The Cap Times • 19th March 2025

22 of the Madison area’s best strip mall restaurants

Spoiler: There is no single best strip mall restaurant in the greater Madison area. Or rather, there is, but it’s deeply personal — a combination of convenience, taste and price point, driven by daily life.

The Cap Times • 19th March 2025

Café Domestique teams up with GlouGlou, a wine bar, at The Heights

Café Domestique, a coffee shop with guest roasters and grab-and-go lattes, will expand west in April with a new location just off Regent Street that was most recently The Heights. The cafe, a third location for owner Dan Coppola, will share space with the wine pop-up GlouGlou run by MJ Hecox. Coppola made the announcement on Instagram, touting the “easy bike access” of the Regent neighborhood.“We’ve always been kind of this weird little east side cafe,” Coppola told the Cap Times. “We’re excited...

The Cap Times • 2nd March 2025

Wisconsin-born chef Joshua McFadden returns to his roots

Joshua McFadden is a Wisconsin-born chef known for his work at high-end, critically acclaimed Portland restaurants like Ava Gene’s and Tusk.

The Cap Times • 29th January 2025

Vegan doughnut bakery Level 5 plans Atwood Avenue shop

Level 5 Donuts, a vegan bakery with a growing coffee-shop fan base, will open a counter-service shop at 2086 Atwood Ave.

The Cap Times • 28th November 2024

New restaurant The Feiring to open soon in Stoughton

The Feiring (pronounced like “firing” with a slightly rolled “r”), is set to open in mid-December on Stoughton’s East Main Street.

The Cap Times • 8th October 2024

Public Parking has a space for you on East Johnson

Public Parking, a highly anticipated craft cocktail bar, has opened on East Johnson Street.

The Capital Times • 21st September 2024

Cooking with the Cap Times featuring Thony Clarke | Cap Times Idea Fest 2024

Join Cap Times food editor Lindsay Christians with Thony “Mango Man” Clarke, the owner of Madison’s popular Café Costa Rica food cart, in the latest edition of our popular three-year-old cooking series.

The Cap Times • 20th September 2024

Photos: Thony 'Mango Man' Clarke makes chicken curry at Idea Fest

The September Cooking with the Cap Times event at Furniture & ApplianceMart featured Thony Clarke of Café Costa Rica and Mango Man sauces.

The Cap Times • 30th August 2024

Robinia Courtyard: What went wrong at the Madison restaurant group?

Robinia had issues with bounced and missing checks, inaccurate payments and unresponsive owners.

The Cap Times • 2nd August 2024

Madison dining: 11 just-opened restaurants, and 19 to come

As we head into the latter part of summer, restaurants around Dane County continue to close, change ownership and expand. Here are some of the latest updates from the local food world.

The Cap Times • 19th July 2024

Watch: Staci Fritz of Calliope makes sweet corn ice cream

The July edition of Cooking with the Cap Times featured chef Staci Fritz of Calliope Ice Cream.

The Cap Times • 16th July 2024

As rents rise across Madison, a business incubator supports growth

Small food businesses in Madison with tight margins and small staffs can find themselves with an increasing customer base and no place to grow.

The Cap Times • 24th June 2024

The 'Top Chef' effect is a 'game-changer' for Wisconsin

For some businesses featured in the Madison and Milwaukee episodes, a moment on “Top Chef Wisconsin” has meant more cheese orders, more tour reservations and fuller tables.

The Cap Times • 31st May 2024

Wisconsin restaurants in recovery: more staff but fewer diners

A new report out May 30 from Wisconsin Policy Forum charts the recovery of restaurants and bars. Staffing looks better, more restaurants are operating, and revenue is on the rebound.

The Cap Times • 4th May 2024

After 76 years, Kavanaugh's Esquire Club changes hands

Kavanaugh’s Esquire Club, a northside supper club with 80-plus years of history on Sherman Avenue, will change hands on Wednesday, May 8. New owner Craig Spaulding will serve “the first Old Fashioned” at 5 p.m. to John Kavanaugh, whose family bought the restaurant in 1948.

The Cap Times • 1st May 2024

All the Cap Times' 'Top Chef Wisconsin' coverage

Find how and why 'Top Chef' Season 21 came to Wisconsin, episode recaps and behind-the-scenes stories on our companion podcast, The Corner Table.

The Cap Times • 24th April 2024

Iconic Madison diner Nick's to close after 60-plus years downtown

Dino Christ tried to ease his most loyal regulars into the idea that Nick’s Restaurant, open since 1960 on State Street, won’t be around forever. On Sunday, Christ made it official: Nick’s last day will be May 11.

The Cap Times • 19th April 2024

'Top Chef' watch party draws dozens to Garver Feed Mill

Over 100 people came to Garver Feed Mill Wednesday to watch a Madison-centered episode of "Top Chef Wisconsin" and also to hear Cap Times food editor Lindsay Christians interview Shaina Robbins Papach.

The Cap Times • 15th April 2024

A peek behind the scenes on ‘Top Chef Wisconsin’

Media access to “Top Chef” sets is tightly controlled by NBC Universal. But for one challenge, I got a view from the dish pit.

The Cap Times • 10th January 2024

Don’t Cook for Cowboys pop-up dinners revive Grandma’s fancy plates

Don’t Cook for Cowboys is a mobile, collaborative dinner party powered by thrift store finds and friendship.

The Cap Times • 21st December 2023

Whiskey Run Distilling prepares to fire up the still in New Glarus

In the new year, Whiskey Run will fire up a new Vendome copper still from Louisville and finally start making its own spirits in house.

The Cap Times • 9th December 2023

Eight Madison-area igloos offer winter dining outside

They started blowing up during the first pandemic winter. Domes. Bubbles. Globes. Plastic igloos with varying degrees of structural integrity and heat, in which you can pretend to be drinking inside while also kind of being outside.

The Cap Times • 7th December 2023

Duck Inn in Delavan gives an oat milk brand a taste of Wisconsin

A new promo video from Oatly gives the world a quick glimpse of Wisconsin supper club culture, punctuated by frank takes, flat accents and goofy antics. “It’s got a nice shelf life, I guess.” “It’s good, but I wouldn’t order it.” “Tastes perfectly normal, I’d say.”

The Cap Times • 2nd December 2023

Madison’s first kava bar, Rooted In Sanity, to open on Atwood Avenue

First your lips go a little tingly and numb. Then your mouth starts to feel numb, and down into your throat. This lasts for just a few minutes before fizzling into a fuller body relaxation — what Hannah Saxman describes as “a euphoric, social feeling.”