With our generally cold and inclement spring, the new food cart rollout has been slow. However, a visit to the Library Mall on a recent sunny day revealed new residents.
Yon Yonson, named after that fella that comes from Wisconsin, serves sandwiches, even a grilled cheese; soups, and a daily special like meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy. Surco Peruvian features arroz con pollo (chicken and rice), ahi de gallina (shredded chicken in cream sauce), beef stew, and a lomo sandwich (steak, onion and avocado in a boule). The Monty's Blue Plate cart provides some of the east-side diner's favorites for eaters on-the-go. Caracas Empanadas makes veggie, shredded beef and cheese, pulled pork, ground beef and cheese, chicken, and cheese turnovers.
The vegetarian and vegan-friendly Dandelion cart is back after a year's hiatus with tofu sandwiches and wraps, and the much-loved sweet potato wrap is back on the menu. The cart has moved from its Martin Luther King location to a spot near the clock tower on the Library Mall. The Electric Earth sandwich cart, on the Square last year, has moved to Library Mall too.
Watch for more cart updates as the weather becomes more conducive to eating outdoors.
Red Sushi will be opening at 106 King St., formerly the Haze. Owner and chef Jack Yip hopes to have the place open within the next couple of weeks. Right now, many details are being taken care of, like installing a new dishwasher. And Yip is still refining the menu, which he shows me on his phone. He scrolls through what looks like many pages, so when he says that he wants to offer "a complete menu," he's telling the truth.
The restaurant will be "mainly sushi," says Yip, but with "some grill dishes and some fusion." Some rolls will feature brown rice and some soy wrappers instead of the traditional seaweed. And look for Yip's omega roll (heavy on the omega-3s with smoked salmon and tuna).
Yip, formerly a sushi chef at Ginza, has just finished opening a new restaurant called Rice and Roll in Lutz, Fla., where some of his family lives.
Back to Monty's Blue Plate - the diner will be featuring special dog-bone-shaped cookies (and Monty's cookies are some of the best in town) May 1-15. They'll be sold to benefit Gus, the service dog of regular Monty's patron Johnny Johnson.
Gus has stage-three lymphoma. Funds are needed to treat Gus and also train a new service dog for Johnson. One of Gus' main duties is to detect Johnson's seizures before they happen. Cookies will be sold at Monty's and Market Street Diner in Sun Prairie.
La Fortuna's mobile wood-fired pizza oven is out and about for the season. Get fresh, local, handmade pizzas at the Verona Farmers' Market, starting May 10 from 3 to 7 p.m. Special La Fortuna days at the New Glarus Brewery will let you pair beer with your pizza (on 5/29, 6/11, 6/26, 7/31, 8/12, 8/28, 9/4, 9/25, 10/30). And La Fortuna will be vending at American Players Theatre this summer, too (order your pizza when ordering tix, for performances on 7/8, 8/5, 8/19, 9/2, 9/16).
