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." >More
NEWS
No room for hip-hop? Activist bristles at neighborhood center rejection Joe Tarr on Thursday 02/04/2010 When Florenzo Cribbs wanted to start a program teaching kids about hip-hop, he thought the perfect place for it would be his neighborhood center, the Boys and Girls Club Allied Family Center, 4619 Jenewein Rd. >MoreLatino parents get organized in Madison schools Joe Tarr on Thursday 02/04/2010, (1) Recommendation Esther Gabriela Sanchez lasted exactly one year in her job assisting Latino students at La Follette High School. She loved the job, helping students make sure they understand their second language of English. But she was overwhelmed by the secondary responsibilities she took on: helping parents communicate with the school. >MorePreserving Wisconsin, one parcel at a time The Nature Conservancy turns 50, with mostly positive reviews Brian McCombie on Thursday 02/04/2010 Hugh Iltis, now 84, remembers that starting a Wisconsin chapter of the Nature Conservancy was surprisingly difficult. When first approached in the mid-1950s, the embryonic national chapter, strife-ridden and overwhelmed, "discouraged it as much as they could." But in 1960, Iltis and Gene Roark tried again, and the Nature Conservancy of Wisconsin was born. >More
Dems don't do the minimum Wage-bill impasse spotlights party's cowardice and failure to lead Bill Lueders on Thursday 02/04/2010, (2) Recommendations A few weeks back I heard from a Democratic member of the state Senate, who wanted to raise an issue of grave concern (or rather, he wanted me to raise it): his party's failure to pass a nominal increase in the state's minimum wage, even now that Democrats control both legislative houses and the governor's office. We waited 20 years to get the majority, and now we can't pass a minimum wage bill," the senator told me. "It's an embarrassment to me as a Democrat." >More'I hate Shorewood Hills' Is the village full of hypocritical liberals? on Thursday 02/04/2010 Dear Tell All: Most of the people I know from Shorewood Hills pride themselves on their liberal principles. The village voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama in 2008, and residents love to brag about their fairy-tale community where everybody gets along. Of course, having a fairy-tale community is relatively easy in an area of mostly expensive single-family homes. >More
Segredo is changing lanes In the land of traditional alleys, a new campus nightspot offers a different kind of bowling Emily Mills on Friday 02/05/2010 We tend to associate bowling with smoke-filled alleys, cheap beer, snazzy shirts, clownish shoes and soggy bar food. But the times they are a-changing. >MoreFresco 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. >MoreShear Genius hairstylists say the dumbest things Cutting remarks Dean Robbins on Friday 02/05/2010 Shear Genius has a knack for finding the world's least charming hairstylists. The new season features the usual group of crude, arrogant self-promoters, who must create "hot" (read: horrifying) hairdos for a $100,000 prize. They're attended by a mentor who dispenses vapid advice like "make sure it looks like a hairstyle." >MoreMass Effect 2 is the first great game of 2010 PC, Xbox 360 (Rated Mature) Doug Elfman on Friday 02/05/2010 Everybody keeps asking me what new game they should play. I finally have a four-star answer in 2010: Mass Effect 2. This is a fun, addicting, epic, cinematic and totally nerdy masterstroke. >More
MOVIES
Bodies pile up in From Paris With Love City of carnage Michael Wilmington on Friday 02/05/2010 When we think of Paris and the movies, we think perhaps of the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, of songs by Edith Piaf or Django Reinhardt. Not in From Paris With Love, though -- however the title may fool us. >MoreDear John's war romance is a bore Over there Kimberley Jones on Friday 02/05/2010 I don't mean to argue that all romantic figures in the movies should conform to the same ideal -- variety is the spice of life, after all -- but was the world really begging for a leading man in cropped cargo pants? >More
Wood-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. >MoreYogurt, chocolate, beer and cheese The four major food groups in Madison in February Linda Falkenstein on Friday 02/05/2010 A Red Mango yogurt store will open in mid-February at 627 State St., the block between Lake and Frances Streets. >More
SPORTS & RECREATION
The Saints come marching in Jason Joyce on Thursday 02/04/2010 I happened to be in New Orleans in the summer of 2001 for the jazz funeral of Ernie K-Doe, the Big Easy native whose song "Mother in Law" briefly topped the Billboard charts 40 years earlier. I stood in front of a bank on Canal Street, sweating through my shirt in the mid-July heat, sipping a can of Dixie beer offered by a white-haired gentleman in an immaculate seersucker suit. >More
Log in