Editor’s note: Below is the Thursday, Nov. 13, edition of The Corner Table, our weekly newsletter about the Madison dining scene. It’s produced by Lindsay Christians and Beck Henreckson. If you want to receive it in your email inbox every Thursday (it’s free!), subscribe at captimes.com/newsletters.
The land of lox and bagels
By Lindsay Christians, food and culture editor
After the plane and the train and the shuffling walk to wherever I’m stashing my bags, my first New York stop is a deli. This past week, I chose silky, lightly sweet sablefish at Broad Nosh Bagels in Columbus Circle and gravlax at Tompkins Square Bagels in Union Square. The schmear had cucumbers and scallions respectively, always with the works, always on an everything bagel — never toasted.
Broad Nosh Bagels on West 58th Street, near Columbus Circle.
LINDSAY CHRISTIANS
It is expensive enough to exist in New York City that even though I was attending a food conference (and a theater writers’ conference, too!) I couldn’t really splurge on meals. Highlights, besides those bagels, were a wine bar in Hell’s Kitchen called Same Same where I drank funky natural bubbles and ate shrimp toast; a bowl of Indonesian chicken and rice from Jakarta Munch in the Urban Hakwer food court; a maple-candied bacon toffee cookie from Schmackary’s; and an oat milk latte at Birch Coffee that just tasted better than at home. My new fave pre-theater stop is ’ritas, a friendly Mexican American spot with good tacos and generous wine pours.
The themes at that food conference felt very of-the-moment. The director of the nonprofit City Harvest talked about scaling up food distribution to pantries around the five boroughs in light of cuts to SNAP benefits. Attendees watched a presentation from a Google AI spokesguy — I was the mouthy one in back asking about data centers, power/water usage and “why are you inventing problems for AI to ‘solve?’”
Cookies at Schmackary’s in New York City.
LINDSAY CHRISTIANS
We heard about social media “authenticity” from a chef influencer and got a pitch from Substack, whose rep brushed off my question about high-profile writers leaving because they don’t appreciate the platform’s support of hate speech. (Ope.) “I stay away from politics,” said one Substack author, who makes around $700,000 each year from her newsletter. I’m sure she does.
But food is political! I recently ran into a local writer who’s working on a story about climate change and fish fry. Padma Lakshmi’s new book, “Padma’s All American,” is all about immigrant cuisine. (She featured German American food in Milwaukee on an episode of “Taste the Nation.”) I landed in New York the day after the city elected a Democratic socialist mayor who ran on a platform of affordability — and the cost of groceries and food delivery is no small part of that.
In all, I’m happy to be home and dining tonight with the friendliest “Top Chef Wisconsin” contestant ever, Michelle Wallace, at Seven Acre Dairy. And our demo with “Top Chef” alum Joe Sasto was a huge success! Thank you to all the members who came out. I can’t wait to share the next one.
Cheers! — Lindsay
“Disorientation” by Elaine Hsieh Chou
PENGUIN PRESS
*What I’m reading: Elaine Hsieh Chou’s 2022 novel “Disorientation” was a lucky impulse grab off the signed-books table at The Strand. Starring Ingrid, a Chinese American PhD in her eighth year of dissertating, this is a seriously funny deep dive into the weirdness of academia and 21st century yellowface. It’s “light” academia — “Disorientation” is closer to Richard Russo’s comic novel “Straight Man” and “Dear Committee Members” by Julie Schumacher than Donna Tartt’s “The Secret History.”
Blue Jack, a cocktail bar, has opened on East Wilson Street in the One 09 apartment building.
BECK HENRECKSON
Restaurant news
One Prime Steakhouse and Blue Jack Cocktail Lounge are open today, both at 119 E. Wilson St., next door to One Social Food Hall. The steakhouse will be open daily from 4 p.m., with the cocktail bar opening every day at 5 p.m.
Hers Sushi Bar & Ramen opened Tuesday at 108 Janesville St. in Oregon. The restaurant serves lunch and dinner Tuesday through Sunday, with ramen, poke bowls, donburi, teriyaki bowls, pork buns, rice bowls and more. — Beck
What’s on our table
A blueberry lemon scone from Madison Sourdough
LINDSAY CHRISTIANS
I love a citrusy scone. Lazy Jane’s Cafe gets it — the glaze on the lemon cream scone is a perfect sweet-tangy balance — and so does Madison Sourdough, where I picked up this blueberry lemon number as a post-Cooking with the Cap Times morning-after treat.
Consider this your reminder to pre-order desserts for Thanksgiving, if you’re so inclined? (I usually am.) We’ve done both the bourbon pecan pie and the apple pie in previous years, and they’re both stellar. — Lindsay