Ella's Deli & Ice Cream Parlor on East Washington Avenue marks thirty years in Madison this summer. To celebrate its birthday, the local landmark is offering a prize for each year in business, lucky winners getting anything from 30 free ice cream cones or 30 quarts of soup to having a table inside named for them.
The two new personalized tables will have quite a bit to compete with inside the restaurant to capture diners attentions, however. Famous for its crazy carnival of kitsch décor lining its wall, ceilings, and anywhere else inside with room for singing feet and spinning puppets, Ella's is oftentimes recommended as a must-see for visitors to the city. One such patron is Eric Cwiertny, a L.A.-based advertising creative director who describes the deli as "quite a cute and fun little restaurant that is popular with kids of all ages" and notes the "toys, games and animated figures" that populate its every nook and cranny.
"However, if you really start to take in everything going on around you," Cwiertny cautions, "it kinda starts to creep you out a little bit." Therefore, he created a video titled Nightmare Deli, an 80-second take on what might be Madison's biggest source of coulrophobia.
