{"id":2303572,"date":"2026-02-27T18:16:42","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T18:16:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2303572"},"modified":"2026-02-27T18:16:42","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T18:16:42","slug":"competition-cooking-a-new-restaurant-from-red-and-shamilton-entertainment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/competition-cooking-a-new-restaurant-from-red-and-shamilton-entertainment\/","title":{"rendered":"Competition cooking, a new restaurant from RED and ‘Shamilton’ | Entertainment"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Editor’s note: Below is the Thursday, Feb. 26 edition of the Food & Culture newsletter. Our $20 Dining series, this week featuring Mishqui Peruvian Bistro, is exclusive to newsletter subscribers.\u00a0<\/em>If you want to receive the newsletter in your email inbox every Thursday (it’s free!), subscribe at\u00a0captimes.com\/newsletters<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Repping Wisconsin with cheese and charisma<\/strong><\/h3>\n

By Lindsay Christians, food and culture editor<\/em><\/p>\n

My first day on \u201cset\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0at \u201cTop Chef Wisconsin\u201d was drippy hot, the kind of humid late summer day that wilts everything and everyone. One group at a time, PAs ushered attendees of the Top Chef Cheese Festival into the backyard of a wedding barn in Oconomowoc, where sweaty cheftestants labored over flat-tops and fryers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When I spotted Dan Jacobs<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 co-owner of EsterEv and DanDan in Milwaukee \u2014 I might have squealed? I was definitely not chill. This was the first time in \u201cTop Chef\u201d history that a chef actively working in Wisconsin had ever been on the acclaimed Bravo culinary competition. His life hadn\u2019t changed yet, but it was about to.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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EsterEv chef and co-owner Dan Jacobs made parsnip cake with pasnip cremeaux at Cooking with the Cap Times.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n RUTHIE HAUGE<\/span>
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Last night, we hosted Dan\u00a0<\/strong>at Cooking with the Cap Times, and it was an absolute delight. He talked about his upcoming appearance on \u201cTournament of Champions\u201d (Hulu, March 2), confirmed my theory that sponsored salt throws off seasoning on \u201cTop Chef,\u201d and gave a behind-the-scenes peek into what it\u2019s like to cook for your life in 30-minute televised sprints.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While you watch Dan compete,\u00a0<\/strong>maybe let someone else cook?\u00a0<\/strong>Ashley\u2019s profile of\u00a0Lovely\u2019s Take Home Chef<\/a>\u00a0offers a brilliant alternative to Blue Apron, with dishes designed for easy reheating. This couple\u2019s local farm focus is impressive during our long winters, when nothing grows outside of greenhouses.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The cast of “Shamilton,” an improvised hip-hop musical.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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This weekend, find me at \u201cSandra<\/strong>,\u201d Two Crows Theatre\u2019s production of a one-woman playing starring APT actor Colleen Madden. (Fun fact: Madden was scheduled to make her Broadway debut in 2020 before the pandemic shut shows down.) Saturday I\u2019m making time for spontaneous comedy at Overture\u2019s Fringe Festival, namely \u201cShamilton<\/strong>,\u201d an improvised show about a random character \u2014 Dolly Parton, Kim Kardashian \u2014 with songs inspired by the hit Broadway musical.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cheers<\/strong>, friends, have a great weekend! \u2014 Lindsay<\/p>\n

PS My beloved friend Maureen\u2019s birthday is tomorrow, so I stopped by Hatch Art House for some\u00a0Maebel earrings<\/a>. Shop local!\u00a0<\/p>\n

PPS Next Wednesday is the Wisconsin Film Fest preview. It\u2019s cinema Christmas! For first dibs on film tickets, check out the\u00a0First Look event<\/a>\u00a0at Flix Brewhouse.<\/p>\n

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What we’re reading<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Pam Zhang\u2019s \u201cThe Land of Milk and Honey<\/strong>\u201d is a novel for people who love food-centric films, like \u201cBabette\u2019s Feast\u201d or \u201cBig Night.\u201d Set in a vaguely post-apocalyptic future, a young chef escapes the smog and gray flour of daily survival to take a job at a compound on an isolated mountain, where everything and anything is available to a select few. I loved the saturated descriptions of food and drink in Zhang\u2019s story. Luxury makes me uncomfortable, and this author knows exactly why.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jane, 17, has begun to recognize the remote Montana cabin where she lives with her father as a kind of prison at the opening of \u201cWhat Kind of Paradise<\/strong>\u201d by Janelle Brown. When Jane becomes an unwitting accomplice to her dad\u2019s radical acts, the book expands as her world does. Set amid the tech scene in San Francisco in the 1990s, this novel is dynamic and expertly crafted.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe word \u2018affair\u2019 had the ring of obsolescence, like a cigarette or an adman or a chaise lounge,\u201d Erin Somers writes in her new novel, \u201cThe Ten Year Affair<\/strong>.\u201d Cora and Sam meet in the back of a bougie baby store in upstate New York, where both have decamped from the city to raise their young families. They\u2019re married to other people, working jobs that don\u2019t inspire them, and susceptible to infidelity, even just in fantasy. I love Somers\u2019 wit and humor as lines blur between what\u2019s real and what\u2019s not.\u00a0\u2014 Lindsay<\/em><\/p>\n\n

