Linda Falkenstein
It was a big year in restaurant openings and closings. Patricia's opened two outlets: this one on North Sherman Avenue and another on Moorland Road.
It’s been a roller-coaster. Just a year ago, almost no one had been vaccinated. Many restaurants were still takeout-only and operating on reduced hours. Some had closed for the winter, not knowing if they would reopen; others set up fire pits and tested the resolve of Wisconsinites and their willingness to eat and drink outdoors — when not at a tailgate. Then came the vaccine. As Dane County’s vaccination rates went up and COVID case numbers went down, restaurant restrictions lifted. There was a brief period — sometime this summer, it’s all fuzzy now — when things pretty much went back to normal. Now, masks are back for dining (when not seated at your table) and the Omicron variant is the new unknown. Through it all, restaurants have also been challenged by staffing shortages, responding at times with reduced hours and unexpected closings. It seems weird to be writing about the dining scene primarily in the context of logistics, but that’s where we’re at.
Big names
The highest profile opening of the year was The Harvey House, a long-awaited restaurant at the West Washington train depot. Owners Joe and Shaina Robbins Papach decided to wait out the pandemic and by the time the reimagined supper club opened in summer, no pivots to takeout were necessary.
Its opening was balanced, sadly, by a high profile closing. No pivot forestalled the demise of Estrellón, Tory Miller’s Basque-influenced small plates restaurant. Despite Miller trying takeout family meals and a restaurant-within-a-restaurant concept called Miller Family Meat & Three, keeping the space open proved unsustainable and it closed in late September.
Paisan’s opened and closed several times due to structural problems at 131 W. Wilson St., the building where it is located, finally calling it quits permanently at the end of the year.
New directions
Kettle Black Kitchen on Monroe Street moved from takeout to sit-down dining this year with a small but ambitious menu including pate de campagne, flat iron steak and roast Cornish game hen along with a robust wine and champagne list. Hone also has a small, focused menu with dishes plucked from global cuisines including lumpia, doner kebab, budae jjigae, duck confit and strip steak. Bombay Fast launched, the city’s first food cart devoted to Indian street food like pav bhaji. Get to know it well.
7 Iron Social opened upstairs at 508 State St. last January, featuring a limited menu of appetizers, drinks and golf simulators. Blind Shot Social Club opened in mid-summer on Fair Oaks Avenue, with a larger menu (including breakfast!) of appetizers, many specials, burgers and even steak — and golf simulators.
Michelle Duvall
Braised lamb osso buco special from Blind Shot Social Club.
The Botanist Social opened late in the year in the former Icon space on State Street. Despite the “social” in the name, golf is not involved. Specialties are small plates, dinner entrees including lobster roll, and a variety of high-end gins.
Leopold’s Books Bar Caffé opened on Regent Street with books and coffee as well as cocktails, wines and beers. And Madison finally got its first dog park beer bar when The Boneyard opened on Walsh Road on the east side. The innovation here is being able to hang with your dog, your friends, and their dogs while enjoying a beer or two. Food has been provided by several food carts, Sal’s Tomato Pies, and Chef Ken, who cooks Malaysian food.
Tried and true
Most new restaurants hewed to the familiar. Marigold Kitchen reopened under new ownership in its downtown space after being closed for the worst of the pandemic, with some updates to the menu and the dining area. Takarajima, a sushi restaurant in the same family as the two Takara restaurants, opened in the former Good Food Low Carb Cafe on Cottage Grove Road. Poke Bar brought the Hawaiian raw fish bowl to Middleton. Forage Kitchen added a Middleton location to its State Street, Hilldale and Monona sites. A new Ancora in Maple Bluff opened in February in the former Manna Cafe. Rising Sons Lao & Thai opened a second location, this one in Verona. JD’s, long a popular late night food cart, got a brick-and-mortar spot as JD’s Taste of Chicago on Rimrock Road with chicken, catfish and the steakburger all on the menu.
Mr. Seafood closed at the Gateway Mall and reopened as Delicacies of Asia on State Street with the same Asian/Cajun seafood concept. The Gateway storefront is now occupied by Double 10 Mini Hotpot, which had been on South Park Street and closed there due to redevelopment.
Locally owned Mexican food spots were also popular. Patricia’s Taqueria opened in the former Farm Tavern near Lake Farm County Park, and then opened a second taqueria and Mexican grocery at North Sherman and Commercial avenues. Arod’s Tex Mex opened inside the Global Market and Food Hall near East Towne. Taco Local opened in the former Underground Butcher on Williamson Street.
City Barbecue
City Barbecue's "More Cowbell" sandwich.
Raising Cane’s, a national chicken fingers chain, opened on State Street, and a second Portillo’s opened, this one at West Towne. City Barbecue, an Ohio chain, also opened in the West Towne area.
Drowning our sorrows
Union Corners Brewery, after operating on vastly reduced hours, closed permanently. Next Door Brewery on Atwood Avenue was sold to investors who will reopen it as Starkweather Brewing this month. And One Barrel Brewing reopened in Schenk’s Corners with a new barbecue menu prepared by a food truck called Boutique Barbecue, behind the building. While Ale Asylum originally planned to close its taproom at the end of October pending sale of the brewery, the taproom has actually remained mostly open since then with limited hours; best to check its Facebook page for when it's open. (The phone for Ale Asylum does not ring at the bar, the helpful bartender informed me, and it's possible open hours may end at any time.)
And…more closings
There were a lot of them. Hody Bar & Grill in Middleton closed. Benvenuto’s on the north side of Madison closed; its other locations in Fitchburg and Middleton remain open. Zoup, a multiple soup-of-the-day spot in Middleton, closed. Ground Zero Coffee on Williamson and Barriques on Atwood both closed. Crave Coffee & Donuts closed. The Pine Cone, a truck stop at the I-39-90-94 and Highway 51 interchange, closed.
Fresco, the Food Fight group restaurant atop the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, closed for a pileup of reasons including the high cost of needed renovations. Another Food Fight restaurant, The Avenue Club, closed permanently (after doing Friday takeout fish fries and cooking meals for nonprofits) when the property was sold to make way for a new home for the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra. Some would argue that The Avenue closed in spirit when the old Avenue Bar was remodeled into something self-consciously retro and renamed The Avenue Club.
And so we pivot on, boats against the current….
[Editor's note: this article has been corrected to note Ale Asylum's taproom continues to remain open for now.]
