Davis Depiction

Inside the restaurant Les Delices de Awa, named for owner Awa Sibi, there are many paintings and murals celebrating West African women. 

But the most poignant piece of art in this new Atwood Avenue restaurant is located on the main wall between the dining area and open kitchen, where the warm, meaty scents of okra stew fill the air. Next to “Les Delices de Awa” painted in large black lettering, a woman, with a basket balanced on her head and a red skirt draped around her torso, carries an infant in a back sling. Sibi is a single mother herself. This mural, one of many painted by her friend and Abidjan artist Pehah Jacques Soro, speaks to Les Delices de Awa’s long journey.

“I celebrate every milestone in the moment,” Sibi said. “When you’ve been through so much trauma, you’re always looking out for the next hurdle so sometimes those moments of joy are short-lived. But I just take it one win at a time.”...

From a hair salon to a Lutheran church, Unit 105 on 787 North Main St. in Oregon has led many lives. Now, it’s living its most colorful era yet as an art lounge called Bad Art Co., which had its grand opening in early July. Groovy lava lamps and diamond-shaped rainbow lights accent what used to be the Community of Life Church’s pulpit. Green velvet sofas, paintings of sloths and mushroom plant pots have made a home in the former reception for Cutting Edge Hair Etc. 

“I’ve wanted to open a place like this for 15 years, since before I even went to college,” said artist Emma Dehlinger, Bad Art’s owner, art class instructor and bartender. “We want to reach people who are artists, definitely, but also people who have never picked up a paintbrush and think, ‘I'm not an artist.’”

Over the course of his working life, Eric Dahmen has held a number of job titles: wrestling coach, engineering tech, welding specialist and, most recently, “corporate viking.” That’s the nickname he has at Valhalla Vodka, a brand the Stoughton resident helped launch in 2023. It started as a joke, but the title has stuck. Valhalla Vodka imports many of its ingredients, including Norwegian glacial water and Swedish Winter Wheat, supplemented with local wheat and water. The brand also imports the lava rock the vodka is filtered through after it’s distilled at Doundrins Distillery. 

“It gives the vodka an earthy smell and creamy taste,” Dahmen said. “Normally, vodka has a kind of medicine burn. It’s sharp. Ours is almost sweet."

“It’s the first time we’ve done something like this, filtered distilled vodka over lava rocks,” Ambramovich added. “But when Eric brought the idea to us, we were up for it.”...

Admittedly this review’s headline might be one most people could see coming from a mile away. But after Zurin Villanueva’s explosive performance of “The Best” as legendary singer Tina Turner, how could we choose any other headline?

The glitter bath of a show, written by a team that includes Pulitzer Prize winner Katori Hall, depicts Tina’s life from the 1950s to the 1980s, starting from her time as a church choir singer in Nutbush, Tennessee, where she was abandoned as a child by both of her parents. The show depicts Tina’s journey with music, Buddhist and Baptist spirituality and motherhood, all the way to where she splits from bandleader and ex-husband Ike Turner to make a comeback in her solo career...

As the son of a world champion hoop dancer, it’s poetic that Nedallas Hammill took his first steps in a Native American powwow arena when he was just a year old. He was quite literally following in his father’s footsteps...Originally based out of Phoenix Arizona, the Hammill family moved Native Spirit headquarters to Benton, Wisconsin just a couple years ago. 

“I've been doing it all my life,” Hammill said of hoop dancing. “The dance was given to me by my father when I was four years old and it's been a major part of my life ever since...all of these performances are about bringing many different Native American performers and cultures together, and then sharing that with all of you in Madison.”

There are dull moments in every musical. Even the most exciting and glamorous show has patches of dialogue that run a little too long, or musical numbers that are a bit underplayed.

“Mamma Mia!” which plays in a virtually sold-out run at Overture Hall through Sunday (guests can check with the box office for any late-release tickets), is the exception.

The hit ABBA jukebox musical is relentlessly impressive, shocking in all the right ways, and just plain fun. The laughter is earned, as are the tears...

ARTS for ALL says in its mission statement that it aims “to expand the capabilities, confidence and quality of life for children and adults with disabilities throughout Wisconsin” by providing programs in the arts. Now, executive director Christina Martin-Wright is working on a new initiative...a diverse range of dance classes tailored to accommodate various disabilities, including but not limited to physical, sensory and developmental challenges. 

