
L'Etoile moved to its current location, featuring a spectacular view of the state Capitol building, in 2010. Chef/owner Tory Miller has built a national reputation for his culinary skills.
L'Etoile, the star of Madison's fine-dining scene, plans to reopen for in-person seating on Wednesday after being closed for more than a year due to the pandemic.
Executive chef and co-owner Tory Miller said it feels good to be re-emerging after shutting down his elegant dining room in mid-March 2020 and selling family-style carryout meals instead.
To describe the feeling, he invokes a famous 1979 movie, set in a dystopian wasteland after the collapse of civilization.
"Not to be super apocalyptic, we're not emerging like 'Mad Max,' coming out of it, but it definitely feels like we're able to be stronger as a business and we're able to make our decisions going forward based on what's right," Miller said, detailing the restrictions he's putting in place to open safely.
He and his Deja Food Restaurant Group partner Dianne Christensen also own Graze, in the same location as L'Etoile, 1 S. Pinckney St., on the Capitol Square; and Estrellón, an upscale Spanish-influenced restaurant on West Johnson Street off State Street. Graze is set to open next week, but Estrellón probably won't open until June, he said.
Miller said staffing is the only part of reopening that's making him nervous and why he's putting off the reopening of Estrellón. He said he hasn't had a lot of people apply for jobs or former staff members eager to return. "That part is a little bit nerve wracking," he said.
For L'Etoile, he has three chefs and three line cooks, but he needs five line cooks. He said he also needs more servers. "We're pretty short in the front of the house, but everyone's going to chip in. You might have me running food or the chefs running food, but that's just the way it goes."
He doesn't have a lot of reservations lined up for this week, but said there are more towards the end of the month when more people will be fully vaccinated. "That's what the trend looks like. It's my theory anyway," he said.
Miller said he expects business to start slow and then ramp up. He said he has a lot of requests for UW-Madison graduation weekend in a month, and those reservations will be available soon.
L'Etoile isn't seating any larger parties, which makes handling graduation difficult, he said. Because of in-house safety regulations, the restaurant is taking groups of up to six, and that's if they're a single household or vaccinated, "but that's really hard to police," Miller said.
Early in the pandemic, Miller had an air-filtering system installed that he said is 99% effective. "Not that that's a reason to just be willy-nilly about it, but it gives some calm," he said.

L'Etoile executive chef/co-owner Tory Miller.
Miller said he's lucky with L'Etoile because it's roomy and he can space tables 6 feet apart as city-county pandemic restrictions mandate. Tables won't be set in advance and servers will wear masks and face shields, he said.
"That is a little bit more challenging because we can't have as much interaction as we want to have with the guests," he said. It's also hard "to convey the emotions and the excitement behind every dish with a face mask and all that stuff on."
Once customers arrive, they'll be given hot towel service, "kind of old-school style," Miller said, noting that the new twist is that the towel will have hand sanitizer.
L'Etoile is offering a five-course tasting menu with at least two surprise courses, which will make it like the restaurant's standard seven-course meals. Miller is focusing on the a la carte menu to make that experience "extraordinary" for those who aren't interested in the bigger prix-fixe menu.
Miller said he can build bigger tasting menus if people want them. "That's part of our mission," he said. "What I really thought about a lot in the last year was just how special L'Etoile is for the community and has been for 45 years. It's one of those restaurants that people go to celebrate."
Sometimes that means getting the seven-course meal, he said, but other customers might want two courses and dessert. "I really want to focus on making each course or each dish really special and have playful elements to it. I'm really excited for people to see that part of L'Etoile."
Miller, who in 2018, won a nationally televised Food Network "Iron Chef Showdown" against Iron Chef Bobby Flay, created Miller Family Meat & Three out of the bar side of Estrellón. He opened the carryout-only concept in December and even though he only needs two people to work there, he's having trouble staffing it.
"Not to be a broken record, but our cook situation is really difficult, especially since I'm working so much at Graze and at L'Etoile," he said.
Miller Family Meat & Three is taking this week off since Miller's busy opening L'Etoile. "We just wanted to take kind of a spring break for the people that had been working there," he said.
There was a cook and server shortage in the service industry before 2020, and the pandemic has made it more extreme, Miller said. "People moved away, changed careers."
Some are still able "to get a pretty hefty unemployment benefit," he said, noting that restaurants are trying to be creative with what they're now offering employees.
Miller's restaurants are implementing a tip share, so servers get a higher base wage than the state's $2.33-an-hour minimum. Servers will then pool tips to split with cooks and dishwashers. Miller said he's going to make sure his employees are making more than they ever have.
In the past, servers would be able to make up to $35 an hour at L'Etoile and Graze, but the line cooks would struggle to make $12 an hour. Miller said it's going to take time to get used to the new system.
Meanwhile, he's just excited to be reopening, he said.
"Never, in a million years," Miller said, did he think he could close L'Etoile's dining room for a year. "I'm really grateful that we're able to (reopen) because if L'Etoile closes, that's a situation."
30 Madison-area restaurants that said goodbye permanently in 2020
Dragon I

