The Corner Table: Top Chef Wisconsin

Kids are going back to school this week. Well ... sort of. Some of them are going to school in buildings, while others are learning fractions over Zoom. Regardless of where they are, though, all of them need lunch. This week on the Corner Table, food editor Lindsay Christians and co-host Chris Lay talk with Irene Pawlisch, lead cook for Madison Metropolitan School District's food services, who's been figuring out how to get food to kids who need it, even when they're learning virtually at home. Everything about school seems stressful these days, but Irene's been trying to lighten things up with funny costumes and vegetable jokes.

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After finding success with their canned mojitos and brandy old fashioneds, Tom Dufek and his Plain Spoke Cocktail Co. business partners set out to give their drinks a brick and mortar home. Today, thirsty locals can find mixed drinks with funny names on tap at their tasting room on King Street, just upstairs from their microbrewery Young Blood Beer Co. This week on the podcast, Tom explains what he learned about pandemic-style hospitality, how their beer accidentally found its way onto liquor store shelves, and why he prefers not to take his drinks too seriously. 

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Back in February, Jamie Hoang and Chuckie Brown were cooking for cocktail-sipping crowds at their Robin Room pop-up, doling out mini veggie egg rolls at Femmestival and prepping to roll out a food cart for the summer. The pandemic changed their plans.

This past weekend they opened Ahan at The Bur Oak at 2262 Winnebago St., serving takeout noodles, curry and riffs on crab rangoon. Today on the podcast, Hoang and Brown talk about the unexpected advantages to opening at this stage in the pandemic. 

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Even for minor sports fans, a typical Madison summer might involve a random Brewers game with friends or a trip or two out to the Duck Blind for a Mallards game. This year, obviously, that's all been benched, with most ballparks and stadiums closed to fans for the foreseeable future. For Cap Times city editor Jason Joyce, it's a major loss. A former sports columnist for Isthmus and the announcer for the Madison Radicals ultimate Frisbee team, he’s really missing baseball. This week on the podcast, as the baseball season opens with no fans in the stands, he joins us to wax nostalgic about steamed hot dogs, neon-orange pump cheese, "the ice cream of the future" and the nectar of the baseball gods Miller Lite. 

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The Wisconsin State Fair has joined a long list of events across the country canceled in response to the coronavirus pandemic, but there's one thing Cap Times opinion editor Jessie Opoien won't be missing among the lost festivities: cream puffs. This week on the Corner Table, we take a trip down memory lane to a simpler time, just a few months back, when Jessie found herself in hot water for publicly divulging her less-than-positive opinion of the signature Wisconsin State Fair dessert ﹘ prompting Gov. Tony Evers himself to come to their sweet-and-messy defense.

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Will Green started Mentoring Positives almost 16 years ago to help teens in the Darbo-Worthington neighborhood on Madison's east side learn some of the tools they need to be successful and, as he said, “basically be a good person.” Participants in the program get paid to help make and market Off the Block salsa and pizzas, which are sold around town. This week on the podcast, Will talks with Lindsay and Chris about his pizza struggles, the inspiration he draws from his late mom, and his vision for the Darbo neighborhood as an "ethnic oasis" and a campus of opportunity.

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With so many activities off limits due to the coronavirus, this summer practically demands that we get outdoors as often as possible in order to maintain our sanity ﹘ just so long as you've got your mask on and you're away from other people, of course. For those looking to step up their outdoor game, Andy Gricevich wants to help you learn to forage your own food. He runs What Got Gathered, where he sells foraged foods and leads walks where he teaches people to recognize the edible plants around them. This week on the Corner Table, Lindsay and Chris talk with the local forager extraordinaire about mushrooms that won’t kill you, a unique dish he calls “lawn-sagna,” and what he’s most excited about finding to eat in the parkways and backyards around his new house. 

Also: Why Andy thinks foraging isn't dangerous, as long as you don't eat something just because an app told you to.

Ready to learn more about foraging? Here are a few links Andy recommended to get you started.

Wild Food Wisconsin Facebook group

Midwest Wild & Edible Foragers Society Facebook group

Forager's Harvest, the website of foraging authority Samuel Thayer

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Before the pandemic hit, bartender Karlin Langley was working at Sardine, mixing Sazeracs and French 75s behind their pewter bar. Lately he’s been turning that energy toward home projects. He’s making mixers and even entirely new drinks, trying stuff out where there aren’t customers to please. Lindsay and Chris wanted to know what he could come up with using only ingredients that they had lying around at home, so they put his skills to the test on this week's show. Find the recipes for the cocktails Karlin devised for each of them at www.captimes.com.

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A couple months ago, COVID closed restaurants everywhere. Dane County is now in the first phase of its reopening plan, but with masks and distancing, dining out is going to be weird for a while. To find out what restaurants are thinking as they decide how and when to reopen their dining rooms to the public, food editor Lindsay Christians and co-host Chris Lay called up Caitlin Suemnicht, the chief operating officer at Food Fight restaurant group. 

Also on the show: Why you should order your fish fry on a Tuesday, and how Ohio's got Wisconsin beat when it comes to margaritas to-go.

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Just before the pandemic hit, Mel Zastrow was preparing to teach her middle school students to cook the old-fashioned way, piled into a kitchen together. But the show, and the pound cake, must go on, so Mel, a teacher at Monona's MG21 charter school, took her cooking lessons online, producing and starring in "Mel Cooks," a Youtube show in which she demonstrates how to make her students' favorite dishes. On this week's podcast, she talks with Lindsay and Chris about learning to edit video and how she picks the perfect accordion tune for each baking session.

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