“As a parent, you’re constantly doing stuff with your child and making sure that they’re safe,” said Wheels & Heels founder Martha Siravo who attends the teen class with her daughter Jasmine (Jaz) Siravo. Jaz has cerebral palsy and epilepsy. "I love it when we find spaces where we don’t have to be the person that’s right next to them, and they’re still able to explore and be safe and have fun in what they’re doing."...

From sandwich-style pork bao and crispy gyoza to tomato-saturated Tibetan rolls and potato-stuffed ravioli, there are near infinite ways to make dumplings. Even mochi ice cream is technically a dumpling (but that’s another story for another time). 

Madison is a hot spot for hot buns. Local chefs get creative with traditional dishes, making already delicious dumplings even more mouth-wateringly wonderful. Honestly, in our efforts to create a list of the best dumplings in Madison, it was tough to keep it to only eight.

“Our Ukrainian kitchen staff make our dumplings exactly how they make them back home,” said Katya Temchenko, who manages Touch of Ukraine. “They are made according to the traditional recipes passed down over centuries, so they are warm, comforting and flavorful like all the Ukrainian grandmas make them.” ...

Madison brewer Kyle Metz describes the inside of a wooden fermentation barrel as a “living environment” with its own ecosystem of yeast and bacteria that takes months, even years, to cultivate. 

It almost makes Black Rose Blending, his brewery and winery on Madison’s south side, sound like an alchemist’s lab. 

“It’s a madness,” Metz said. “And it’s not for everyone...““We’ve been playing around with different fruit wines, trying to come up with some truly unique barrels that you can’t find anywhere else,” said Metz. “We’re doing our own thing. We don’t brew to a specific style."...

In October, the annual Mark Cuban Artificial Intelligence Bootcamp Initiative, a program that teaches underserved high school students about AI concepts at no cost, took place simultaneously across 26 US locations from Florida to California through Zoom lessons every Saturday for four weeks. Madison’s bootcamp, hosted by tech start-up Fetch, was the first and only Midwest location to participate.

“I had no general knowledge of AI when I came into it, but I really liked computer coding and pretty much everything having to do with computers,” said Aria Johnson, a high school sophomore from the Verona Area School District. “And it was surprising to me to see that the majority of students in the bootcamp were girls. They welcomed me with open arms and we still have a group chat that we all talk through.”...

William Banfield thinks classical music audiences are ready for new music. As the first part of his Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (WCO) residency comes to a close, the distinguished composer and ethnomusicologist is about to embark on a new five-year initiative, “Musical Landscapes in Color,” to bring that music to them. The project will kick off next week with “Harmony in Black,” which will feature two compositions by himself and one by a friend and fellow composer, the Grammy-nominated jazz-R&B artist Patrice Rushen. 

“New music has been offensive to the ears and the spirit for a lot of time,” Banfield said. “the musicians were only thinking about their intellectual exercises. And that’s not what Andrew Sewell is about. He’s about making music that addresses the way we live in the world, the way it touches people’s lives, and invites audiences in.”...

During the first month of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Anastasiya “Nastia” Craig, owner and founder of interior design company Pink House Designs, said her work became a coping mechanism. Then it felt like a way to keep her city’s architectural legacy alive. 

“Odesa has these beautiful, elegant examples of Baroque architecture,” Craig said. “I would look at these buildings as a child as art I would aspire to. Unfortunately, over 20 of those buildings that were protected by UNESCO have suffered from bombings. It’s been awful. The whole country is being destroyed by this war...It was such a traumatic experience not knowing what would happen to my town, and my family and friends who are still living there, while I’m here with no control over the situation,” she said. “I needed a way to process those feelings. Art and design also gave me a sense of purpose, to create in the midst of destruction.”...

S’mores fans, take note: Every summer, an assortment of creme-de-la-creme marshmallows in a wide array of flavors and colors appears at local markets. Lake Mills couple Michelle and Jason Quednow have been baking and vending together for 13 years, with the aim of making all of Madison into mallow enthusiasts. 

“We sell fun,” said Jason, the sole baker of the business. “It’s one of the reasons I don’t want to quit, especially now. I’d hate to disappoint all those people.”...

