On the Yahara A-Z

G.

Green Owl.  There is what might be an unverifiable fact floating out there about the Madison food scene: there are more eating establishments per square block here than any other city in America.  As a hopeful observer of this fact – true or not – it's easy to see how this might seem true.  Not only has there been a food renaissance in Madison, but as you walk along the streets of various neighborhoods, east and west, you can still see the old Wisconsin heritage streetside tavern culture alive and often thriving.  And so for every new L'Etoile, Graze or Ocean Grill, there are five old taverns mixed-in still offering ale and grub.  Combined, the old and new create a sort of walkable food zoo and it becomes hard to know how to see it all without instructions.  With all this variety, and knowing Madison's movement towards sustainability and progressive styles of food, it takes a minute to realize that a place like the Green Owl Cafe, a few blocks from our house (and surrounded by those old taverns),

is the only strictly vegan / vegetarian option in the city.  Suffice it to say that even though going meatless is something many folks on the food scene certainly talk about, chefs notoriously like to cook meat and offer customers a diverse selection of proteins.  How to offer only meatless and succeed, then, is a great feat.  Walking past on Atwood street, the Green Owl could just as well be a green bar, connected to the Ideal Bar next door, but this place, along with a thriving trend throughout the city, has chosen an understated location to house an ambitious concept.  Another great example of this is the Manna Cafe, located next to the Maple Bluff neighborhood.  The cafe is tucked back in the elbow of a fairly decrepit old strip mall, next to a neighborhood liquor store; inside, the Manna cafe is one of the more dynamic cafe experiences in the city and run by high quality chefs.  The Gail Ambrosius chocolate shop, just a brief walk from the Green Owl, is not an overwhelmingly shiny modern building, but instead it is one more strong central link connecting people to areas in the city they might not have ever visited otherwise.  The result, in the case of the Atwood district, is a completely overhauled and revitalized portion of the city that had seen its more difficult days up until the mid 1980's.  Build the food joint, and they will come.

The inside of Green Owl is certainly homemade, but authentic and matches its theme and name in a very interesting way. On the menu are items reserved for the adventurous – not so much for their actual taste and texture, but simply because they have not been encountered by most folks like ourselves who are not vegan or vegetarian.  But why not try the Hummus, tabouli, muhammara and baba ganoush with toasted pita? The vegan schnitzel is a "tender protein" topped with a creamy porcini mushroom sauce; the Groundnut stew is traditional African sweet potato dish with cabbage, ginger, peanuts and cilantro, over brown rice with steamed kale.  We tried the TLT with Avocado, not quite knowing what "Smoky tempeh" was, but it was nice.  The dried kale chips good stuff.  Next trip....? The Madison Philly: Beefy seitan thinly sliced on a toasted roll with sautéed peppers and onions and a local Fallin Oats Oatmeal Amber Ale by Hopothesis Brewing Company.  In Madison, you never know what you've got until the plate appears on the table and local brew is poured and served alongside.