Tonight · dinner from 5:00, bar until 11:00 · a few tables left at 9:15 118 S Hamilton St, Madison · (608) 555-0193
Pilcrow Madison, Wisconsin

Printed Tuesday, 24 July

The menu

Published in full, on a page, in text you can read on a phone. No PDF, no photographs of the food, no “ask your server.” It changes every Tuesday and this page changes with it.

To start

Meant to share
Bread & cultured butter9

Baked here every afternoon. The butter is churned in Dodgeville and salted with the flake we can never keep in stock.

Whipped ricotta14

Buckwheat honey, black pepper, thyme, grilled sourdough.

Vegetarian
Little gem salad15

Buttermilk, dill, toasted rye, radish — from Vitruvian Farms, six miles south.

VegetarianLocal farm
Smoked trout rillettes17

Lake Superior trout, crème fraîche, pickled shallot, crackers.

Chicory, walnut & blue16

Hook's blue from Mineral Point, candied walnut, sherry vinegar.

VegetarianLocal
Marinated olives & almonds8

Orange peel, fennel seed, a lot of chilli.

Vegan

Mains

Six, and that's on purpose
Seared duck breast36

Delicata squash, charred scallion, a dark cherry reduction. Cooked pink; we'll take it further if you'd rather.

Whitefish, brown butter32

Great Lakes whitefish, capers, parsley, potatoes cooked in the pan juices.

Local
Braised short rib38

Four hours in red wine and stock, over soft polenta, with a bitter-green salad to cut it.

Handmade cavatelli27

Brown-butter squash, sage, hazelnut, aged sheep's cheese.

Vegetarian
Roast half chicken31

For two if you're not very hungry. Bread salad underneath, which is the best part.

White bean & kale stew24

Rosemary, preserved lemon, a great deal of olive oil, grilled bread.

Vegan

Sides

All 11
Fries, malt vinegar salt11
Charred broccolini11

Chilli, garlic, lemon.

Buttered new potatoes11

Dill, a lot of butter.

Green salad11

Sharp dressing, on purpose.

Vegan

Sweets

Made here
Olive-oil cake12

Crème fraîche, macerated plums.

Chocolate pot12

Sea salt, shortbread.

Buttermilk sorbet9

Whatever fruit is best this week.

Wisconsin cheese, three18

Whatever Fromagination has that we like this week, with honeycomb and crackers.

Local
Seared duck breast sliced and fanned on a stoneware plate with roasted squash, charred scallion and a dark reduction
Duck breast · delicata squash · charred scallion 36 · on the menu this week

To drink

A short list, kept honest

Fourteen wines open at any time, mostly from small growers, and a bar that will make you a proper drink without a twelve-ingredient story. Every bottle on the list is also available by the glass on a Tuesday, because Tuesday is when we open the interesting ones.

Wine

Glass / bottle
Sparkling14 / 62

Two: a crémant and something odd from the Jura.

White12 – 19 / 48 – 96

Five open. Always a riesling, because we are in Wisconsin and it goes with everything we cook.

Orange & rosé13 – 16 / 54 – 72

Two, and they change constantly.

Red12 – 19 / 48 – 110

Five open, at least two of them light enough to drink with fish.

The bottle list42 – 220

About sixty bottles. Ask Marta — she will find you something better than what you were going to order, for less.

Bar

Until 11:00
House martini15

Stirred, cold, lemon. Ask for it dirty and nobody will judge you out loud.

Old fashioned, Wisconsin way14

Brandy, muddled, with a cherry. We are in Wisconsin; this is the correct one.

Negroni, on tap13

Batched, barrel-rested, poured cold.

Wisconsin beer7 – 11

Four taps, all within the state, one of them always a lager.

Local
Non-alcoholic, properly made9

Three of them, built with the same care as the cocktails. Not just soda with a garnish.

Sunday supper

One menu, family-style
The whole table, per person48

Four courses, brought out on platters, eaten the way you eat at home. Everyone in the dining room gets the same thing, which is the point.

This Sunday

Bread and butter · chicory salad with walnut and blue cheese · slow-roast pork shoulder, white beans, salsa verde · olive-oil cake.

Vegetarian table48

A full parallel menu, not the pork course removed. Tell us when you book.

VegetarianVegan on request
Under 12s18

Smaller portions of the same food. There is no separate children's menu and there never has been.

Wine pairing, four glasses42

Optional, and genuinely optional — nobody will ask twice.

Sundays, plainly

  • Two seatings: 4:00 and 6:30
  • Reservations only — the bar is closed on Sunday
  • Tables of two to eight; ten and over is a private booking
  • The menu is posted here every Friday morning
Book a Sunday table →

Allergies

Tell us when you book and remind us when you sit down. The kitchen is small and open, so we will be honest about what we can genuinely keep separate and what we cannot — we would rather turn a dish down than take a risk with it.

Service charge

20% is added to every bill in place of tipping. It goes to the whole team, kitchen included, and there is no line to add more. Ask and it will be removed, no questions.

Reservations

Now you've read it, come and eat it.

Tables open thirty days ahead. The eight bar seats are never bookable and are always there.

Call Reserve