The Corner Table: Top Chef Wisconsin

"Top Chef" executive producer/showrunner Doneen Arquines joined the “Top Chef” team during its very first season, working as a production assistant. She was promoted to showrunner during the season 12 finale in Mexico and has been leading the show ever since.  I (host Lindsay Christians) met Doneen a few times while "Top Chef Wisconsin" filmed in the state, and I was thrilled to h...

Kyle Knall, chef/owner of Birch in Milwaukee, joined the judges' table during a recent "Top Chef" episode filmed at Harbor House. Kyle reflects on his own decision to move from a major market back to the state, and shares insight on how this season's competitors have grown.  Then we hear from "Top Chef" lead culinary producer Jamie Lauren, a former competitor herself (Season 5). Jamie's job i...

Stephanie Bedford, a local book critic, food freelancer and fiction writer, reserved the URL  TopSteph.com about 30 seconds after learning the show was coming to Wisconsin. A minute after that, I hired her on to do recaps for the Cap Times.  This week on the podcast, we talk about how Steph came to be the ideal Top Chef recapper, what challenges she has loved and who she's rooting for no...

This week we hear from Wisconsin's first "Top Chef" contestant, James Beard-nominated Milwaukee chef Dan Jacobs.  Jacobs talks about how team challenges remind him of youth sports, what his favorite challenge has been so far this season, and what it was really like to boil fish on Grant Park Beach in a "smoke tunnel." ("My notebook from 'Top Chef' still smells like a campfire," he said.) Also...

Amber Bristow is a fifth generation cranberry grower, but even she had never seen cranberry soup before the cranberry challenge on "Top Chef." "I was blown away by their creativity," said Bristow, who grows cranberries on her family's farm in Warrens, Wisconsin.  Following Amber on the podcast this week is Elena Terry, a Ho-Chunk chef, educator and nonprofit leader whose organization, Wild Be...

Restaurant Wars is an iconic "Top Chef" challenge. Chefs must create a whole restaurant with a coherent concept, smooth service and good food in 24 hours, all on TV.  Everyone on the episode this week, including me, dined at Restaurant Wars during "Top Chef Wisconsin." Up top, we've got guest judges Itaru Nagano and Andrew Kroeger, the chefs and co-owners of Fairchild restaurant on Monroe Str...

This week on the podcast, we're talking ballpark food.  Loren B. Rue grew up loving baseball, and now has his dream job — executive chef at American Family Field, home of the Milwaukee Brewers. Rue manages everything from the concession stands to the on-site brewery, J. Leinenkugel's Barrel Yard, and a new market hall serving arepas, smoked brisket nachos, tortas and sushi.  Then I...

Chef Paul Bartolotta, the Milwaukee restaurateur and two-time James Beard winner, was bemused by a recent challenge on "Top Chef Wisconsin."  "When I heard 'chaos cuisine' I was like, what the hell does that mean?" Bartolotta said on this week's podcast. Bartolotta spent years working to bring "Top Chef" to Wisconsin. Here, he shares judging perspective and reflects on how the show has evolve...

No drone shot of Madison would be complete without a view of the Memorial Union Terrace and its iconic sunburst chairs. That, in fact, is where "Top Chef" producers first got the idea for a challenge featuring historic Black chef and TV host Carson Gulley, whose cookbook inspired a saucy farmers market Quickfire on Episode 5 of "Top Chef Wisconsin."  This week on the podcast we're talking wit...

This week on our "Top Chef Wisconsin" companion podcast, we have a full Madison episode! First, host Lindsay Christians takes a deeper dive into the Taliesin challenge with food and arts writer Gwen Rice, who was also a docent for two seasons in Spring Green. Turns out Frank Lloyd Wright excelled under pressure, but was a terrible collaborator.  Then Harvey House owner Shaina Robbins Papach t...

The architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright inspired the challenges this week, on episode 4 of Top Chef Wisconsin. Host Lindsay Christians talks with Taliesin executive director Carrie Rodamaker, who hosted film crews at Frank Lloyd Wright's historic school in Spring Green.  Then chef Lauren Montelbano, the Madison caterer and meal kit maker behind The Vibrant Veg , shares what it was like to serv...

Theater artist and educator Erica Halverson has seen every episode of "Top Chef" from Season 1 to now. This week, the UW-Madison professor and host of the podcast  Arts Educators Save the World shares thoughts on the Miller Caves beer snacks challenge, why she considers chefs to be artists, and which "Top Chef" challenge is her favorite. (It involves a blindfold.) Then I'm talking with Andy H...