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The Ohio Tavern at 224 Ohio Ave. intends to reopen in mid- to late March with four new owners.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n ASHLEY RODRIGUEZ<\/span>
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Restaurant news<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Ohio Tavern<\/strong>\u00a0will reopen in mid- to late March under new ownership. Mike McDonald, one of the partners,\u00a0told me their version of the bar<\/a>\u00a0will lean toward tequila and mezcal, draft and batched cocktails, and things regulars already love, namely nachos and karaoke. (My former editor and friend Jason Joyce lives in the neighborhood, and notes this former dive bar is not \u201ciconic.\u201d But it is kind of historic! The Ohio Avenue Tavern opened here in 1933.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sofra Family Bistro<\/strong>, an American restaurant with Albanian specials, has\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0that it will close on March 1 after 35 years in Middleton.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pink Heifer BBQ Saloon<\/strong>, a quick service barbecue spot, is now in \u201csuper soft open mode<\/a>\u201d at 567 State St., the same development as Colectivo Coffee and Raising Cane\u2019s. The official grand opening is set for March 3. According to a State Journal story, the original Pink Heifer is in Monticello, and this one will serve \u201cTexas-style brisket, chicken, pork \u2026 (an) elaborate Southwest salad and mac \u2018n\u2019 cheese.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A new upscale Mexican restaurant<\/strong> from the founders of RED and Jacknife is in the works for the Estrellon space at 313 W. Johnson St. Plans filed with the city describe a tequila and mezcal program, fresh tortillas made in house (\u201cin the dining room\u201d) and \u201celevated takes on classics like fajitas, tacos and guacamole.\u201d Owner Tanya Zhykharevich said her team is \u201cstill very much in the development phase\u201d and is not ready to share more details publicly yet. The city filing shows a proposed opening date of Aug. 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Recent obsessions<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Drinking: The hot toddy ($11) gets a glow up at\u00a0The Coopers Tavern<\/strong>, where Irish whiskey, port wine and honey are set off by a squeeze of lemon, a cinnamon stick and orange peel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reading: A shady west coast couple has been hiring surrogates to build a massive \u201cfamily\u201d \u2014 more like a baby farm \u2014 of 24 kids and counting. Ava Kofman\u2019s\u00a0daring investigative piece<\/a>, \u201cThe Babies Kept in a Mysterious Los Angeles Mansion<\/strong>\u201d from The New Yorker, raises thorny questions about the oversight of surrogacy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Grand aioli at Cassis in Milwaukee<\/p>\n

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\n KEVIN J MIYAZAKI<\/span>
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Listening to: \u201cStuff Yer Face<\/strong><\/a>,\u201d a food-focused series hosted by Emily Tucker on WORT. (Recent guest Matt Rodbard, editor of Taste, gave CT\u2019s own Ashley Rodriguez a shout-out.) Also\u00a0The Floozies<\/strong>\u00a0live sets<\/a>, which combine funk, reggae and Grateful Dead-style jamming with electro beats.\u00a0Catch them at The Sylvee<\/a>\u00a0on March 7.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dining out:\u00a0Cassis<\/strong>, a classic French bistro near the Milwaukee Public Market, has polish and poise just a few weeks after opening. When we posted up at the bar on a Friday, service was stellar and the food was even better.<\/p>\n

Of note: a fines herbes martini, ice cold and smooth as anything; a deeply rich and creamy white bean soup with crusty sourdough croutons; silky scallop crudo with oro blanco grapefruit and drizzles of herb oil; a grand aioli platter with beauty heart radishes and carrots. The veggies were such a gift in the middle of winter. Steelhead trout, poached and filleted open like a book, came soaked in a caper lemon butter sauce that reminded me of a delicate, fish-centric chicken piccata. Chef Kyle Knall\u2019s new spot feels like a sister restaurant to Sardine in the best way.\u00a0\u2014 Lindsay<\/em><\/p>\n

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Chaufa de pollo at Mishqui Peruvian Bistro is part of an excellent $20 lunch deal. In $20 Dining, exclusive to this week’s newsletter<\/strong>, Ashley Rodriguez writes about chifa, the Cantonese-influenced food of Peru, through the empanadas, tres leches cake and chaufa at this downtown Madison restaurant.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n ASHLEY RODRIGUEZ<\/span>
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