Davis Depiction

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.”...

The sights, sounds and smells of frying, sizzling, toasting and smoking entices customers into the doors of City Barbeque. One of the first things they’ll see, aside from signs reading “God bless brisket” and  “Wisdom served 8 oz at a time,” is the restaurant’s large, silver smoker, stacked with eight slabs of ribs, eight half chickens and a turkey. The rich aroma of cooked meat is apparent even through a mask, “which is saying something,” Bettschart said. “We do like to let our meats speak for themselves.”...

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.”...

Hand-held crepes are no exception. In fact, they are quite the show stoppers. Adorned with fruit and topped with ice cream, Japanese crepes are a cornucopia of “kawaii” — delightfully cute and wonderfully delicious. First emerging on the colorful streets of Harajuku in the 1970s, these folded crepes have now found a home on Madison’s State Street. At Madison’s J-Petal, Yushen Chen and business partner Kira Wang meticulously build their culinary masterpieces.

“They are like works of art,” Chen said about the crepes. “It's something new. When you think of ‘crepe,’ you think ‘breakfast,’ and just lay it on a plate. But ours are like flower-shaped burritos...

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.”...

Chef Ethan Kaercher’s earliest kitchen memory is making breakfast — and making a mess.

“Me and my twin brother were really young, just playing around and trying to make pancakes,” said Kaercher. “I remember flour just being pretty much everywhere.”

Through his private cooking and catering company Mad City Chefs, Kaercher now encourages Madisonians to get messy in their own kitchens with healthy, home-style meal kits...

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.”...

Mexican wrestling-meets-Madison illustrations — along with a playlist pumping out everything from Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” to War and Santana’s “Low Rider” — set the theme of State Street’s newest taco bar. “Madison has the luxury of having a couple of Mexican restaurants and each one does things a little bit differently,” Kruger said. “You have Los Gemelos which is more of a mom and pop shop. You have BelAir (Cantina), that’s more of a Cali Mex. 

“We wanted to try and incorporate more of the fun bar atmosphere into a Mexican restaurant with worldly inspired tacos,” Kruger said. “We want to try and have a little fun and also find a way to bring more people into the Mexican food and taco realm.”...

Kingsley Gobourne is no stranger to the tight-knit community of Wisconsin’s meat and dairy farms. Having inherited a love for cooking and “just eating food” from his mother, Gobourne moved from Jamaica to Blanchardville while he was still in elementary school. There he became fast friends with Justin, Jared and Jason Leonard, sons of Gary Leonard of Leonard Family Farms. “I remember showing up in third grade hearing about a great birthday party that Jason had where he ran his brother over with a snowmobile,” said Gobourne. “My goal for all of the next year was like, ‘How can I get there? I want to be a part of that.’” ...Artemis Provisions, Gobourne’s new meat, eggs and cheese delivery service, supports some of the same farms Gobourne grew up working for...

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...

Crystal Jones is an accountant by day and a French dessert baker by night. Having grown up in Milwaukee, Jones moved to Madison 10 years ago with her husband and high school sweetheart, Chaz Jones, to take a job at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Jones was raised by bakers, and it was her husband’s obsession with macarons that kickstarted the idea for what is now Jones’ sweet business: Mac-A-Holics...

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.”...

Since first arriving in the U.S. at 15 years old, Ruben Ramirez has lived by his mother’s motto. 

“I remember she would say, ‘Don’t worry about what you do, just make sure you are one of the best,’” said Ramirez, owner of Waunakee’s El Charro Mexican Grill. “If you clean dishes, it’s fine. But you have to do the best clean dishes. I cook Mexican food, and I think we are the best.”...

With its bright red truck and giant blue alligator mascot, the Kingluv Tacos cart is hard to miss. Saucy, spicy and succulent tacos, filled with Korean short ribs or ginger garlic chicken, make Kingluv even harder to forget. Kingluv debuted in spring 2018 at Stoughton’s Norwegian Syttende Mai festival and hit the ground running. It makes its Capitol Square debut next weekend at Taste of Madison, where co-founder/chef Sam Eifert hopes his tacos' bold flavors will stand out...

With aerialist performers, live music, yard games and more than 20 food vendors offering $5 dishes, Breese Stevens Field busted out all kinds of fun for the sixth annual Yum Yum Fest, the city’s biggest foodie event of the summer. The sun was high and the breeze was low, and members of the Madison Area Chefs Network brought their A-game when it came to desserts...

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...

People “buy with their eyes” according to Mallory Orr, co-owner of State Street’s newest coffee shop.

It was this philosophy that inspired Grace Coffee Company’s menu, interior design and the packaging of coffee blends.

“We wanted to offer food that wasn’t just good quality but also pretty and aesthetically pleasing,” Orr said as she sat down at one of the shop’s tables. In front of her was a massive bowl of mixed greens, avocado, grilled potatoes, ham and eggs drizzled with balsamic.

“I also wanted to create an environment where people can really feel at home,” Orr said. “I know how important it is to have a place like that.”...

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.”...

One of the most common identifiers of a fast-food restaurant is the warm and intoxicating smell of all things fried and greasy. Most Americans, wherever they’re from, may feel comforted smelling hot fries and freshly made burgers. With Mad Shawarma, Mohamed Kalboneh aims to bring a taste his own home to Madison with some of his beloved Palestinian fast-food. “Shawarma is like the McDonald’s of the Middle East,” Kalboneh said...

It’s an experimentation day for Monica O’Connell. Melted butter and whiskey bubble on the stove as she drizzles brown sugar butter rum caramel syrup on a vanilla rum bundt cake, then pulls a chocolate bundt out of the oven.

“Today I am a woman on a mission,” said O’Connell, founder of Curtis & Cake. “It’s time to get these cakes settled.”...

During summer, the five commercial cooking stations of Madison’s FEED Kitchens are bustling with food truck vendors. It’s a madhouse, with every cutting board, stove top, oven and sink space occupied. But between October and April, there’s silence. For Ana Luyet and Carissa Mangerson, founders of Tart, these are the magic months...

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...

It’s been less than four months, but Madison’s new east side Italian deli is already becoming a go-to for party sweets and appetizers. When Alimentari opened in September from the owners of A Pig in a Fur Coat, it initially gained popularity for traditional, rustic Italian sandwiches. With the holidays peeking around the corner, this part-eatery, part-specialty market has become a saving grace for party-goers and hosts alike who lack the resources and confidence to create show-stopping dishes themselves.

With two floors, two bars, three separate event spaces and an outdoor patio that seats almost 100 people, Boulder Brew Pub in Verona is far from a hole-in-the-wall bar and grill. The vaulted ceilings, wood pillars and warm-lighted hanging lanterns gives the pub a country club feel, while the rock music and comfort food boasts “All are welcome!” whether in sweats or slacks.

“There’s passion in this place,” said Greg Dorsey, the pub’s executive chef...

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.”...