Opening...soonish

Yes, there are new restaurants opening, amid many challenges

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It’s not easy operating a restaurant through this takeout-and-delivery-only time, but it’s even more difficult trying to open a brand new one right now. But often there’s little else to do, other than forge ahead.

Patrick DePula signed the lease on the space at 5511 Monona Drive for a third Salvatore’s Tomato Pies location shortly before the COVID-19 crisis hit. “Whether I open now or wait, I have money going out the door [paying rent],” says DePula. He hopes to open the new location within the next two weeks. Hiring for staffing went well, he says, but he is waiting for the arrival of some equipment.

Initially, DePula planned on extensively remodeling the former Pizza Oven location, making it, like the Salvatore’s Sun Prairie location, “a great place to hang out.” Now, of course, hanging out is not encouraged; the remodel is on hold.

DePula opted to open the Monona Sal’s geared to takeout and delivery. “The rest of the space is partitioned off,” he says, with just a counter up front. “It’s weird to be opening a restaurant — it sounds like we’re crazy.” But there’s a dearth of farm-to-table options in Monona, DePula notes. 

A Monona resident himself, he feels this is an area that will welcome Sal’s locally sourced menu, even in an abbreviated form: “We’re going to have some classic pies, a few new pies, and appetizers.” Eventually, the location will offer handmade pastas. 

Sal’s Monona will do its own delivery, with an exact range yet to be determined but encompassing Monona, East Madison to the Yahara River, and parts of Fitchburg.

DePula says he has been discussing reopening what-ifs with other local restaurant owners. “We’re all talking together, when we can. Do we reopen with restrictions, or keep to takeout and delivery for a while until there’s more clarity? We want to be safe and do the right thing, and we don’t want to go through this again two months down the road.”

Abby Padlock had hoped that her new coffeehouse, Twisted Grounds, would be open by April. The shop, at 6067 Gemini Drive in the Grandview Commons neighborhood on the far east side, will be the first coffee-centric spot in the area. Grandview Commons has a lot of new housing, but few restaurants other than the east side location of the Great Dane and a Papa Murphy’s. 

But the difficulties extended beyond not being able to let customers inside the building. Twisted Grounds is in a new shopping center and everything was being installed from the ground up. “Everything has been so delayed,” says Padlock. “Shipping was delayed, warehouses were closed.” The company providing her point-of-sale system laid off half its workers and she had difficulty getting anyone on the phone.

Padlock ended up picking out completely new furniture, as the expected arrival of her original choices would have prohibited her from opening even by her new projected date sometime in June. She spent last weekend getting the lighting installed.

Padlock has worked in the food world for a long time, with stints at several coffee shops and an inn in Virginia, and as a bartender. She’s also a December graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School. “I moved to Madison to go to law school but I kept dreaming of opening a coffee shop,” she says. When she found the Gemini Drive spot, she thought she could make it happen. “I want to enjoy what I’m doing every day,” she says, and while she acknowledges that the law school degree is valuable to have, she feels Twisted Grounds is going to be more fulfilling for her.

Initially, Twisted Grounds will be open for takeout with coffee drinks and bakery items, but the cafe also is licensed to serve beer and wine, and Padlock hopes it will have the vibe of some of her favorite coffeehouses in Europe.

Eventually the menu will expand to include a wider range of entrees from breakfast bowls to panini.