The Capital Times • 3rd March 2021

As dining rooms reopen, restaurants rewrite the message to boost customer confidence

To hear some restaurateurs tell it, the problem with COVID safety in restaurants is not about masks. It’s about messaging. “There’s still a lack of confidence,” said Craig Culver, co-founder and retired CEO of Culver’s, a Wisconsin-based fast food franchise with 796 locations nationally.

The Capital Times • 20th February 2021

How to think smarter about ordering takeout and delivery

Garibaldi Mexican Restaurant is on all the apps: EatStreet, Uber Eats, DoorDash, Grubhub. Every order helps, but Erik Francisco Doroteo would really prefer that customers call. “The deliveries always take a commission."

YouTube • 17th February 2021

Cooking with the Cap Times: chef Evan Dannells of Cadre

Cap Times food editor Lindsay Christians talks with chef Evan Dannells of the Madison, Wisconsin, restaurant Cadre as he makes bouillabaisse.

The Capital Times • 13th February 2021

Don't delete these cookies: 6 Madison-area bakers to satisfy a sweet tooth

Cookies by Calli’s royally iced cut-outs are part of what looks like a cookie boom. Amped by Instagram, growing by word of mouth and finding their way into markets, cookie businesses are hot.

The Capital Times • 13th January 2021

One Old Fashioned to go, please: New bill aims to legalize takeout cocktails in Wisconsin

The Settle Down’s Red Squirrel Old Fashioned includes three liquors and two types of bitters. A packaged cocktail kit for that drink alone would cost $125. At the bar, one cocktail costs $10. “We’ve already had people ask,” Bartels said. “‘Can we get a cocktail to go?'"

The Capital Times • 10th January 2021

Comfort cuisine is flying out the door at Miller Family Meat & Three

As a co-owner and chef of Madison’s most celebrated fine dining restaurant, Tory Miller is no newcomer. Yet his latest concept, Miller Family Meat & Three, acts like a start-up. When Miller posts a video about the brisket, get it while it’s hot or don’t get it at all.

The Capital Times • 6th January 2021

Cooking the books: 9 cookbooks to kickstart your kitchen

Cookbooks do reliable recipes better than anything else. As I kickstart my cooking for another season of dining in, these are some of the cookbooks (and cocktail books) that drew me back into my kitchen in 2020, and a peek at what’s next.

The Capital Times • 4th November 2020

Cold comfort: With winter on its way, Madison restaurants scramble to stay alive

“We’re grinding through this for the pleasure of being able to do what we do for a living when this is over,” said Evan Dannells, chef/owner of Cadre. “As proud as we are that we’ve been nimble and able to explore areas of creativity, that we’ve diversified, I want to make sure the tone is not that we’re OK. None of us is OK. We’re on the cusp of mass closings. And nobody’s going to do anything until lots of restaurants start closing.”

The Capital Times • 22nd October 2020

‘This is going to be a long haul': Local taverns close for the winter

“It’s not an economic environment or a political environment for a business like mine to stay open,” Warnke said. “The government can’t get its stuff together. We can’t control the pandemic, and it’s getting worse in Wisconsin.”

madison.com • 10th October 2020

How Culver's created its take on the veggie burger

Plant-based “meat” is trying for similarity, while Culver's Harvest Veggie burger looks and tastes like vegetables, cheese and grains. That seems to be the point.

The Capital Times • 3rd October 2020

Salud!: 'United States of Cocktails' captures a cocktail boom

While he was traveling, researching and writing last year, Brian Bartels had no idea his celebration of American spirits would become a time capsule.

The Capital Times • 1st October 2020

The Corner Table podcast: At the grill with Heavy Kevy

Kevy is not a chef. He’s not a brand ambassador or social media influencer or an ad rep for anything. He’s just a dude who likes to cook and decided to start making videos about it, and they're pretty great.

The Capital Times • 29th September 2020

Startup Clock'd plays Cupid for restaurants and staff

The idea for Clock’d, a tech startup based in downtown Madison, is straightforward. Trained bartenders, servers, hosts and cooks can pick up extra shifts from restaurants who need them.

The Capital Times • 5th September 2020

Pick-up picnics, virtual brands: This is dining in a pandemic

This is what a new food business looks like during a pandemic: fewer staff, a focus on off-premises and ingredient crossover.

The Capital Times • 3rd September 2020

The Corner Table podcast: What's for lunch at virtual school?

Irene Pawlisch, lead cook for Madison Metropolitan School District's food services, has been figuring out how to get food to kids who need it, even when they're learning virtually at home

The Capital Times • 5th August 2020

With this mask, I thee wed: Wedding ceremonies shrink as vendors struggle to survive

Brides and grooms have been postponing, contracting the guest list, moving the celebration, then postponing again. It’s an emotional, financially devastating roller coaster for families and vendors alike.

The Capital Times • 2nd July 2020

Your bartender tested positive for COVID. Now what?

“Workers call and they’re so angry,” Koenig said. “They want to know who it was they work with who tested positive. But it’s not their right to know that information unless it affects them.”

The Capital Times • 20th June 2020

Sanitizing on the hour, restaurants adapt to pandemic dining

“We have to open again," said Sardine owner John Gadau. "We just have to do it in a way that’s really, really safe.”

The Capital Times • 23rd May 2020

Smaller farmers' markets return with more space, less contact

Across Dane County, smaller farmers’ markets with fewer vendors and more physical space have found ways to adapt.

The Capital Times • 6th April 2020

Stay home, send pizza: Efforts to 'feed the frontlines' of coronavirus fight gain traction