local food madison

A new type of restaurant just hit Madison. One that boasts utter transparency between the kitchen, the bar, and the customers. A restaurant that features the best of local ingredients and drinks. One that even sells its kitchen and bar ingredients in the restaurant. Intrigued yet? Because I definitely am. I had been waiting months to try Merchant, the craft cocktail lounge, restaurant, and urban grocery now open in downtown Madison.

I'll admit that I haven’t been cooking at home much recently. In the past, I blamed this sad occurrence on my busy school or work schedule; I can’t say the same this time. The culprit, you ask? Several new restaurants have popped up in Madison over the past month -- and each of them is boasting a (mostly) locally-sourced menu. Believe me, if you tasted the food, you wouldn’t be cooking at home either! 

I strongly encourage Madison visitors -- in town for this weekend’s Wisconsin Cheese Festival, our last outdoors Dane County Farmer’s Market, or REAP’s Pie Palooza, maybe? -- to visit two of my favorite new restaurants: Graze and Nostrano.

Graze

There isn’t much more I would rather do on a crisp, fall day in Madison than visit the Downtown Farmer’s Market. With a sea of proud Madisonites dressed in badger gear foraging for the week’s local food offerings, chocolate-faced kids enjoying their morning treats, and the sun shining strong, I couldn’t help but spend hours meandering the market last week. However, I had more on my “to-do” list than shop for my fill of seasonal veg on that Saturday. It was REAP’s annual Food for Thought Festival on the Square, one of the best fall food events for passionate locavores, if you ask me.