The Asian-fusion restaurant Dragon I closed due to the competitive restaurant climate on State Street, its owner said.
Aichan "Wendy" Weng said it was a hard decision since Dragon I served the State Street community for many years. "There was a wall we couldn't get over," she said through her friend, Danna Viehl, who translated for her.
HungryBadger Cafe

They struggled for months, Shrestha said, largely because of the restaurant’s hidden second-floor location. But dealing with the extra weight of the virus forced his hand, and he negotiated a way out of his lease.
La Nopalera

La Nopalera gave no hint of its past as a Subway sub shop. It was a rare find: A restaurant that sold fresh-squeezed juice at a reasonable price and made exceptional sandwiches, too.
Pizza Brutta in Middleton

When Derek and Darcy Lee signed the lease for their pizzeria at 6712 Frank Lloyd Wright Ave., in Middleton, the floor was still dirt. The original Monroe Street location remains open and has online ordering.
The Tin Fox

“Being the first type of business that was forced to close and having the stay-at-home order extended through May” was devastating for The Tin Fox, said co-owner Greg Neal.
Not being able to sell the taps and cocktails that were “the cornerstone” of his business was also a factor, he said.
Common Ground

The owner of a Middleton restaurant, coffee shop and community space said the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic consequences took her “out by the knees,” but admitted the business was struggling before the pandemic hit.
Before opening Common Ground in late 2018, Adrienne Hulburt-Stroud was a stay-at-home mom, a role she resumed when she closed her business in March due to the virus.
“It was just strange, going from working and busy, busy, busy, running around, and then boom, a complete regression to a couple of years ago,” she said Tuesday, after she informed her Facebook community about her decision to close Common Ground.
Hulburt-Stroud said the hiatus gave her time to step back and contemplate the future of Common Ground. “It is with an unbelievably heavy heart that we will likely not be moving forward in our current state at the corner of Branch & Century Avenue,” she wrote.
Captain Bill's

Owners of the longtime Captain Bill’s seafood restaurant in Middleton announced in June that it wouldn’t reopen after a COVID-19 shutdown.
“Due to the coronavirus and the uncertainty of what the future holds, the hard decision has been made to consolidate our businesses to the town of Westport and not to reopen Captain Bill’s,” the owners said on Facebook.
“We thank you for your patronage over the past 27 years and we look forward to serving you at Mariner’s, Nau-Ti-Gal, or on a Betty Lou Cruise.”
Captain Bill’s, 2701 Century Harbor Road, overlooking Lake Mendota, had a supper club atmosphere and was in a group of restaurants owned by the von Rutenberg family.
Manna Cafe & Bakery

Manna Cafe & Bakery closed after 15 years, and in a letter to customers, the owners wrote: “Please understand — this is the hardest moment of our lives. It is the most difficult thing we have ever done, or imagined we would do.”
Barb and Mike Pratzel closed Manna for about a week at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and then began offering takeout.
On May 26, the day local restaurants were allowed to open at a reduced capacity, Mike Pratzel said he and Barb were meeting with their managers the next day to discuss how to proceed. “I don’t think anybody around here is in a hurry to open it up,” he said then. “It’s a lot of effort to change things up for a limited amount of space.”
Doolittle's Woodfire Grill

"We ultimately closed because of COVID-19, I suppose, but it's a little more three dimensional than that," said John Sheehan.
Helbachs Coffee Roasters

Helbachs Coffee Roasters and Kitchen lost its lease in Middleton and closed in late August.
The closure came on the heels of “enforcement action, negative public statements and continued vindictive and hostile behavior” toward the shop from Public Health Madison and Dane County, the business' owners said in an Instagram post.
Public Health Madison and Dane County issued the coffee shop three citations for violating the county’s public health order, including not complying with the requirement to wear face coverings indoors.
Fazoli's

Fazoli's fast food Italian restaurant at 2143 Zeier Road on Madison's Far East Side closed this year.
Good Food Low Carb Cafe

Citing COVID-19 and vandalism to their property, the owners of the two popular Good Food carts and a cafe on Madison's East Side closed all three entities in July.
"Thanks for a great ten years of food carting and three years at the Low Carb Cafe, Madison," they wrote in a Facebook post.
"Between covid, pretty extensive vandalism to our property yesterday, the everyday never-ending struggles of restaurant ownership, murder hornets and meth gators, this year has just been too much for us," they wrote this summer.
Potbelly on University Avenue

The Potbelly Sandwich Shop on University Avenue has closed while the location at East Towne Mall remains open. The State Street location reopened in August after shutting down for a few months. The West Towne location is listed as temporarily closed.
HopCat

BarFly Ventures of Grand Rapids, Michigan, HopCat's parent company, owns 11 restaurants, nine of them HopCats, said Ellen Winterburn, the company's vice president of human resources.
In early June, BarFly filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Such a filing allows a company to continue operating and develop a plan to repay its creditors.
Pho King Good

"Pho King Good was no good," said owner Ting Cai Zhou with a laugh, adding that the restaurant closed "because of coronavirus."
Freddy Valentine's

