A barbecue restaurant chain based in Ohio is opening its first Wisconsin location in Madison next month.
City Barbeque is opening at the corner of Gammon and Mineral Point roads, next to MOD Pizza.
Kevin Cruz, City Barbeque’s regional marketing manager, said the restaurant smokes its meats on-site for 14 to 16 hours a day with hickory-smoked wood.
City Barbeque's Madison location will be on the West Side at Gammon and Mineral Point roads.
Scott Zeitler, who owned Holstein Kitchen for six years in two towns outside of Madison, Brooklyn and then Oregon, is general manager for the Madison City Barbeque.
Zeitler said City Barbeque restaurants have hand-painted signs inside that say “we exist to serve and create happiness,” adding that the company lives by that slogan.
The Madison location, 7015 Sligo Drive, will be the chain’s 52nd location. Its target opening date is March 29.
The company is based in Dublin, Ohio, in the Columbus area, and has 23 locations in Ohio. It also has restaurants in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Georgia, Kentucky and South Carolina.
Zeitler said City Barbeque founder Rick Malir has built a welcoming culture in his restaurants over the past 25 years, and that the company uses the same quality standards in its restaurants as it does in national competitions.
“In barbecue competitions, you want to score a perfect 9. There’s never a 10 in barbecue competition. ... As part of the barbecue culture, it is taught that you can always improve something.”
Zeitler, who did his City Barbeque training in Chicago and Indianapolis, said he experienced a “good kind of tired” because he and his City Barbeque colleagues worked hard physically and mentally, loading smokers with 3,000 to 4,000 pounds of meat in a 24-hour period.
City Barbeque smokes its meat on site for 14 to 16 hours a day with hickory-smoked wood.
Zeitler said his grandfather was a cheesemaker and his mother operated restaurants. Inspired by them, he went to the Culinary Institute of America in New York and operated restaurants and motel dining rooms in Savannah, Georgia, and throughout the south, before returning to his native Wisconsin about 20 years ago.
City Barbeque refers to all of its restaurants as “joints,” Zeitler said. The Madison joint, he said, was supposed to open last fall, but was delayed by the pandemic.
Tokyo Sushi
Tokyo Sushi opened Dec. 10, 2019 on Williamson Street, and is surviving on carryout, co-owner Wenxin Chen said. "Not so many people dining in," he said. "I hope that coronavirus is over very soon."
Lorraine's
Ken Kopp IV renovated his former New Orleans Take-Out location on Monroe Street in one month and turned it into Lorraine's Cafe, which opened in late January. "It’s going OK around here," said Kopp, who isn't offering dine-in now. He's not doing delivery, either. "The online orders off my website for curbside have been great," he said.
Everyday Kitchen
Everyday Kitchen is part of a coworking space called Lodgic Everyday Community. The restaurant, bar and cafe opened in June 2020 on Marshall Court, and is visible from University Avenue. General manager Bobby Frizzell said the restaurant is open for delivery and curbside carryout only. "We have not yet determined a hard date for reopening the dining room, but we can’t wait to welcome everyone back!" he said in a text.
Garibaldi Mexican Restaurant
Garibaldi Mexican Restaurant opened June 1 on Butler Street, close to the Capitol Square. Erik Francisco Doroteo, whose father, Felipe Francisco Juan, owns the restaurant, said business has been OK. "We have more new customers coming in, some coming in once a week," he said. "We have some slow days, but more people are getting to know us." Erik said the restaurant is seating inside at 25% capacity with tables spaced six feet apart. Garibaldi also offers delivery.
Kosharie
Kosharie, which opened in late 2019 on Regent Street, is owned by Fawzy Mohamed, whose impressive restaurant resume includes 13 years as executive chef at Smoky’s Club and three years as a sous chef at the Madison Club. Kosharie's namesake Egyptian national dish, above, combines spaghetti, elbow macaroni, rice, lentils and chickpeas. Mohamed said the restaurant is "doing very well for corona time." He's offering takeout and delivery and is able to seat customers at two tables under dine-in restrictions. He plans to open a restaurant next door on Jan. 15 called Mafia for Pizza.
Skal Public House
Brian and Kim LaDow opened Skal Public House in May 2018 on Mount Horeb's Main Street in what was best known as Sole Sapori for 11 years. Brian LaDow said that business is going as well as possible. "Not great, but could be worse," he said. The restaurant is doing carryout, including curbside, dine-in and local delivery.
FEAST Artisan Dumpling and Tea House
Williamson Street's new upscale dumpling restaurant, FEAST Artisan Dumpling and Tea House, serves dumplings so good, they don't need dipping sauce. Mike Wang, who opened the restaurant this summer with his wife, Judy Zhu, said business is going OK and that the restaurant is open for dine-in, carry out and delivery.
Ragin Cajun Seafood
Ragin Cajun Seafood, in the works for about a year, was delayed by the pandemic, and opened July 10 in the former Ginza of Tokyo on the Far East Side. The restaurant’s basic seafood boil is one of the best splurges a person can make after months of quarantine. Jordan Zhou, the nephew of owner Ting Cai Zhou, said "everything is going well." The restaurant is doing dine-in, carryout and delivery.
Ahan
Jamie Hoang opened Ahan -- “food” in Lao -- inside The Bur Oak this summer after other kitchens didn't work out at the East Side music venue. Hoang said business has been "staying steady and busy with delivery and carryout." Deliveries make up about one-third of Ahan's business, Hoang said. She's not offering dine-in.
Finca Coffee
Todd Allbaugh and Marleni Valle opened Finca Coffee in August 2019 in a modern building on Rimrock Road owned by the Alexander Company, which Allbaugh said has been great to them during the pandemic. Finca's tacos are among the best tacos you'll find in Madison. The coffee's hard to beat, too. The shop offers limited indoor seating and curbside carryout.
Royal Indian Cuisine
Royal Indian Cuisine opened in September 2019 on the Far West Side in the days when lunch buffets could be found in every Indian restaurant in town. Now they're prohibited. At Royal Indian, co-owner Inderjit Kaur is offering carryout and delivery. No dine-in.
Settle Down Tavern
Sam Parker, Ryan Huber and Brian Bartels opened The Settle Down Tavern in the middle of a pandemic and serve a mean burger. Parker said the bar is doing takeout and delivery, and can seat customers in the tavern and in the attached atrium under its glass ceiling. "It’s the next best thing to being outside without being outside," Parker said. The tavern is also expanding into the space next door that used to be the men's clothing store Context.
Ru Yi Hand Pulled Noodle
Ru Yi Hand Pulled Noodle opened in mid-January on the 300 block of State Street to eager, high-energy crowds. Within two months, everything changed due to COVID-19. The noodle shop carried on with carryout and delivery. Dine-in is offered at a limited capacity, usually one or two tables, said Melody Lin, whose parents own the restaurant.
Sunny Pho
Sunny Pho owner Kim Khouch cooks a wide variety of Asian dishes and does them all well. The restaurant isn't offering dine-in for now and is concentrating on carryout and delivery.
Read more restaurant news at: go.madison.com/restaurants
Samara Kalk Derby | Wisconsin State Journal
Wisconsin State Journal feature writer Samara Kalk Derby writes about the arts and brings you the latest news on the Madison area's eclectic restaurant scene. She can be reached at skalk@madison.com or 608-252-6439.
