On the day of our slow bicycle tour, the Willy Street area of Madison, Wisconsin, was a global place. We went from East Asia to Ethiopia and then returned to an upstairs Ayurvedic paradise where chai became mandatory.
But that last stop was just me. I freeloaded the chai after the others had already left.
People say never give away the whole thing, the whole story, but with Madison Eats Food Tours, the reveal is necessary. The tour guide met us at Garver Feed Mill and supplied e-bikes, those rentals one now sees in various urban areas. Then he mapped out our journey. It would take three hours, slowly riding through various neighborhoods, parks, greenery, bike trails and urban side-streets, with just a handful of stops in-between for food. An amazing concept, one that certainly existed in other cities, but Madison was a place characterized by miles and miles of bicycle trails. Outdoorsy vibes already seemed to occupy everyone’s psyche. So it was perfect.
As a bicycle enthusiast, I recommend these folks. And I recommend the eastern part of Madison, where residents kept telling the college kids on the other side of town, well, you don’t know what you’re missing out here. It’s true.
In itself, Garver Feed Mill was a masterpiece of historic preservation. Formerly a multistory sugar mill, the turn-of-the-century complex was now transformed and filled up with numerous businesses. I saw bars, lounges, play areas and stages, plus an atrium, a few patios and other groovy configurations. My spy-scope immediately went to Kosa Spa, an award-winning Ayurvedic retreat, which occupied an upper-level spot. But that would come later.
Our bike food tour started at one particular spot in Garver Feed Mill, a place called Roll Play. Tons of board games filled the shelves. Families cycled in, out and through. Some kind of corporate team-building activity was set to unfold. Skewers of meat and rice arrived just for us, followed up with an amazing cup of boba tea. A great way to start.
Then we hit the trails. We rode at a steady, comfortable speed through parts of the Willy Street neighborhood. Willy was short for Williamson. Everyone called it Willy Street. We learned about historic preservation, parks, lakes and residential architecture, even though this was a food tour.
The next stop was Buraka, a Black-owned business in a similar neighborhood, not too far away from where the police shot Corey Ruiz, a killing that vaulted the corner of Willy and Baldwin to the national stage. Buraka was a bar and a restaurant. That is, DJs and Ethiopian food. Yet another amazing place. The owner brought over a traditional spread of Ethiopian digs on Injera bread. The whole plate was insanely spicy in all the right ways.
Then came the beer. An anonymous source joked that nine of the ten drunkest idiots in the country were from Madison, Wisconsin. I didn’t question the claim. Beer shirts were ubiquitous. By the time we pulled our bikes up to Starkweather Brewing, I realized another 100 beer-swilling places were available, but this one was right on our path. Even the root beer was delicious. It tasted homemade.
And what would a leisurely bike tour be without ice cream at the conclusion? Back at Garver Feed Mill, Calliope Ice Cream, another ravishing indie business, supplied whatever we chose. It was all part of the tour.
Foodie tours are especially intriguing for those with a fixation on ingredients. At Garver Feed Mill, one only had to navigate a beautifully crafted staircase to the upper-level catwalk, past the wedding photographer and the yoga studio, right to Kosa Spa. It was like ascending to a higher realm of consciousness.
In the same way I used to walk through liquor stores as a teenager, staring at all the exotic flavors that would take me away from the suffering of life, I now found solace in spa environments, even if they weren’t intended for me personally. I often stared at the products, especially if they were designed for those of us with the Vata type of Ayurvedic mind-body constitution. I once obsessively drank Vata tea, referring to it as “the elixir for a destroyed nervous system.”
The bike tour was now over. The others had gone, and they would probably consider me some woo-woo California pinko for waxing poetic about Vata tea, so I was now in the promised land at Kosa Spa. The lady at the counter gave me a tour, after which I vowed to return.
And when I did return, the very next morning, I walked out with two containers of tea, ashwaganda golden milk and masala chai. The lady behind the counter, the same lady, then spent five minutes discussing with me the various ways to brew the tea, steep it, strain it, and everything else. I think we both learned something.
I vowed to return again, not just to Kosa, but to Madison itself.
