43 North has ended its Sunday brunch, but when the Great Spirit closes a door, s/he opens a window: 43 North will begin serving weekday lunches on June 4. The menu includes four salads, four sandwiches (including hanger steak pastrami and a pork belly BLT) and a handful of specialties (such as mussels, sun-dried tomato spätzle and more pork belly). Prices range from $6 to $16.
Local Thyme is a new CSA-based menu-planning service started by Patricia Mulvey, one of the editors of the classic local cookbook From Asparagus to Zucchini, and Laura Gilliam, a specialist with gluten-free diets, preserves, fermenting and pickling vegetables. The duo will help people who have become overwhelmed by the bounty of their CSA box to know how to cook with it.
Local Thyme members get meal plans customized to each week's CSA box (and very specifically with the partner CSAs Crossroads Community Farm, Tipi Produce, Wholesome Harvest, Keewaydin Farms, and King's Hill Farm) as well as to eating needs (vegetarian, gluten-free, etc.). Annual membership with Local Thyme is $60 ($3 a week per standard 20-week CSA share). More at localthyme.com.
June 2 will be the last day of service for Ocean Grill. The seafood bistro is one of the Food Fight group of restaurants. In a press release, management indicated it was time for "a new concept" for the space at 117 Martin Luther King Blvd. Executive chef Eric Benedict has moved over to the same position at sister restaurant Johnny Delmonico's. The new restaurant, details of which are not being released, is slated to open in September.
The summer Tiki Bar at the East Side Club, 3735 Monona Dr., has new enticements: food carts. Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:30-7 p.m., the meats of Blowin' Smoke BBQ will be balanced by four kinds of vegan patties from Igo Vego. Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:30 to 7 p.m. it's falafel, hummus, sliders and grilled chicken from Banzo.
New: A Pig in a Fur Coat, 940 Williamson St. (608-316-3300), opened Tuesday, May 22. Hours are 4-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 4-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday.
