Small Bites: Fine dining for the masses

Why casual dining concepts from high-end chefs are important.

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“Small Bites” is about exploring the broader world of food and drink in Madison through approachable and specific experiences.

I think a lot about this 2013 profile of celebrity chef Rene Redzepi from food writer Josh Ozersky. A bit of a shit stirrer, Ozersky loved to skewer trends in fine dining he saw as pretentious in favor of a more working class identity in food, even when he was acknowledging that he, himself, was now part of the food elite. While I didn’t always agree with his opinions (this piece on coffee is contrarian for the sake of being contrarian), his thoughts on celebrity chef culture have stuck in my craw, even a decade after his passing. 

In that piece, Ozersky commented on the Noma chef’s TV appearances. At the time, Noma was consistently jockeying for the top spot on “The World’s 50 Best Restaurants” list after three straight wins, making Redzepi a sort of household name. The problem was, as Ozersky states: “Nobody has actually eaten Redzepi’s food.”

Celebrity chef culture has been fully embraced over the last 20 years with Food Network and Top Chef begetting an entirely new concept of TV personality. No one bats an eye when Guy Fieri is courtside during the NBA playoffs; he’s treated with the same amount of celebrity attention as John McEnroe or Spike Lee. But Ozersky’s argument is that even the most famous American celebrity chefs at the time had some sort of accessible food: David Chang had a variety of restaurants in New York at varying price points, Thomas Keller had multiple Bouchon restaurants, etc. 

When I first was hired as a coffee trainer, I’d zip around Chicago to all the best restaurants, showing their bar staff how to make espresso and steam milk for a cappuccino. And while I couldn’t necessarily afford to eat at the now-shuttered Blackbird in Chicago, chef Paul Kahan also opened Publican Quality Meats, a butcher shop that served restaurants. PQM also had a public-facing meat and cheese case and a sandwich menu that delivered an incredible lunch for an affordable price. I still remember their vegetarian BLT, which used smoked beets as a stand-in for bacon and added a salty aged cheddar to punch up the flavor. 

I’m grateful that, at 40 years old, I have a career working for an espresso machine company that allows me more wiggle room for dining out. But in celebrating my recent birthday at the James Beard Award-winning Fairchild on Monroe Street, I couldn’t help but wonder about how limited the experience might be for enthusiastic diners. In the last four years, my partner and I have been to Fairchild a handful of times, each dinner leaving us raving about the roasted pork tortellini in broth or the dry-aged New York strip that was served with foraged blueberries and a tangy gastrique. But it’s not an affordable experience for everyone, and I think back to when I took a pay cut to be a full-time writer and how strict we had to be with our budget. I think about Madison’s own version of celebrity chef culture—Top Chef filmed two episodes here for their 21st season—and I wonder how Ozersky would think of our fair city’s accessibility to fine dining. 

Fortunately, for Madison, the past few years have shown a bigger uptick in restaurants spinning off a more affordable eatery. One of the biggest examples was when the Harvey House team opened Butterbird—one of my regular go-tos. The rye-encrusted walleye at Harvey House is really something special, but it’s the ease, affordability, and execution at Butterbird that keeps me coming back. You can feed a family for around $50 with their fried or rotisserie chicken dinners, which is honestly not far off from what the McDonald’s next door would cost. I’m a big fan of Butterbird’s fried chicken sandwich, which is crispy, perfectly seasoned, and topped with ranch and pickles or spicy mayo and chili oil. Its killer execution is perfectly primed for a post-chicken sandwich wars world. And if you’re dining in at Butterbird, they have an excellent cocktail menu for adults and stupidly delicious shakes for all ages. 

I love sidling up the bar at Mint Mark and grazing on a few small plates for an easy-on-the-budget night out (recently we popped in just for drinks and dessert, and it was delightful). Their new location on East Wash makes it even easier to just pop in, with triple the bar stools and a menu that has a little bit of everything. What the new location doesn’t have, however, is the famous Mint Mark burger that was an always-available staple at their original spot on Winnebago Street—or their Friday fish fry. Fortunately, Chef Sean Pharr opened Hank’s over on Monona Drive, connected to the Muskellounge. It’s a classic-feeling takeout counter with a killer burger, rotating sandwich specials, and a delectable lake fish fish fry (walleye and perch). I like to go in the summer when I can sit outside to avoid the din of the lively bar.

Speaking of burgers—Settle Down Tavern is always a great spot for a top-notch smashburger at a reasonable price point. And while it technically opened before its sister spot Turn Key Supper Club, I appreciate the cocktail-forward restaurant group’s multiple options, depending on how fancy I feel. There are lots of other options, too. The team at Sardine opened their more approachable neighborhood gastropub Gates & Brovi in 2012, but Sardine also has a bar menu for a lighter meal. Jacknife Sushi does a great job with delivery and offers a more casual version of the fare at RED. And high-end Italian eatery Osteria Papavero has a sandwich menu available for lunch.

There’s nothing more Millennial coded than saying “housing costs are out of hand so you might as well eat good,” but, well, I am exactly 40 years old, and I entered the workforce right before the 2008 Great Recession. Yet, I don’t think that sentiment ends with my generation. Living through life’s little luxuries might be here to stay, and who doesn’t love the European-esque glamour of high-rent and cheap nights out? With fast food and chain restaurants jacking up prices in this new era of private equity ownership, affordable standbys are no longer, well, affordable. It’s encouraging to see bastions of Madison dining step up to the plate in their stead. 

That doesn’t mean I don’t recommend dining at places like Fairchild. I’ve had what I would hyperbolically describe as life-changing meals there; and if your budget allows it, it’s worth the night out. I know that, personally, I can’t wait to go back. I also know that I’ll probably have sushi, a burger, and a two-piece chicken dinner special before I get the chance to.