One step back

Restaurants and bars change with the changing rules

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With Public Health Madison and Dane County’s emergency order # 7, indoor capacity in Dane County restaurants has once again been limited to 25% and bars may offer no indoor seating at all, due to a rise in cases of COVID-19. Just in time, the Madison Streatery program to expand outdoor dining spaces begins July 3.

The regression has prompted some changes in plans. Gib’s Bar, which had been about to reopen as a reservation-only cocktail bar on July 2, is now back in limbo.

Dexter’s Pub, which has been closed since March 17, was set to reopen for indoor dining this week. It backed off of that, but did open for takeout for the first time on July 1. Dexter’s is offering a limited menu and takes phone orders 11 a.m.-7 p.m. at 608-244-3535. “We will be making the order process as contactless as possible,” Dexter’s writes on its Facebook page. The pub will acccept credit cards only, with payment taken over the phone. Customers will receive a text message when their order is ready; pickup is from a table inside the front door. The method will be evaluated after a trial run.

State Street Brats closed again on July 1, a move that is “temporary,” according to announcements on its social media. The closing is to “prioritize the safety of our customers, employees, and community.”

While the Hop Garden taproom in Paoli has had to back off from live music, it is still open Wed.-Sun. with seating on its outdoor patio. Food (tacos, burritos, and some specials) can be ordered from the adjacent Molino’s Taqueria. The Hop Garden and Molino’s request customers wear masks when ordering in the taproom or at Molino’s “so we don’t have to go back further yet” with regulations, the pub wrote in an email newsletter. The patio is dog- and kid-friendly.

Ale Asylum is back to service on its outdoor patio only, but the kitchen is up and running. Ale Asylum requires a face mask to enter the building, while interacting with staff, and when going in to use the restroom.

Daisy Cafe and Cupcakery on Atwood Avenue has transformed its parking lot into outdoor dining with picnic tables.

Dinner at Breese and open food and drink nights at the Great Dane Duck Blind at Warner Park will both be back, says Vern Stenman of the Mallards and Big Top Productions. At Breese Stevens field, a local restaurant serves while Big Top handles beverage service, and there’s the whole stadium to spread out in. All-you-can-eat food and drink at the Duck Blind likewise has plenty of space. Stenman says an announcement of future Breese events should come early next week, and another Duck Blind night is also being planned. At the Duck Pond, Stenman is working around private event dates and rain dates that need to be kept open for the popular drive-in series at the ballpark. The next Duck Blind night will probably be announced “about a week out, almost like a pop-up,” he says, so watch Mallards social media for news. At both locations there’s plenty of room for social distancing. “The capacity of the Duck Blind is 1,750. Plus, we let people spill out onto the field,” says Stenman. With proper distancing, “it’s probably one of the safest places you can go.”

For those sticking close to home, Heritage Tavern has a big 4th of July grill kit available to-go on its web ordering site, which combines its usual steak dinner kit and its grill kit. There’s steak, market vegetables, potatoes with bacon lardon, red wine truffle reduction sauce, hamburgers stuffed with Marieke gouda, pickled red onion, lavender-rhubarb mustard, brioche buns, artisan sausages, housemade chili mayo and a package of bacon. Other meal kits, cocktail kits and meats to cook at home are also available. 

Heritage is also doing "Heritage BBQ & To-Go" out of the space usually housing its Fitchburg catering kitchen at 5957 McKee Road. Chef Dan Fox reports a tent is going up in the parking lot at that location to facilitate outdoor dining, and a tent will also be put up in an area adjacent to Heritage Tavern on East Mifflin Street to augment the scant sidewalk dining space at that location.

Canceled: Botham Vineyards Vintage Celebration, Aug. 9; and Green County Cheese Days, Sept. 18-20. Cheese Days, which usually happens every other year, has been rescheduled for 2021.

Closed permanently: Manna Cafe and Bakery, Doolittle’s Woodfire Grill.

To close: Good Food Low-Carb Cafe. The last day of service is Saturday, July 25. The Good Food carts are not in service.

[Editor's note: this article has been updated with additional information about Heritage Tavern.] It was also corrected to note that Good Food Low-Carb Cafe is not yet closed; it is open through July 25.]