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table in rain
Summer is leaving like a lion...let’s hope fall comes in like a lamb. The first days of September have been cool and rainy, limiting outdoor patio service at restaurants. And the return of UW-Madison students resulted in a spike in campus-area COVID-19 cases, so Madison residents have been cautioned to avoid the downtown area, further hampering restaurant business. State Street Brats closed for several days for cleaning earlier this week; while a Facebook post said the restaurant looked forward to “opening for dine-in, carryout and all delivery platforms 9/9,” Brats was still not open again as of Thursday evening, Sept. 10. Estrellón has closed until at least Sept. 15 to test staff for COVID-19. HopCat, the huge beer bar just off State Street at Gorham, announced it would close permanently. As Kurt Vonnegut would say, so it goes. It is a time when the smallest things hit one with a mixture of joy and sadness, like La Taguara restaurant’s Instagram habit of posting a photo of the cash register receipt of their first customer of the day, along with a #thankyou and #staypositive message.
So let’s take a look at how folks are keeping keeping on.
Midcoast Wings is perhaps Madison’s first virtual restaurant. It’s delivery-only through EatStreet and is for that matter a partnership between EatStreet and The Great Dane Pub and Brewery, operating out of the kitchens of all four of the Dane’s Madison-area locations. The menu is a large variety of wings (boneless, bone-in, kung pao, coconut curry chili garlic lime, tenders, vegetarian cauliflower wings, etc.) plus a chicken sandwich or two, mac ’n cheese and a few more appetizers. The wings are not the same as The Great Dane’s, and featuring any items that are actually on the Great Dane’s menu will be rare.
The takeout-only spot Picnics has opened at 101 N. Hamilton, sharing the kitchen with Boar and Barrel at that location. Chef Anna Freudenberg specializes in ethical, local, sustainable food to-go. And it’s the glamping picnic of your dreams. Expect menu items the likes of smoked herring rillettes, warm marinated olives, pulled lamb sandwiches, and oyster mushroom tacos.
The El Grito food cart is now offering preorders for pickup, Tuesdays 5:30-7 p.m. from the Regent Market Co-op and Wednesdays 4:30-7 p.m. from the FEED Kitchens on North Sherman Avenue. Orders are taken on El Grito’s website until noon on Monday for Tuesday pickup and until 5 p.m. Tuesday for Wednesday pickups. El Grito’s innovative fillings, like sweet potato with almond arbol salsa or five-spice pork with spicy hoisin sauce, are on the menu, and if you’re lucky you might nab a meal kit with rice and beans.
DelecTable, the hybrid cooking and dining experience run out of vomFASS on University Avenue, has expanded with a new patio space. Table shields have been installed so people who don’t live in the same household can be at the same table with greater safety. DelecTable is also going the extra mile with face shields for servers.
DelecTable’s chef is Nick Johnson, whom Madison diners will remember from the Stamm House, 43 North and Restaurant Magnus, among others. Johnson’s fall menu features such items as chipotle braised pork potstickers, curried blue potato empanadas, foraged mushroom toasts, salads, salmon, carnitas pozole verde bowl, and more. There’s also a family meal curbside pickup option.
The DelecTable patio is open Tuesday-Saturday from 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; happy hour is 3-6 p.m. and no reservations are needed but are welcome at 608-204-0300.
It’s not new — it opened in 2019 — but we never wrote about BB Jack’s opening a fourth location in Cottage Grove at 1609 Landmark Drive. The small chain started in Antigo, Wisconsin, and also has locations in Wausau and De Forest. Note, it’s not BBQ Jack’s — BB Jack’s serves pizza, burgers and sandwiches. The Cottage Grove location has been hosting socially distant live music in its patio/back parking lot Thursday evenings and more recently during Sunday brunch.
Another spot we never had the opportunity to cover is Scooter’s Coffee, 6401 University Ave. in Middleton in the former Chicken Run building. Scooter’s opened in February. The Nebraska-based chain has more than 200 locations nationally. The University Avenue location has a drive-through for its full range of coffee drinks, baked goods and breakfast sandwiches.
A drive-through fundraiser to benefit Madison's Community Immigration Law Center (CILC) with 100% of the proceeds going to CILC will take place from 4-7 p.m. on Sept. 17 at Christ Presbyterian Church, 944 E. Gorham St. GatherX, a community service organization for those 23-30 is sponsoring the event to support the walk-in legal clinic that represents immigrants in the Madison area. The barbecue dinner (pulled pork or jackfruit, roasted green beans, coleslaw, and a buttermilk biscuit) will be cooked by Laura Andrews of GatherX, and will come in single-portion to-go containers with flatware. Organizers suggest nearby Giddings Park on Lake Mendota as a good place to eat if you don’t want to take your food home. All participants should wear masks and practice social distancing. Cost is $12 or $14 with dessert (chocolate chip cookie). Buy tickets in advance through Eventbrite.
[Editor's note: This article has been corrected to note that Picnics is sharing kitchen space with Boar and Barrel, which is still open for business.]