"It is with a heavy heart that I inform you that Freddy’s will close permanently... We wanted to be open another 5 years, but COVID-19 had another plan," wrote Dave Owen, who owned the business with his wife, Jeaneane.
The Owens opened the restaurant in August 2012 in what was The Bank Restaurant & Wine Bar, 134 W. Jefferson St., in a neo-classical building, built in 1915.
Boston's Restaurant & Sports Bar

Boston's Restaurant & Sports Bar closed in September after one year at 1370 Water Wheel Drive in Waunakee. A Buck & Honey's recently opened in its place.
Charlie's on Main

"We have loved every minute of it!" he wrote in a Facebook post that he warned would be "happy, sad, emotional, frustrated and long."
Heide, who also owns the New Orleans, Cajun-inspired Liliana's Restaurant in Fitchburg, said that when restaurants were forced to close in mid-March due to COVID-19, he promised to keep his dining rooms closed no matter the financial burden, to keep customers and staff safe, "until the rates of infection had dropped consistently for two weeks straight."
In six months, he said, that target hadn't been hit once. In fact, he wrote, "it is still spiking and hitting new highs almost every day."
Rockhound Brewing Co.

Rockhound Brewing Company on Park Street closed in November, a move its owner said was “inevitable.”
“I figured I’d do it my way,” Nate Warnke said then, adding that he wanted to “close down gracefully, carefully, as opposed to just running out of money all of a sudden.”
Warnke said he'd been operating at the county-mandated 25% capacity to limit the spread of COVID-19, but only filled the space to that level three or four times. “I’ve noticed that people are skittish about sitting inside. It seems a great deal of Madison is, and I don’t blame them. I’m totally understanding of that.”
Plaka Taverna

Telly and Beth Fatsis sold the building to someone who is planning to open a Chinese restaurant in its place.
Beth said Plaka hadn’t opened its dining room under COVID-19 restrictions, and because it’s so small, they would’ve only been able to use two tables.
Sunroom Cafe

That was also the number of years he had left on his lease at the sunny, second-floor restaurant at 638 State St., which routinely had customers lined up down the stairs waiting on weekends.
Paradise just marked his 25th year of ownership, and in October said his decision was also based on the uncertainties of the pandemic and the unknowns about being able to reopen safely. He said he also worried about retaining skilled employees in a limited work capacity. “I guess there were too many variables,” he said.
Angelo's in Monona

“We have an older clientele and so a lot of them have been being safe and staying home,” he said.
At first, when dining rooms were closed by county order in March, McGuigan said Angelo’s did well with carryout, but that “trickled off” as the months wore on.
Pizza Di Roma

The Pizza Di Roma location on State Street closed after being damaged and looted during protests in late May and early June. Pizza Di Roma's West Side location is temporarily closed.
El Poblano

El Poblano on Milwaukee Street closed in March because of COVID-19 and due to construction of a new Woodman's gas station, its owner said. A location in Marshall is closed temporarily, but the closure may become permanent.
Original Pancake House Monona

The Original Pancake House, 518 River Place, in Monona, has closed, according to an employee at the Original Pancake House on Madison's Far West Side.
Martin O'Grady's Irish Pub

Martin O'Grady's Irish Pub ended a 20-year-run on Mineral Point Road on Dec. 19.
"It is with a heavy heart we bring the news that after 20 fun-filled years Martin O'Grady's Irish Pub will be calling last call one final time," its owners said in a Facebook post, adding that they were proud to be one of the last locally-owned pubs "standing in the land of chains" on Madison's West Side.
"Like so many others, we have felt the effects of the pandemic," the owners wrote. "We sincerely hope the tight restrictions placed on bars and restaurants in Dane Co. prove to be worth it."
Dok's Klassik Tavern

Dok's Klassik Tavern, 410 W. Verona Ave., in Verona, had its final day of service December 20. In a Facebook post, the owners wrote, "We would like to THANK our many dedicated employees, specifically Gary and Barb, for their hard work and loyalty over the years. There are not enough words to convey our appreciation for the devoted patrons we have had the pleasure to serve. We have had some amazing nights, made forever friends and shared countless laughs the last decade or so at The Klassik. We wish that we could do it all for another ten years. But, the good fight to keep the business successful and rewarding is nearly impossible given the restrictions in Dane County. We hope that you stay safe through these times ... and always remember... He's not a real doktor, but he'll take a look at it!"
Papino's in Windsor

In May, Joe Pipitone closed his 8-year old restaurant, Papino's, in Windsor. He said business wasn't great, and then COVID-19 made it worse. He's been back working at his parents' restaurant, Cafe La Bellitalia, on Madison's North Side.
S&A Cafe

S&A Cafe had the same menu and used the same recipes as when it was The Egg & I. It closed in the beginning of the pandemic, with Steven Daskam saying he and his wife, Ana Daskam, don't plan to reopen.
Nomad World Pub

Nomad World Pub, a soccer-watching venue at 408 W. Gorham St., closed last year due to COVID-19 and won't reopen.
Read more restaurant news at: go.madison.com/restaurants