Wagner, who passed away back in 2021, served on the Dane County Board for 14 years, as well as serving on the Wisconsin Arts Board, the Madison Landmarks Commission, the Madison Trust for Historic Preservation, and the board of Fair Wisconsin. He was the first openly gay county board chair in the state, was appointed co-chair the Governor’s Council on Lesbian and Gay Issues, and helped create a 1980 county nondiscrimination ordinance protecting gay and lesbian individuals.

“Bringing a sculpture to Madison of LGBTQ love, and having it publicly displayed in the 80s, Dick set a bar for Madison to be an inclusive place," said Karin Wolf a member of the LGBTQ community who has now been the Madison Arts Program Administrator for 16 years. "He was a champion of that, and it made me want to live here.”...

The Global Market & Food Hall has become a hot spot for a variety of Asian cuisines in the three short years since opening on Madison’s far east side in 2020...There’s a new kid in the court lately, serving up fried foods that combine Asian ingredients and carnival culture. Glazed, which had its grand opening last month, is a mochi doughnut and Korean corn dog shop co-owned by Hmong American sisters Kia and Beeta Yang. They run Glazed with the help of their mom and seven other siblings. 

“There are eight of us girls, and we have one brother, and they’ve all been here to help us,” said Kia of her siblings. “My mom works with us and my dad helps watch my daughter while we’re at the store. We would not be able to do this without all of them.”...

Snowfall and icy roads cover Midwest cities this time of year. Delicacies of Asia chef and owner Ting Cai Zhou wants to offer a place for Madisonians to thaw out over a bowl of steamy Japanese ramen, spicy Singapore noodles, hot, handmade Chinese dumplings and more. 

“Being in the center of downtown, a lot of students are our main customers,” said Zhou, who manages the restaurant with his wife and business partner Jing Li. “We couldn’t focus on just one kind of cuisine because these students are from multiple nations and countries. We have to be diverse. Luckily, I’m able to cook multiple styles.”...

Each weekend, Milpa owners Shannon Berry and Miroslava (Miros) Muñoz prepare roughly 400 tamales in this near west side food hub, to be placed in the store’s freezer for sale on Monday. As the cook, the smell of fresh masa wrapped in steamed corn husks fills the air of the kitchen.

“I remember smelling it everywhere I went in Guatemala,” said Berry, who lived in the country for about a year before entering culinary school in Portland, Oregon. “It’s an awesome smell.”...

It was an evening full of excitement, with "Fiddler on the Roof" being the first time many audience members have stepped into a theater in almost two years. The anticipation in the crowd was tangible as the stage lights rose and a fiddler player, shrouded in a misty blue backdrop and dressed in royal purple, played alongside a warmly dressed narrator under an old wooden sign reading, “Anatevka.” Then, the first and very familiar words of the night were spoken. “A fiddler on the roof. Sounds crazy, no? But in our little village of Anatevka, you might say every one of us is a fiddler on the roof.”...

It’s not every day that a personal trainer encourages their clients to eat an 8-ounce cookie. No, not an 8-ounce bag of cookies. A half pound, soft and sugary cookie, filled with Oreos, cake or doughnuts. Como Cookie Company owner Annaliese (“Annie”) Hermanson believes that those dedicated to pursuing a healthier lifestyle can have a great relationship with food, specifically her own sweet and crumbly creations. 

“Balance is a big focus for the way I coach,” said Hermanson. “I’m not just a fitness coach. I do mindset work."...

Cynthia García’s motto has always been to “dream while you’re awake.” And it was a driving force that helped her start her business, Mishqui Peruvian Cuisine.

“It’s been very exciting going on this path” said Garcia, who grew up in Iquitos, Peru. “I love bringing Peruvians in my community those memories from a home country that’s far away. And for my other customers, it’s all about the experience of trying something different, something new with all of these full flavors.”...

Offering more than 400 flavors of soda in what he calls a “Coke and Pepsi world,” Jeff Luitjens, owner of The Pop Place in Mount Horeb, has created a craft soda sanctuary, where customers can revisit the familiar taste of Nesbitt's Orange or dare to test their taste buds on W.T. Heck’s bacon-flavored soft drinks. “In this world, normally, there's no variety when it comes to soda,” said Luitjens. “It’s either Coke or Pepsi. ‘Are you a Coke person or a Pepsi person?’ Well, we don't have Coke or Pepsi in our store, we have everything else."...

