🍕 The best things we ate in 2025

Everyone on our team at City Cast Madison loves good food, and we’re lucky to live in a city with so much of it! We ate so many tasty things this year from beet pickled deviled eggs to Detroit-style pizza. Here’s a list of our favorites.

Everything at Lallande

My friends and I have a monthly “Fancy Feast” where we dress up, go out, and well, feast. Our adventures first took us to Lallande in 2024 and we were so blown away by the menu and service that we immediately knew we’d have to come back. Our second trip to the Monroe Street restaurant was no less extravagant than the first.

But their menu changes seasonally, so many of the dishes we had the first time around were nowhere to be found. This just made our second trip all the more exciting. Dishes like buttery escargot, refreshing salads, and tender meats were consumed almost as quickly as they arrived at our table. Lallande deserves all of the flowers and more in my book. — Hayley Sperling

Vegan donuts from Level 5 Donuts

Level 5 getting a storefront this year was one of the sweetest things that could have happened for me. Most of my favorite weekends this year started with some of their donuts. From grabbing a box when family is in town to biking over on a perfect summer day, Level 5 rarely misses. Recent favorites of mine have included milk and cookies, cran orange, and birthday cake. — Jade Iseri-Ramos

Canter Inn

The new Canter Inn restaurant out in downtown New Glarus is SOOOOO charming and the food was some of my favorite eats of the year. When I went, I did it UP with lots of dishes and cocktails to understand what these renowned chefs and friends of mine are putting down.

Everything we had was a winner. From appetizers including the beet pickled deviled eggs and shrimp toast with coconut squash bisque to the mains of skatewing schnitzel and pork short ribs over creamy grits, I left walking on a cloud! (I literally have a photo of me after dancing in the street.) — Bianca Martin

Molten Monkey Pizza

I admit to being a bit of a skeptic when it came to Detroit-style pizza. I like crust! Why invent a pizza with no crust? But the new Molten Monkey Pizza won me over. I was having drinks with Cap Times food and culture editor Lindsay Christians at Robin Room across the street and we got a pizza to go.

It was fantastic. Perfect crust, delicious toppings, and a pizza that’s the perfect size for two people to share. To the fine people of Detroit, I apologize for disparaging your pizza. — Rob Thomas