KAUKAUNA, Wis. — The first step in making a creamy cauliflower soup is cutting the cauliflower by hand.
What You Need To Know
- Restaurant Week Fox Cities runs Jan. 27 to Feb. 5
- It includes 17 businesses in the Fox Cities area
- Many are making special dishes for the event
It’s what Kim Mischler was doing on a late Wednesday morning. She’s the owner of Sticky Fingers Cafe & Catering in Kaukauna.
“We’re a little cafe that serves organic coffee and tea and we do an upscale sandwich and brunch menu,” she said. “Soups, salads and sandwiches, and a unique bakery.”
Sticky Fingers Cafe & Catering opened in June 2021 and is one of 17 businesses participating in Restaurant Week Fox Cities, which runs from Jan. 27 to Feb. 5.
“I’ve always been in food and I love food,” Mischler said. “I love making people happy when they eat my food.”
The 10-day event highlights what restaurants in the Fox Cities have to offer to both residents and visitors.
“When meeting planners are looking to bring groups here, they’re not only looking at the venues they’re looking at the other things people can do when they bring those groups to the area,” said Maddie Jack of the Fox Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau. “A lot of times that nightlife and that post-conference stuff gets people excited. To know they have great restaurants and great activities for their attendees, that’s really important to them.”
It’s also a way for the Visitors Bureau and community to support businesses that have seen a number of ups and downs over the past few years.
That includes things like working through staffing issues and increased costs for ingredients.
“After the adversity of the last couple of years, the rising costs and things like that, this is really a way for them to sort of celebrate themselves and for us to show them that we support them and appreciate them and always will do so,” Jack said.
Mischler and other participating restaurants have created foods specifically for the week. It’s a concept she said she likes.
“Especially getting the people out who don’t usually come to our area. They have a destination, which is always kind of fun.” she said. “‘Oh, we’re going to go here and try something different.’”