In Business

MIDDLETON–Board and Brush, the do-it-yourself (DIY)sign making workspaces that serves alcohol, plans to open a new location in Middleton Center in September. The new studio will join the existing locations in Sun Prairie and Mount Horeb.

The Middleton Board and Brush will be run by the corporate office unlike other locations which are franchises, says Molly Schmock who will be the studio manager.

Schmock explains that the company started in Heartland when the founder Julie Selby who was doing girls-night-out sign making in her basement decided to start a business out of it. There are now more than 250 studios across the country, Schmock says.

At Board and Brush customers make an appointment for a woodworking class primarily for sign making but Schmock says the company is expanding to other woodworking projects and soon doormats.

MIDDLETON–EJ and Amy Fitzgerald, co-owners of Cool Hand Customs, have been doing custom car and motorcycle builds at the corner of Clark and Lee Streets for the last 10 years. The couple are looking to expand their operation but worried about how they will fit in with a changing landscape.

EJ and Amy saidthey took a risk when they decided to walk away from their construction business and open their own custom motorcycle and car shop. EJ says it was something he always wanted to do, and construction wasn’t offering a lot. 

“I’m going to be an old man with busted up knees and nothing else,” he said. 

Amy’s mom encouraged them to start a business with EJ’s passion for doing custom paint and body work on motorcycles and cars. EJ had reservations. 

“This is going from stuff that somebody might need to get done on their house to a complete extravagance,” he recalled.

by Cameron Bren

MIDDLETON–Middleton based pharmacy and UW Health affiliate home health service provider Chartwell held its ground breaking ceremony May 16. Chartwell is moving to the former Globe University building on Deming Way. The company will renovate and expand at the site creating more than 100 new jobs.

President of Chartwell Wisconsin Don Powell said at the event that the company started in 1994 with six employees and one small clean room for compounding medications. Today the pharmacy program services over 700 patients daily and has 85 employees.

Powell said the renovated facility will have more than 53,000 square feet housing a pharmacy with three clean rooms. It will also house office and warehouse operations and a patient centered showroom and infusion center.

Chartwell will continue to service patients in Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota and Iowa and be able to serve more in those areas.

MIDDLETON–Middleton based pharmacy and home health service provider Chartwell introduced a concept plan at the city’s plan commission that would renovate and expand the vacant Globe University building on Deming Way and create 100 new jobs. The plan commission approved the concept plan which includes a request for TIF assistance for $830,000.

President of Chartwell Wisconsin Don Powell gave a presentation to the plan commission on the proposed move and expansion. 

He explained that Chartwell is a licensed pharmacy that provides home-care management services. Chartwell compounds medications and delivers them to patients at home instead of like traditional pharmacy.

At its current location at 2241 Pinehurst Dr. there are two cleanrooms for compounding medications including chemotherapy drugs. Chartwell also provides education and training for patients at home.

When Hong Gao was growing up in Taigu, a county in China’s Shanxi province, she never ate rice.

“I remember noodles, dumplings, pancakes from my mother and grandmother,” she recalls. “But were we lived, you never ate rice. It was all noodles. Like our ‘cat ear’ noodles, [which] look like the shape of a cat’s ear.”

So imagine her surprise when she moved to the United States 23 years ago and saw the menus as the “Chinese” restaurants that populate the country. The ubiquitous dishes – things like General Tso’s chicken and pork fried rice – had no connection to her homeland’s delicious fare.

That’s why Hong and her family decided to take over the former Orient Express at 7610 Elmwood Avenue in the City of Middleton late last year. They changed the name to “Taigu,” a nod to their hometown and its food, introduced elegant decorations and Hong’s joyful paintings of everything from flowers to noodles, and revamped the menu.

Whether it’s the persistent rumors about Underground Railroad tunnels beneath its floors, or gleefully bawdy tales of rum running during prohibition, the Stamm House has always been steeped in Middleton lore.

That’s why, when one of the area’s oldest restaurants gradually fell into a state of disrepair, re-opening and closing without notice while the business foundered, the people of the Good Neighbor City were concerned they might lose one of their most iconic landmarks.

Those fears will be dispelled when the establishment re-opens its doors on Tuesday, May 26.  Completely renovated, rebuilt, palpably loved and slightly renamed as “1847 at the Stamm House,” the restaurant looks like it could be on the verge of its heyday.

A young woman, her swarthy arms taught as she hoists two pails of hog feed, her t-shirt stretched thin by a belly in which a baby spends its final weeks before entering the world.

A bearded man, his eyes shaded by an askew baseball cap, picking spinach with astounding dexterity, shoulder to shoulder with field hands who range from college freshmen to retirees, from hipsters to grandmothers.

An old barn floor, nodding buoyantly as families stomp their feet to live bluegrass music.

A flaxen-haired toddler, tumbling again and again, then taking her first steps on the wooden porch one sweltering afternoon.

This is work. This is home. This is everything in between.

This is life at Crossroads Community Farm.

It’s hard to imagine Middleton without the Lumani family. They’ve been here for nearly a quarter century, and their eateries have been the scene of so many local conversations, get-togethers and, obviously, delicious meals.

It was in 2006, with 16 years in the restaurant business already under their respective belts, that they decided to open a contemporary Italian café. A place where diners could take their time and lounge in stylish comfort, all while enjoying authentic pizzas, fresh gelato, and delectable dishes from across the Mediterranean. It was a surprising marriage of sophistication and casual dining.

Thus, Villa Dolce was born.

They chose a historic building, located at 1828 Parmenter Street – right in the heart of downtown Middleton. They filled it with color, cozy seating, and class. And the rest, as they say, is history.

This article marks the start of a new Middleton Times-Tribune series profiling local eateries. While Middleton is by no means a large city, the dining options here rival those in much bigger urban hubs. Citizens can taste recipes from across the globe without leaving their area code. The series begins with a trip to Dhaba Indian Bistro, which opened three years ago and is thriving today.

When Dhaba Indian Bistro opened at 8333 Greenway Blvd. back in 2012, it was an immediate hit with area diners. This locally owned eatery boasts a wide array of dishes from northern India. (Proprietor Sumanjit Singh grew up in Punjab.)

Samosas, which are spicy turnovers filled with vegetables and cheese or spice and lamb. Seventeen types of Indian breads, ranging from ginger naan to whole wheat roti. Chicken, beef, lamb and goat curries, along with seafood and an abundance of lentils, eggplant, spinach and other vegetable dishes round out the menu.

Ashley Kinart Named Brewmaster at Capital Brewery

“When I made my first beer here, a lot of people asked me if I was doing it to empower women,” says Ashley Kinart. “My answer was no, I was doing it to brew a beer. I happen to be a woman.”

But Kinart, who at only 30 years old was recently named brewmaster at one of the most lauded craft beer companies in the country, might be using her tall rubber brewing boots to stomp on a variety of barriers in an industry historically dominated by men, whether she means to or not.

Clad in flannel, with a glint visible in her eyes even through thick-rimmed glasses, she says she loves many things. The tranquility that comes with yoga. The companionship of her two dogs. And the sights, smells and sounds of a bustling brew house.