Recommend “things to eat and do” in Madison, WI

[rwsaunders]

Mrs. RW and I are going to make the most out of a board meeting/business trip to Chicago and head to Madison next Friday afternoon, with a scheduled tour of Taliesin on Saturday. Dining tips, coffee, etc. from the collective would be much appreciated and we will be staying downtown if that adds more direction to the request…thanks.

[rec head]

My recommendation was going to be go to Chicago.

[PaMtbRider]

Can't offer any dining tips but can say that you should really enjoy Taliesen. We were there in July and took the extended estate tour. Well worth it if you enjoy that sort of thing.

[robin3mj]

It’s been about a dozen years but we stayed at the Speckled Hen Inn outside of town. It’s a hobby farm and very quiet. The Madison Lakes room is more modern and located in a different part of the inn.

Can’t recall our dining choice back then. There’s a lot of decent pub grub on the square around the capital.

[echappist]

Mrs. RW and I are going to make the most out of a board meeting/business trip to Chicago and head to Madison next Friday afternoon, with a scheduled tour of Taliesin on Saturday. Dining tips, coffee, etc. from the collective would be much appreciated and we will be staying downtown if that adds more direction to the request…thanks.

Welcome!

I should preface the following by saying that while we (and in particular I) enjoy living in Madison (or more correctly, an immediate suburb thereof), it doesn't quite have the tourist draw of a proper city like Seattle, SF, DC, Philly, and Boston. But otoh, I would say I would much rather visit Madison than I would some other cities of importance (say the likes of Charlotte and cities in the Sun Belt,). Madison is a big college town that may not have as much to offer to someone who is well-traveled (read, yourself). I refer to it as a college town that punches above its weight (in contrast to Milwaukee, a small city that punches below its weight).

The one must-visit, of course, is the Taliesin, in particular for someone for whom architecture is directly vocation related. Unfortunately, even it is not in town. That said, its truly unique connection to a singularly brilliant individual makes it a special place to visit. In that vein, there are also Usonian houses scattered around town, but I don't think they rise to the level of "must visit". The Unitarian meeting house would be worth a visit, but it looks like the only available tour date next week is on Sunday the 13th. Still quite the place to visit, even if just walking outside.

The place to go for fine dining is L'Etoile. New American with a French influence. It was started by Odessa Piper, the same chef was profiled in a NYT article last year about cooking classes at the Taliesin. The establishment is now ran by another executive chef (one having won a James Beard Award) and has served as the training ground for many chefs at other well-regarded establishments in town (places that have won James Bear Awards). Unfortunately, being the large college town that it is, fully booked next Friday to Sunday.

Fairchild and Mint Mark would be the two others on the list (former has reservation openings for next weekend, and latter is walk-in only). We've been to the former (winner of a James Beard Award last year) and enjoyed our experience there. But I would perhaps recommend something a bit more out of left field. In the Driftless Region, there's an establishment called the Driftless Café, located in Viroqua, about 75 minutes from Taliesin and ~2 hours from Madison. Run by a head chef who is passionate about farm-to-table cooking and serves as the host of a PBS program about food culture in Wisc. It was too far to visit when we lived in MKE, but much more doable now that we are back in Madison. Come to think of it, we should probably book for a visit there.

The place for coffee, especially a cycling who drinks coffee, is Café Domestique on Williamson Street. It's right next to a Café that we really like called Batch Bakehouse.

If you have a bike or are planning to rent a bike, there's the Lake Monona Loop. About 10 miles in distance, what is nice about it is the uniqueness of such a path in the heart of a proper city. But to someone who has spent a lot of time in the only other city in the U.S. located on an isthmus, probably less of a draw.

Feel free to follow up with questions here or in a PM.

Meal at Fairchild. Risotto and monkfish.



Batch Bakehouse