The newest market in Windsor, just northeast of Madison, started with an Italian restaurant. Or rather, the building of one.

“Every chef secretly wants to have their own place, whether they say it or not,” said Judson Branch, a chef of 20 years whose culinary journey has taken him throughout the country and recently landed him and his wife in Sun Prairie...“It was very interesting to think that I could offer something in the community that wasn’t here, like really good pizza as well as a specialty grocer."...

Confetti and candy lemon-topped cakes and cookie dough-filled sandwiches join cookies and frosted cupcakes as just a few of the baked creations Black Squirrel Bake Shop is using to diversify sweet treats for vegans in Madison.
“Madison isn’t really short on vegan alternatives, but the unique flavors are different and something you can't get everywhere,” said Black Squirrel’s owner and baker, Alyssa Rice. “It's boring, not having exciting baked goods."...

Two mottos are the foundation of the Vietnamese restaurant Saigon Noodles. The first is “Miếng ngon nhớ lâu, đòn đau nhớ đời,” translated in English: “Quality matters more than quantity.” 

The second is, in the words of co-owner Ann Tran, “In order to create good pho, you need a good broth.”

“It is the most important to remember,” Tran said. “It takes a long time to boil and a long time to get it right.”...

From cherry Coke concoctions to blue curaçao and “tiger’s blood” syrup (watermelon, strawberry and coconut), Liv’s Drink Emporium in Sun Prairie can flavor a soda more than two dozen different ways.

Some ideas came through recipe research online. “Other mixes were just through trial and error,” said Brad Stroud, who owns the soda shop with his wife, Angie Stroud. Since Liv’s opened last December, it has benefitted from the Stroud family’s robust group of taste testers. 

“One of the fortunate things of having five kids is we have plenty of people to experiment recipes with,” Brad said. “And we're not the ones who end up with the gut rot.”...

For almost 50 years, Parthenon Gyros has been a Greek cuisine staple on State Street. It claims to be the first restaurant to bring Greece’s signature meat sandwich wrap to Wisconsin in 1972. Now, Parthenon is introducing Wisconsin to another first with Yips Yogurt Chips.

“Imagine a bowl of Greek yogurt with all your favorite toppings, all packed into a chip,” said Erin Vranas, co-owner of Parthenon and Yips founder or, as she puts it, "head Yipster." “It's a sweet, crunchy, guilt-free snack.”...

While many restaurants have closed their doors either temporarily or permanently due to the ongoing pandemic, specialty coffee shop Grace Coffee Company has expanded out of Madison to two new locations: Sun Prairie and Middleton. 

 “A lot of people have lost their jobs this year, so we’re grateful to be able to employ people and give them a steady income,” said Carlos Falcon, barista and owner of Grace Coffee. “We have close to 100 employees at this point and they are all like family.”...

From teaching preschool in Sun Prairie to working as a waitress for Cafe Porta Alba, Sicilian-born Eugenia Mazza is now combining her love of education and her Italian island food with her own Waunakee market, Cibus.

“I wanted to bring a little bit of Sicily to Madison and give people an atmosphere where they could learn about Italian and Sicilian culture through food as well as art," she said...

On the sidewalk next to Sunridge Park on Madison's southwest side, Veronica Lourich takes part in social activism. She holds no signs and shouts no chants. Her weapons for change are the Crayola chalk sticks from her garage.

“I definitely hadn't touched these since I was nine,” said Lourich, a hyper-realism portrait artist. “But I wanted to be able to give a communal space for people to all come together, learn together and draw together.”...

At 10 a.m. on a Monday, the sounds of drums, trumpets, saxophones, french horns and flutes would be heard in the hallway of La Follette High School. In the band room — stuffed with instrument cases and decorated with "Star Wars" and Indiana Jones posters — Mark Cyra, La Follette’s longtime band director, sat in the clarinet section practicing “A Hymn for the Lost and the Living” along with his students.

