Madison eats agenda: Sweets, tastings, toasts, and feasts for Valentine's Day The week in food Kristian Knutsen on Monday 02/08/2010 8:00 pm This coming week, in events that get to your heart through your stomach. >MoreWin tickets to the Peking Acrobats, A Celebration of American Distilling, Cracker, and more! on Tuesday 02/09/2010 10:00 am The Isthmus Guest List is back with another round of free tickets to amazing concerts, shows and more fun events around Madison. This week's contests include tickets to: "A Celebration of American Distilling" at the Edgewater; Cracker at the High Noon; the Magical Properties Tour, and Shemekia Copeland at the Majestic; Ralphie May at the Barrymore; Red Stick Ramblers and Punch Brothers at the Union Theater; the Peking Acrobats, Lisa Lampanelli, Sones de México, and An Enemy of the People at Overture; and more! >More
Fresco Opera Theatre repackages the genre Musical makeover Jay Rath on Friday 02/05/2010 It ain't your grandparents' opera. Fresco Opera Theatre is opera as if P.T. Barnum had to reinvent it for Lady Gaga: fast, sexy, short and as snarky as possible. Madison's newest performance troupe looks forward to madly combining the fustiest of art forms with children's tea parties, game shows, puppet shows and pro wrestling. >MoreOnline groups push to improve food at Madison schools A better lunch Lynn Welch on Friday 02/05/2010 While the national discussion over children's nutrition has heated up recently, Madison parents have long tried to get healthier food to kids at school. "My son came home one day and said the lunch at school is gross," recounts Susanne Swift, parent of two school-age children. >More
Master & chef Shinji Muramoto Restaurateur moves beyond cooking to guide his three fusion restaurants Erin Hanusa on Friday 02/05/2010, (1) Recommendation Shinji Muramoto is standing in the back kitchen of his flagship Restaurant Muramoto, explaining a bit of his restaurant philosophy. "We don't have a walk-in cooler because I want to try to get everything fresh every day," says one of Madison's most notable restaurateurs. "If we have a walk-in cooler, the cooks tend to overstock everything, so I just give them a little space for cooling and freezing." >MoreWood-fired oven dishes distinguish Las Cazuelas The whole chamorro Linda Falkenstein on Friday 02/05/2010 It might be a good idea to stop the revolving door at 15 N. Butler St. with its latest tenant, Las Cazuelas. It's been noted that this is not a spot that's been good to restaurateurs over the years. Yet with a triangle of restaurants clustered around the city's Brayton parking lot -- Las Cazuelas, Bellini's and the Bayou (plus, just a few doors further down Butler, Cafe Costa Rica), this sometimes overlooked area of downtown may have critical mass in terms of a dining destination. Call it TriABray. >More