We walked the red carpet in Milwaukee , and all the stars were there.  This week, Destination Madison's Sarah Warner and I, Cap Times food editor Lindsay Christians, got gussied up for our first Wisconsin television premiere, held at Discovery World in Milwaukee. We met the judges, we drank the wine, and we're perfecting our Wisconsin culinary elevator pitches.  Then I talk with James Be...

This week, Corner Table co-host Chris Lay joins to talk about the first episode (mild spoilers, with ample warning!) and reflect on whether one chef has gotten the "villain edit."  Then we hear from Travel Wisconsin's communications director Craig Trost about taking 'Top Chef' crews around Wisconsin, why the series matters to all Wisconsinities and who he's rooting for in Season 21.  Wit...

Lindsay Christians, food editor at the Cap Times, resurrects The Corner Table podcast for a special, limited series all about Top Chef Wisconsin. It took 21 seasons, but the reality cooking show Top Chef has finally come to Wisconsin. On March 20, Bravo and Magical Elves drop the first episode of a fast-paced 14-week showcase of the state’s best chefs and brightest culinary lights. The winne...

Farm-to-table is a cliché, but its roots among the farmers and chefs of south-central Wisconsin are deep, vibrant and resilient. From brats and burgers to bibimbap, Madison’s food scene looks substantially different than it did just a decade ago.  Cap Times food editor Lindsay Christians reported her new book, "Madison Chefs: Stories of Food, Farms and People" starting in fall 20...

This is the final episode of  Reopening Sardine , a limited series from The Corner Table podcast. This week, hosts Lindsay Christians and Chris Lay expand their scope to restaurants around Madison.  Some, like Bar Corallini on Atwood Avenue (shown here), reopened for dine-in service more than a year ago. Others, like Ha Long Bay, have been seating diners inside for a few weeks. At Mint M...

A few things have changed since we last checked in with the folks at Sardine on opening day, May 19. For one, Dane County mask mandates have changed. Staffers are navigating a variety of diner comfort levels with regard to COVID-19 safety, and how many people feels like too many. Brunch is back, and Mondays and Tuesdays are busier than they have ever been.  Now a month in, we're catching up w...

Well, friends, we’re finally here. After more than a year of uncertainty, fear and frustration, on May 19, Sardine was ready to open its doors to the public again. We start this episode a few days before that, as the behind the scenes crew gets ready.  We hear from pastry chef Jeff Doyle-Horney, and chefs de cuisine Jason Taylor and Tim Smith. Lindsay talks with maitre’d McKayla K...

Sardine, a French-inspired restaurant in downtown Madison, had 70 employees when it closed in 2020. As staff prepared to reopen in mid-May at half capacity, they were a tight team of 38.  Reopening Sardine is a five-episode series of  The Corner Table , a podcast about food and drink in Madison. Produced and hosted by Cap Times food editor Lindsay Christians and Chris Lay, this five-part...

When quarantine kicked in last spring, we refocused The Corner Table to examine and document effects the pandemic was having across so many facets of food service, cocktails, grocery stores, and local farmers markets. Now as we emerge, we’re getting ready to close the book on that dismal chapter.  We decided to take a deep dive into what it means to reopen a restaurant that’s been...

This bonus episode is adapted from a live (virtual) conversation and cooking demonstration Lindsay hosted on Tuesday, featuring Cortney Burns — a chef, award-winning cookbook author and UW-Madison grad. As Burns prepared root vegetable fritters, sauerkraut and a sauce made of farmer's cheese, she explained why she's such a fan of fermentation and why she believes home cooks should customize...

As we reach the end of 2020 and COVID-19 continues to stomp on our dreams, it’s pretty clear not all the restaurants we love are gonna make it through the winter. When a restaurant like Manna Cafe, Sunroom, Captain Bill’s or Charlie’s on Main closes, what does it leave behind? What do we remember, and where do those stories live? This week on the podcast, Chris and Lindsay talk w...

Chef Molly Maciejewski has made hundreds of gingerbread houses. As the executive chef and general manager at Madison Sourdough on Madison's east side, Maciejewski hosted yearly workshops, all about making a beautiful, (technically) edible gingerbread home. This week on The Corner Table, Lindsay and Chris chat with Maciejewski about how the gingerbread you build with is different than the gingerbre...

One of our favorite things about the holiday season is all the snacks. Between the traditional meals, it's more than acceptable to absentmindedly nibble on candy, cheese, fruit and nuts. Nutkrack , candied, lightly salted pecans created by chef Eric Rupert, are made for exactly these moments. Rupert is also the executive chef at Epic Systems and has been making candied pecans for friends for over...