Local trombonist Darren Sterud would be found at the front of the class, conducting the band so Cyra could play. “I tell the kids all the time that when I’m sitting in with them, it’s not because I’m some incredible musician or player,” Cyra said. “What I provide for them is courage to make an entrance with confidence."...

While many of Madison’s small businesses have closed to slow the spread of COVID-19, others are adapting, taking on different forms to serve the isolated, and hungry, people of Madison. Ethel Ann’s Savories and Sweets is one such business. Founder and chef John Kibler is offering “Emotional Support” packages filled with Southern-style treats to help spread positive messages and good eating during a time of social distancing...

After two years of planning and a year of noodle-based study in China, Chaofu Lin and his wife Xia (Tina) Jia have opened their restaurant, Ru Yi Hand Pulled Noodle, on State Street. It’s been a month since Ru Yi’s grand opening in January and the Chinese restaurant has already attracted a wide range of regular customers.

“We’ve gotten some students from the university who are originally from Lanzhou, and they say that the noodles taste like home,” said Lin through interpreter Holly Chen...

Like a glowing orb just off the Beltline, the yellow stucco walls and vibrant red pillars of Dynasty Chinese Restaurant light up the snug lot between a 7-Eleven and Verlo Mattress Factory. Visitors are greeted with a “zao shang hao” (“good morning” in Mandarin) by an automated voice right after opening the doors, where more warm colors, large red fabric koi fish and woven rainbow flowers surround the host stand...

This fall, Irene Gelfand and Emin Buzhunashvili fulfilled a nine year dream: to open their own Mediterranean-meets-Russian restaurant. Husband and wife are originally from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. 

A visit to the Caspian Sea on vacation in 2010 sparked a desire to bring the food of their heritage to their new Midwest home, so appropriately, their new restaurant on Gammon Road is named Caspian Grill...

Spicy curry, masala, ginger and chili sauce are the sentimental smells of a classic Indian buffet. Madison’s newest place to find these aromas, Royal Indian Cuisine, has bright orange walls and flavors that surpass buffet expectations. This 15-part lunch menu is fit for, well, royalty. 

“People come here hungry and we should be taking care of them,” said Inderjit Kaur, co-owner and manager of Royal Indian Cuisine. “For anybody who comes here to eat, everything should be perfect.”...

Madison has a knack for taking a common summer craving like tacos, and giving them a unique flair. Madison’s taquerias may offer Mexican cuisine with a home-cooked feel, but many also like to get creative, combining recipes from a number of cultures and packaging them in corn tortillas. This week, we’re looking at seven trendy tacos that explore Middle Eastern flavors, tempura crunch and vegan-friendly grilled fruits and veggies. These tacos welcome anyone with an adventurous palate...

Icki Sticki is a tropical paradise, or as close as it gets here in Wisconsin. Walking into the new ice cream shop in Mount Horeb, it’s difficult to say what catches the eye first — rows of candy toppings, multicolored shaved ice menus, giant woven checkerboards, or dozens of pineapple symbols dispersed throughout the ice cream shop.

“Our whole theme is very laid-back Hawaiian,” said Daniel Jackson, who owns Icki Sticki with his wife, Jessica. “When we were going through design layout, Jess and I said we wanted something that was warm in the winter but cool in the summer. That’s how we came up with this.”...

During this frigid season when the Midwestern world is blanketed in white and gray slush, we’re looking for a little culinary color. Madison’s sushi restaurants aim to please with ever more enticing ingredients, from kiwi sauce to sweet potatoes and tobiko in a rainbow of colors. This week, we’re looking at seven specialty rolls worth bundling up for. It may be freezing outside, but these rolls are hot...

At Wildwood, there are wild flowers on every rustic, wooden table and wilderness books on any open counter or white windowsill. The natural light and vintage paintings add a cabin-like feel to this cafe, located on Stoughton’s Forrest Street. One of the cafe walls is dedicated to selling travel mugs, flasks, Ruby’s ground coffee and more. There is also a 1994 Marzocco espresso machine that Ryan customized and refurbished himself...

Despite the creamy contour of her chocolate meringues and glazed looks of the popular Geese Feet cookies, sugar and frosting are not the key ingredients in Olga Aydinyan’s Eastern European pastries.

Instead, egg whites, cheese and butter make up the foundation of Aydinyan’s baked creations, which pay homage to her “international family.”...