Part of the prix fixe menu for Winter Restaurant Week from Villa Dolce in Middleton.
January is traditionally a slow time for restaurants. Why is that? Are you somehow less hungry after the holidays than in other months? Are you really "dieting"? Even if you are fulfilling an interior promise to eat better this year, there are restaurants that cater to healthful eating. Is it just too cold to go outside? Maybe.
But it's cold weather that gets me daydreaming about comfort foods...clam chowder, buttermilk macaroni and cheese, cowboy chili made hearty with a little bit of leftover coffee and some shards of dark chocolate...and yeah, even healthful vegetable plates like the daily tarkari and dal at Himal Chuli.
So what's all this about January being a slow month for going out to eat? To further entice folks into restaurants, Madison Restaurant Week is coming up Jan. 23-28. This is a great time to try out a restaurant you've been meaning to get to...or revisit an old favorite.
The prix fixe three-course dinner menus start at $25; some restaurants put on a three-course lunch for $15. Restaurants range from Migrants, a taco spot that Kyle Nabilcy reviewed just as the pandemic hit in March 2020, to such higher-end dining rooms as Osteria Papavero and Heritage Tavern.
Even better, there are choices among the appetizers, entrees and desserts, so if you and a dining partner pick different dishes, you have a lot of fun sharing options. And some restaurants come up with specials not usually offered.
Gems among the menus include pork flat iron with butternut squash ravioli and roasted mushrooms from Buck & Honey’s; beef brisket pot au feu or a bouillabaisse from Heritage Tavern; salmon branzino from Migrants; pan-roasted fjord sea trout with fennel-cabbage-caper slaw at Osteria Papavero; duck at Salvatore’s-Livingston Street; and braised lamb shoulder at Villa Dolce.
One thing the three-course meal format reminds us is that eating should not always be a grab-and-go concept. Meals are made for sitting down and communing with friends and family. But, of course there is the pandemic. Last September, Restaurant Week organizers adjusted the event to be more takeout-friendly, calling it Restaurant Week To-Go. This January, restaurants are offering different options for their prix fixe meals: some provide dine-in only; some offer carryout; and some require dine-in for certain dishes only — like that duck at Salvatore’s-Livingston Street. Scroll down to the bottom of each restaurant’s menu on the Restaurant Week website for open hours and carryout vs. dine-in requirements.
Souped up
The drive-through soup market Soup's On, sponsored by Dane Buy Local, is back again this year to help support area restaurants through the winter months. Frozen soup by the quart can be ordered in advance Jan. 19-22 for pickup at FEED Kitchens on Jan. 25, 4-6 p.m. The schedule is the same every week — new soups go up on the website on Wednesdays, and can be ordered through Saturday for pickup the following Tuesday. When ordering, customers can add quarts to be donated to the FEED Kitchens Healthy Food For All program. The sales will run weekly through the end of April (the pickup location may shift; check website for details).
Soup-makers range from familiar restaurants to caterers you might not ordinarily be able to just order food from, like Ember Foods, which specializes in Indian dishes. Restaurants participating in Soup’s On this season include Banzo, Green Owl Cafe, La Kitchenette, Teddywedgers, Beef Butter BBQ, Roman Candle, Bunky’s and more.
Closed for the winter
The Nau-Ti-Gal in the town of Westport closed after Christmas and won’t reopen until spring or summer. Its sister restaurant The Mariner’s Inn remains open, and is participating in Restaurant Week.
