I loved Kushi Bar Muramoto, but it was ahead of its time (part of it is now reincarnated at Restaurant Muramoto). Hopefully Madisonians don’t make the same mistake twice, now with Tavernakaya and its izakaya (Japanese gastropub) concept.
It’s best late at night, when you’re hungry again after a few drinks, as food is served here until 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Still, I was puzzled on one visit at 4 p.m., which is prime happy hour time, that no food would be served until 5 p.m. That’s dumb; I ended up going to Lucille instead.
The menus have several different sections, including sushi, skewers and noodles. The late-night menu is comprised of items from these sections.
Service and food issues that popped up the first couple of months since its opening in December 2015 have seemingly been eliminated. For example, a large, dough-like clump represented the noodles in the spicy miso ramen ($14) in one of my early visits, but I haven’t heard of a similar case since (I appreciated that the restaurant didn’t charge me for the dish). By the way, the miso-chicken broth was otherwise soothing, and the heat builds up in your mouth after a while.
I was pleasantly surprised by the General Tso’s cauliflower ($11 lunch, $14 dinner). The cauliflower was tender and wasn’t heavily breaded, yet it was still crispy. Plus, there was just the right amount of sauce on top.
The Nueske’s Bacon & Egg fried rice ($11) was a comfort food for me. Good fried flavor and the scattered pieces of soft bacon makes this a crowd pleaser.
The bar sports a full spirits, wine, beer and sake selection. A specialty cocktail I enjoyed was the Chuhai ($6), a sweet concoction of Jinro Soju (fun fact: it’s the best selling liquor in the world), soda, sugar and your choice of modifier (I picked grapefruit).
Tavernakaya is open for dinner Monday-Saturday, lunch on weekdays and late-night on weekends.
Despite opening less than two years ago, the Edgewater Hotel has overhauled its food offerings. A revamped management team includes a new GM, a new executive chef and consulting help from Bartolotta Restaurants. I was invited recently to see the outcome of these transformations that abide by the theme of “Modern Midwestern.”
Bar food, too. Start or end your night at Augie’s, named for the previous owner of the Edgewater. You’ll find bar snacks, small plates, sandwiches and salads on the larger-than-expected menu.
Right in the heart of campus, just a block off State Street, sits a restaurant with a gorgeous view of the city, an outdoor rooftop sitting area and appealing cocktail menu. It’s 
I tried two of the four items from the Small Plates section. The roasted butternut squash puree ($7) is livened by the sweetness of the pieces of maple bacon walnut brittle and bits of apple swimming about. But it seems for every hit, there’s a miss, and in this round it’s the crispy chicken ($12), which was bland chicken in a thin and non-crispy breading. It was simply dying for either crispier breading or some honey mustard sauce to make it palatable.
