MACN Week, the Madison Area Chefs Network's new food event to take place March 9-15, is shaping up to be a kitchen-hopping extravaganza. There are still more events to be confirmed and details to iron out, but already there's much to look forward to.
If there's a theme, it's "mashup." Chefs are collaborating to combine cuisines, write other restaurants' menus, make guest appearances at other restaurants, even take over other restaurants entirely, linens and all -- and engage in a bit of healthy competition. "I don't particularly like popups," says Nostrano's Tim Dahl, one of the event's main organizers, "but I do love mashups."
"We want to get out of our familiar spaces and into something new and engaging," says Dahl.
MACN, which formed in late 2013 to enhance opportunities for communication and collaboration among area chefs, presented the one-day YumYum Fest last fall.
When given creative license to create their own event, it seems chefs develop epic cases of wanderlust.
Some highlights of the week's mashup events in the works so far:
- Liliana's Dave Heide will be reprising his extremely successful vegan dinner cooked last fall for the Madison Area Vegetarian Meetup Group, this time at Williamson Street's Grampa's Pizzeria.
- Tory Miller will be taking over Forequarter to bring the L'Etoile experience (down to the linens and plateware) to the near east side.
- Merchant and the Great Dane will be collaborating on a fish fry at Merchant, with a Dane beer tap-takeover.
- Underground Catering will be in charge of the desserts at Sujeo for the week.
- Restaurant Muramoto and the Great Dane will participate in an epic wing-off. Who will rule the world of the chicken wing?
- Francesco Mangano of Osteria Papavero will join Dan Bonanno in the kitchen at A Pig in a Fur Coat for a service industry brunch -- held at a time when many restaurant workers will be able to attend.
- Dan Fox of Heritage Tavern will cook at the soon-to-open Gib's, the bar next door to Grampa's Pizzeria.
- Participating MACN chefs will create their own signature sandwiches at Gotham New York Bagels and Eats. The creative offerings will be available all week.
- Elizabeth Dahl, pastry chef at Nostrano, will be taking over Marigold Kitchen for a pie and coffee night.
- This one is sure to thrill longtime Madison foodies: Early buzz has been high for a two-night re-creation of early '90s Restaurant Magnus (now Tempest Oyster Bar) at Nostrano.
Both Tim and Elizabeth Dahl got their starts at the beloved restaurant, and are gathering many other chefs and staff still in the area -- including Joey Dunscombe of the Weary Traveler and Shinji Muramoto.
"I've always wanted to do a Magnus dinner now that everyone has their own restaurants," says Tim Dahl. "The Magnus food was great, and it will be awesome to bring back that cuisine and look back 15 years later, knowing what we know now." The dinner will be a four-course prix fixe.
