Editor’s note: Below is the Thursday, June 4 edition of the Food & Culture newsletter. If you want to receive it in your email inbox every Thursday (it’s free!), subscribe at captimes.com/newsletters.
Books in the running brooks 📚
By Lindsay Christians, Food and culture editor
“And this our life, exempt from public haunt, Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything.” — “As You Like It,” Act II, Scene 1
One of Casey Hoekstra’s most memorable moments onstage at American Players Theatre was a night when the rhyming comedy “The Liar” got rained out. Phoebe González was playing Clarice, Hoekstra’s love interest, and in a “very fraught” moment, “she yelled at me and disowned me and left the stage,” Hoekstra said.
“In that moment the rain poured down,” Hoekstra said. “I was wearing a huge wig. It was matted over my face, and the rain is pouring down, and I just stood there and watched her. The audience started to laugh … this last moment that we had was perfect for this character.”
In “The Liar” at American Players Theatre in 2023, the wigs were ample. (From left, Casey Hoekstra and Daniel José Molina.)
Ashley Rodriguez and I spent the better part of a day on the American Players Theatre campus last month, popping into rehearsals and sitting down with three of the core acting company’s newest members. The summer season opens in previews June 6.
“Some young actors take a view of, ‘When we’re doing a comedy, we’ll wait for previews and find out where the laughs are,’” Triney Sandoval told me. “I come from a school of, ‘No, you tell the audience how long to laugh, and when to laugh.’ It gets wacky.” I can’t wait.*
I’m headed home for a few days this weekend and then on a much-needed vacation, so Ashley will be taking over for me in the short term.
In the meantime, read how to celebrate Pride around Madison with bike rides, plays and drag brunches. Kick off a summer of food festivals at Mad Gluten Free Fest. Maybe visit a new food cart or catch this stunning photography show from Amadou Kromah at the library. I’ll be watching the Tony Awards on Sunday (go Carrie Coon!). And if you’d like to pet a cow, they’re hanging out downtown at Cows on the Concourse.
Cheers, friends! — Lindsay
* PS Today on City Cast, I’m talking about what to eat, what to wear and what to see at American Players Theatre.
The cast of “As You Like It” at American Players Theatre rehearses a dance.
What we’re reading
Claire Oshetsky sets their pulpy novel “Evil Genius” in the Bay Area in 1974. Celia, a 19-year-old telephone operator, spends her days dealing with frustrated customers and tells herself she loves her husband, a manbaby with rage issues. When a woman from the phone company is murdered in a crime of passion, the wheels in Celia’s head start turning. I was cheering her on as she started shaking off the demands of “her Drew,” buying a knife to slip into her boot and beginning to liberate herself, one cocktail hour with the girls at a time. I read this in a day. — Lindsay
Apparently “potboiler” doesn’t mean turning up the heat in a novel like a frog in a pot until all of a sudden things are boiling and you barely noticed the change. It should mean that, because that’s what I want to call “Best Offer Wins,” the entertaining debut novel from Marisa Kashino. Main character Margo is pathologically driven to buy her “dream house” in D.C., even if it kills her — or someone else. I couldn’t put this down. — Lindsay
Restaurant news
Asteria Ice Cream is getting ready to open at 111 W. Main St. in Sun Prairie. According to a recent piece in Madison Magazine, owners Ti and Jeff Gauger also operate two locations of Beans n Cream Coffee. Expect “rotating ice cream flavors and sundaes” as well as “dirty sodas” with syrup and cold foam. The business is waiting on a final building inspection, so the current plan is to host patio pop-up hours from 4-8 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday and move the grand opening events to next weekend.
A new South Asian Market called Apne has posted on social media that it’s “opening soon” at 6704 Watts Road, promising “vegetarian-focused” spices, produce and pantry items.
Distill America 2026 was held at Breese Stevens Field.
Scenes from Distill America
Distill America, held each May at Breese Stevens Field, introduces new spirits into the market every year.
This past Saturday, I went on the hunt for a new favorite rye or gin, fruit-infused liqueurs and dupes made in the Midwest for French herbal liqueurs that are expensive and hard to find. Here were a few of my faves, all of which should be available in the Madison area (Woodman’s is a particularly good source). Prices are estimates.
Cooper & Kings American apple brandy ($22 at Woodman’s, usually $25) — This would be a gorgeous ice cream float with apple cider, or made into a glaze for doughnuts or apple cake.
3 Floyds Wight VVitch gin ($30 at Woodman’s, $33) — This is a very particular gin from a very particular craft brewery, with powerful notes of lemongrass, fresh ginger, pink peppercorn and lime peel. Skip the tonic; put this in a bloody mary. (The rum and bourbon at this booth were so smooth as to be dangerous.)
Koval Thresh & Winnow 10-year rye ($100) — This ultra-aged 100% rye is SPICY in the best ways, with a hint of bitterness. I’d put it in my fanciest Manhattan.
A representative from Journeyman Distillery in Michigan mans a booth at Distill America.
Lucky Guys The Green Monk ($29-$35) — So I really hate that these guys are using AI for their label art. But I did like this herbal liquor, which is a version of green chartreuse made in Hudson near Minneapolis. I also liked their pre-batched black walnut old fashioned. Muddle some green apple in it for a little tartness to mellow the bitter walnut tannins.
Awildan apple brandy ($40? note unclear)— The APPLES in this brandy! It’s like that Thomas Keller pea soup in “The French Laundry Cookbook” that’s the most intense essence of pea flavor, but for booze and apples. Jeff Olson’s distillery in Sun Prairie is always one of the most fun at the fair.
Journeyman Field rye ($58) — We thought we’d turn this lovely brown sugar-rich rye into an Old Fashioned with muddled dried figs instead of cherries.
Honorable mentions: The spicy, cucumber-y milk punch at TenHead Spirits. State Line Distillery’s coffee liqueur, which I brought down to the tasting attendant at St. George Spirits (she wanted to know why everyone was saying it was better than theirs, which it is). The St. George Valley gin, infused with fresh orange aromatics. And Dancing Goat’s Maized & Confused, a 100% corn whiskey finished in cherry bitters barrels.
My sister-in-law and tasting companion Maggie texted me a pic of that last one, saying “Buy this for me.” (Locals should be able to find it at the distillery in Cambridge.)
A child decorates her own donut with sprinkles at Drift in Arena. Read more about the excellent pizza and creative doughnut flavors in this week’s newsletter exclusive $20 Dining feature. (Sign up here.)
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