation and vaccination progress: “I’ve learned a few things and I keep learning, but I wish we didn’t have to go through this.”
