📝 Top Chef sneak peek

🥕 Dane County Food Shelves Need Help

• Local food shelves are seeing a massive surge in demand for their services and are struggling to keep up. In the past two years, the demand for food has increased 112%.
• Several Dane County food pantries said the combination of inflation, rising housing costs, and the end of pandemic-era assistance has led more people struggling to feed themselves and their families. And a decline in charitable giving has put further stress on the organizations doing the work. [Cap Times]

✨ Flight of Lights

• For the fifth year, the Dane County Regional Airport will host its “Flight of Lights” display. The event started as a way to lighten up the mood (get it?) for travelers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The display features six different themes along the mile and a half long route, including tributes to first responders, the medical community, Wisconsin sports, and beyond.
• Check it out: The free event kicks off Friday, running nightly from 7:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. through April 7. [DCRA]

🥖 Madison Sourdough Union Gets a Contract

• Nine months after starting negotiations, workers at Madison Sourdough have ratified their first contract. The shop won their union vote in April 2023.
• The new contract boosts base pay, guarantees annual raises, paid sick time, parental leave, a retirement plan, and other benefits. [Tone Madison, Wisconsin Examiner]

🌲 Got Brush?

• If you’ve got excess brush laying around — think sticks, branches, and other woody material — the city is offering an extra round of brush collection Monday, March 18. If you want to take advantage of this opportunity, place your brush out for pickup by 6:30 a.m. Monday morning.
• Brush should be piled at the street edge away from trees, parked cars, fire hydrants, utility poles, mail boxes, and other obstructions. You can read all the collection rules here. [City of Madison]

Welcome to Madison Chatter, a section I am proclaiming to be our city’s unofficial virtual community bulletin board.

This week we’re talking about Madison bakeries, where’s your favorite? Here’s what Madison Minutes readers had to say.

“Reverie in SASY gets my honorable mention. They even have a bread subscription if you like — and a new menu with really good biscuits and gravy!” — Kassidy D.

“I wanted to highlight Origin Breads as my top choice. They stand out for their commitment to using 100% regionally grown and stone-milled organic grains. Their long-fermented sourdough products, ranging from bread to pastries (yes, even sourdough croissants!) and pizza, are truly exceptional. I find that this bakery is often overlooked in lists of best bakeries in town. I believe Origin Breads is a hidden gem worth discovering.” — Olga A.

“Monona Bakery [has] the best tres leches cake and many other delights!” — Jane Z.

Got chatter to share?

Behind the Scenes of Top Chef’s Wisconsin Season

For the first time in the show’s history, Top Chef will feature an entire season based on Wisconsin food. The reality TV show brings working chefs from around the country to compete in a series of high-stakes competitions, and this season was filmed in Madison and Milwaukee. The first episode airs March 20.