Yunfeng Pan’s story is one of perseverance. Pan first opened his restaurant, Double 10, on University Avenue in 2012.
Redevelopment forced him to find a new location four years later. Double 10 reopened on Park Street, as Pan took over the operation of Vincent Chang’s mini hot pot restaurant.
Read MoreGrowing up, Therese Merkel learned to be careful and pragmatic. But less than two years ago, she took two uncharacteristic risks.
First, she quit her well-paying IT job at Epic Systems. Then she decided to turn her lifelong obsession with food into a career. So far, both risks have turned out well.
Read MoreMadison restaurants are pulling out the stops with special meals for dine-in and to-go for everyone looking to celebrate love this week. With Valentine’s Day falling on a Monday, many places are doing specials the weekend before or throughout the week. Pay attention to dates and times to make sure you get a meal that makes your mouth water.
Read MoreTrue Coffee Roasters’ head roaster Scott Pederson used to spend part of every year traveling to procure sustainably and responsibly grown coffee from around the world.
Now, he connects with growers through social media. He can see when the harvest has started and check in on the people on the ground.
Read MoreAt any given moment, the entrepreneurs who rent prep space in the shared commercial kitchen at Upstart Kitchen, 4323 W. Fond du Lac Ave., could be making barbecue, Nigerian cuisine, liquor-infused ice cream, baked goods, potato chips or community meals.
In the 15 months since it opened, Upstart Kitchen maxed out with 40 tenants using the space 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The wait list for entrepreneurs, which sat at an impressive 75 names about a year ago, has ballooned to more than 220 names.
Read MoreA tempura crunch fire and forced renovation has led a west side restaurateur to bring a novelty to Madison: conveyor-belt sushi. Jeannie Ni, the owner of Takara Sushi Station on Whitney Way, had wanted to bring this moveable feast to Madison for years.
Read MoreIt’s time to say goodbye to 2021 and look forward to a (hopefully) better 2022.
Madison has a bunch of options for waving off the year, but many of these New Year's Eve celebrations have limited tickets. Many also have COVID-related safety protocols, including proof of vaccination requirements.
In this ever-changing landscape, always double check plans, hours and entry requirements ahead of time.
Read MoreDonnet Joseph is a second shift machine operator. She also cooks up some of the best Jamaican dishes in Madison as M&J Jamaican Kitch’n.
Joseph cooks out of Christine’s Kitchens, a shared prep space on the city’s east side. Lately, her schedule could find her mixing up jerk sauce at 3 a.m. after a shift at the factory, or finishing up a stew at midday before she puts in 12 hours operating a machine.
Read MoreA groundbreaking Indigenous multimedia publication and cookbook has begun publishing, and a Wisconsin chef plays a central role.
Chef Kristina Stanley, an adjunct professor at Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton and former business owner in Madison, is project manager of The Gathering Basket, a new online indigenous community journal.
Read MoreOn a warm Friday night in October, jazz music mingles in the air with the smell of collard greens at Cafe Coda, a Black-owned music venue in Dane County.
Out front, the Adem Tesfaye Band has patrons dancing, and in the back room, Chef Yusuf Bin-Rella is preparing collard greens for the musicians and VIPs to have at their set break.
Inside a pressure cooker, greens, Scotch bonnet peppers, onions and garlic that were pulled from the dirt at Troy Farm on Madison’s north side by Bin-Rella about an hour prior were blending with bacon and smoked turkey. The result was a mouth-watering scent that lured people backstage.
Bin-Rella hadn’t necessarily planned to cook. He was at Cafe Coda to see friends and unwind, but he can’t resist feeding people.
Read MoreYakub Kazi, co-owner of Ember Foods, has long wanted to have his own food business. He finally started to take steps to make that happen in 2019, signing on to be a vendor at the Madison Public Market. That project has been mired in delays and pushed back opening dates, but in the meantime, Ember has begun to thrive.
Read MoreThe philosophy at Savi Cafe, located inside the Dane County Courthouse, keeps things simple and unexpected.
“We're restaurant quality in a cafeteria setting,” said co-owner Eric Gavins. “It's good restaurant quality in a place that you wouldn't expect to find it.
Read More“The Wisconsin Restaurant Cookbook,” now on sale at Pick 'n Save and Metro Market stores across Wisconsin, is “a tribute to Wisconsin restaurants,” said Lori Fredrich, a senior food writer at OnMilwaukee.com.
Read MoreGarth’s Brew Bar may be located just steps from Camp Randall, but the vibe on this stretch of Monroe Street is very different from the raucous crowds that flock to Badger football games in the fall.
Owner Garth Beyer himself got into craft beer during his college days, so he doesn’t discount that some of the clientele for his curated American craft beer bar may come from campus. But there’s one key thing about the college kids that like craft beer and frequent Garth’s.
Read MoreWisconsin is more than beer and football. With to three American Viticulture Areas (AVAs) and more than 120 Wisconsin wineries, there is a lot to sip in. As part of the Wisconsin Wine Country Travel Guide, we have uncorked a few of the best places to stay while pouring into the Wisconsin wine country.
Read MoreWhether you are road tripping through Wisconsin via the Great River Road – a National Scenic Byway that follows the mighty Mississippi River through 10 states and thousands of miles – or just out to explore the Wisconsin wine country, this itinerary is sure to please your palette. As part of the Carpe Travel Wisconsin Wine Country Travel Guide, we have poured into Wisconsin wineries and activities to sip in along the Great River Road.
Read MoreThirty or so miles from Madison and some 8,000 miles from Thailand, YumYum Thai Kitchen in Columbus draws diners from all around south central Wisconsin for chef/owner Minnie Hager’s food.
Hager grew up in her parents’ restaurant in Thailand, which fostered a lifelong love of cooking and caring for people through food. She came to the U.S. to work in her aunt’s Thai restaurant in Charlottesville, Virginia, and when that restaurant closed, she began working with friends at Monsoon Siam, also in Charlottesville. She eventually moved to the Madison location of that restaurant.
Read MoreJessica Wuesthofen’s family business is baking. Her grandfather, Rolf, opened Clasen’s European Bakery in Middleton with his brother Ernst in 1959. Now, her mom, Michelle, runs the bakery. Wuesthofen remembers lending a hand during the holidays, packaging cookies and helping her grandfather with production.
“I've always thought that I was going to be in the food industry,” Wuesthofen said. “I didn't really think about doing anything else. I just loved it so much.”
Owning and operating a restaurant was the last thing Zamira Lumani wanted to do with her life. Lumani grew up in the restaurant business and saw how hard her parents worked. She wanted a different life for herself and her husband Gjyner, who goes by Gerry.
LT’s Aloha Wagon, a food cart turned take-and-bake operation, makes the food that Lani Brender remembers eating when she was young and visiting Hawaii.
Lani’s father was born on the Big Island before meeting and falling in love with her mother in Iowa. The family often returned to visit relatives on the islands. Brender hopes that before long, she’ll be able to return to her roots and live in Hawaii too.
Read More