About / Reviews

Co-owners and chefs, John Gadau and Phillip Hurley, culinary careers span from their native hometown of Chicago to the restaurant culture of California. They worked separately in such renowned establishments as Café Provencal (Chicago), Carlucci (Chicago), Michel Richard’s Citrus (Los Angeles) and Judy Rodger’s Zuni Cafe (San Francisco).

Gadau and Hurley were introduced to one another in 1997 as neighbors living in the same three-flat brownstone apartment in the Wrigley area. It was quick work to discovering they both shared the same notions about local ingredients, simple but thoughtfully crafted flavor profiles, and the importance of the concepts of “place” and “classic tradition”.

The decision to move both of their families to Madison, Wisconsin to start a joint venture happened in 2000 with the launching of Marigold Kitchen, a breakfast and lunch restaurant one block off of the Capital Square. When a raw space in the historical tobacco/icehouse Machinery Row, became available Gadau and Hurley seized the opportunity to open their next restaurant, Sardine, a lakeside bistro and bar, in the spring of 2006.