Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
This weekend’s forecast of summerlike temps should contribute to an early ramping up of patio season. The Madison Streatery program, which allowed restaurants to expand their normally allowable patio space, has been extended through next year. Camp Trippalindee at the Graduate Hotel is reopening its rooftop patio starting today, April 2. Cocktails-to-go are now a thing, thanks to a somewhat belated but still welcome change in rules by the state Legislature. Some restaurants — Gates & Brovi, Graze, Mint Mark, The Coopers Tavern among them — are hiring. Things are looking up.
Brian Hamilton is moving ahead with plans to open his Kettle Black Kitchen at 1835 Monroe St. Hamilton says the restaurant, which he describes as serving “American bistro fare with French touches,” was approved for its beer and wine license by the city, and he is hoping to open the dining room by mid-May.
The space, formerly home to Joon, is small. Hamilton says he may put a couple of tables outside but does not expect to create any large outdoor dining space, calling the back parking lot “seriously without charm” and notes that “things [with COVID-19] are getting better fast.”
The dining room will have seven or eight tables and a small bar, and Hamilton figures at half capacity he can run most of the operation by himself at first.
Kettle Black started last fall as a meal service, serving prepared dinners to heat and DIY kits to cook, and really took off, says Hamilton. He credits his wife, Alicia, for sparking the endeavor. When the meal proved popular and the space on Monroe Street became available, he decided to go for the brick-and-mortar. He plans to continue the meal service, but says that the menus for the restaurant and the service will be very different, with the exception of his French onion soup.
To start, dine-in will probably be reservation-only. Takeout of fully cooked restaurant meals will be available from Monroe Street, while the meal service options (which do require some prep, even if it’s just heating) will have two pickup days a week, two on the west side, one on the east side.
Hamilton, originally from New York, has also worked in sites as far-flung as Copenhagen and New Orleans. He has also worked in many Madison kitchens — including the Blue Marlin, Weary Traveler, Magnus, Graze and Salvatore’s.
While Kettle Black Kitchen will focus on in-restaurant dining, lots of other restaurants are depending on outdoor dining space and grateful for the extra room provided by Madison’s Streatery program.
The city will again waive all fees for participation including the sidewalk café license fee, parking, street occupancy, alcohol extension of premise and conditional use fees (if on private property), says Meghan Blake-Horst, Madison street vending coordinator.
Businesses approved for the program last year do not need to reapply, but Blake-Horst says that restaurants using the parking lane “need to confirm a start date so we can ensure all no-parking signs are posted and staff are aware that items will be in the street again.”
Her office has also been doing check-in calls to make sure that businesses have active insurance and seeing that any changes made are approved. License renewals will be issued via email, Blake-Horst says.
Working Draft Beer Company, whose taproom has been closed since the start of the pandemic for onsite drinking, will be launching patio service for the first time ever with a series of weekend soft opens starting April 3 in hopes of opening ongoing service (outdoors only) by the end of the month. There will be four sit-down tables and several stand up tables with a maximum patio capacity of 25-30 people.
The organizers of the World’s Largest Brat Fest have chosen caution and canceled the in-person event at Willow Island for a second year. In its place is “Build Your Own Brat Fest,” which will start with brats (provided by Johnsonville) at bars and restaurants in the area with all net proceeds going to Brat Fest charities. Like the traditional Brat Fest, it will last the Memorial Day weekend. Not only do organizers hope it will spark business at local bars and restaurants, but be a safer way to celebrate the traditional kickoff of summer. For a list of participating restaurants, keep checking bratfest.com.
Soup’s On, an effort from Dane Buy Local to boost restaurant sales by offering drive-through pickups of frozen soups made from a revolving cast of participating local eateries, recently moved its pickup location from Madison’s north side at the FEED Kitchens to Verona, at the Badger Prairie Needs Network. Dane Buy Local executive director Colin Murray reports that “the Verona location is working out well. Our numbers did drop from the north side, but are slowly improving.” The next soup drive-through is April 6 from 4:30-6 p.m. with orders accepted until midnight on April 3 at the Dane Buy Local website. The last Soup's On is April 27, thereby signifying the end of soup season.
