The Corner Table: Top Chef Wisconsin

The architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright inspired the challenges this week, on episode 4 of Top Chef Wisconsin. Host Lindsay Christians talks with Taliesin executive director Carrie Rodamaker, who hosted film crews at Frank Lloyd Wright's historic school in Spring Green. 

Then chef Lauren Montelbano, the Madison caterer and meal kit maker behind The Vibrant Veg, shares what it was like to serve judge Gail Simmons with a team of friends at Taliesin. Did her hands shake? Did she get to try any of the food? 

With tangents about what's next at the Riverview Cafe, the challenges of pouring wine with your non-dominant hand, and the view from the Top Chef dishpit. 

Theater artist and educator Erica Halverson has seen every episode of "Top Chef" from Season 1 to now. This week, the UW-Madison professor and host of the podcast Arts Educators Save the World shares thoughts on the Miller Caves beer snacks challenge, why she considers chefs to be artists, and which "Top Chef" challenge is her favorite. (It involves a blindfold.)

Then I'm talking with Andy Hatch, maker of Pleasant Ridge Reserve at Uplands Cheese in Dodgeville. Andy was a featured guest at the Top Chef Cheese Festival, highlighted on this week's "Top Chef" episode (Ep. 3). We talk about what makes a cheese challenging to cook with and how it felt to represent Wisconsin dairy. For the spoiler-averse, we don't share any names of winners and losers (yet). 

With side quests about pretzel cake with mustard icing, where "Manitowoc Minute" host Charlie Berens is really from, and the difference between reality TV and playing in a band. 

We walked the red carpet in Milwaukee, and all the stars were there. 

This week, Destination Madison's Sarah Warner and I, Cap Times food editor Lindsay Christians, got gussied up for our first Wisconsin television premiere, held at Discovery World in Milwaukee. We met the judges, we drank the wine, and we're perfecting our Wisconsin culinary elevator pitches. 

Then I talk with James Beard Award-winning chef Adam Siegel of Lupi & Iris, host to the first "Top Chef" challenge of Season 21. Chef Adam describes the difference between working a line and on-camera cooking, plus what it was like to watch 80-some people make a television show inside his Milwaukee restaurant.  

With side notes about relish trays and camera angles. Cheers! 

This week, Corner Table co-host Chris Lay joins to talk about the first episode (mild spoilers, with ample warning!) and reflect on whether one chef has gotten the "villain edit." 

Then we hear from Travel Wisconsin's communications director Craig Trost about taking 'Top Chef' crews around Wisconsin, why the series matters to all Wisconsinities and who he's rooting for in Season 21. 

With tangents about culinary astrological signs, Mr. Milwaukee and Tom Colicchio's hat game. 

Lindsay Christians, food editor at the Cap Times, resurrects The Corner Table podcast for a special, limited series all about Top Chef Wisconsin.

It took 21 seasons, but the reality cooking show Top Chef has finally come to Wisconsin. On March 20, Bravo and Magical Elves drop the first episode of a fast-paced 14-week showcase of the state’s best chefs and brightest culinary lights. The winner takes home $250,000, while viewers get to see chefs make magic under extraordinary pressure. 

Starting March 21, each week will feature a brief recap of the show as well as interviews with chefs, restaurateurs, cheesemakers and more. We'll go behind the scenes, dish on the winners and share insight into challenges. 

Pack your knives, and join us.

Farm-to-table is a cliché, but its roots among the farmers and chefs of south-central Wisconsin are deep, vibrant and resilient. From brats and burgers to bibimbap, Madison’s food scene looks substantially different than it did just a decade ago. 

Cap Times food editor Lindsay Christians reported her new book, "Madison Chefs: Stories of Food, Farms and People" starting in fall 2017. It was published by UW Press on Dec. 21. Lindsay and Corner Table co-host Chris Lay celebrated the release at Leopold's Books Bar Caffé with a short discussion. This week, we have audio from that chat.

Relevant links:

University of Wisconsin Press: https://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/5768.htm

Cap Times cover story: ‘Madison Chefs’ tells stories of culinary change in Wisconsin's capital"

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madisonchefsbook/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/madisonchefsbook

The Corner Table is a podcast about food and drink in Madison, produced by the Capital Times.

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This is the final episode of Reopening Sardine, a limited series from The Corner Table podcast. This week, hosts Lindsay Christians and Chris Lay expand their scope to restaurants around Madison. 

Some, like Bar Corallini on Atwood Avenue (shown here), reopened for dine-in service more than a year ago. Others, like Ha Long Bay, have been seating diners inside for a few weeks. At Mint Mark, staff has noticed new regulars who joined for takeout during the pandemic.

Chris spoke with Jennifer DeBolt at The Old Fashioned. Lindsay caught up with the new owners of Marigold Kitchen. And of course we went back to Gates & Brovi, Sardine’s sister restaurant, to hear how things have changed there.

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A few things have changed since we last checked in with the folks at Sardine on opening day, May 19. For one, Dane County mask mandates have changed. Staffers are navigating a variety of diner comfort levels with regard to COVID-19 safety, and how many people feels like too many. Brunch is back, and Mondays and Tuesdays are busier than they have ever been. 

Now a month in, we're catching up with co-owners Phillip Hurley and John Gadau about what it's been like to be back in the restaurant nearly every single day. We chat with general manager Susan Schueller too, about what she's noticed. Everyone is reading every customer comment, and they're already thinking about what 100% capacity could look like, somewhere down the line. 

Reopening Sardine is a five-episode series of The Corner Table, a podcast about food and drink in Madison. The Corner Table is produced and hosted by Cap Times food editor Lindsay Christians and Chris Lay.

Support the show: https://checkout.fundjournalism.org/memberform?org_id=capitaltimes&campaign=7013i000000U67DAAS

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Well, friends, we’re finally here. After more than a year of uncertainty, fear and frustration, on May 19, Sardine was ready to open its doors to the public again. We start this episode a few days before that, as the behind the scenes crew gets ready. 

We hear from pastry chef Jeff Doyle-Horney, and chefs de cuisine Jason Taylor and Tim Smith. Lindsay talks with maitre’d McKayla Kratowicz and Kelsey Burkett right before the doors opened. 

And as the doors reopen, Chris chats up the very first diners through the door -- Sardine superfans, so happy to be back. Welcome to opening day!

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Sardine, a French-inspired restaurant in downtown Madison, had 70 employees when it closed in 2020. As staff prepared to reopen in mid-May at half capacity, they were a tight team of 38. 

Reopening Sardine is a five-episode series of The Corner Table, a podcast about food and drink in Madison. Produced and hosted by Cap Times food editor Lindsay Christians and Chris Lay, this five-part series goes behind the scenes at the reopening of one of Madison's most beloved restaurants. 

This week we're talking with staff as they adjust to changes in tipping processes, new menu items, fresh cocktails and different ways of working with diners. The staff is fully vaccinated, but the ways of service have changed. 

We'll hear from general manager Susan Schueller as well as bartenders and servers about their pandemic year, and what it takes to reopen a restaurant as ambitious and beloved as this one.

Support the show: https://checkout.fundjournalism.org/memberform?org_id=capitaltimes&campaign=7013i000000U67DAAS

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.