Water Street Tavern, a local restaurant located on the river that runs through Main Street, has recently undergone renovations. Owners Patti and Chuck Cross have lived in Stoughton since 1986 and ventured into the restaurant business in March 2022. After opening in May 2022, the restaurant has received high praise for their tasty menu items and cozy outdoor seating. The changes were announced right after the new year, and aside from the occasional bar-only hours, the restaurant has been closed since the end of January.
The main goal of the renovation is to extend the kitchen space to enclose two new walk-in freezers. Since its opening two years ago, Patti Cross’s concern has been operating in a “cramped” kitchen space.
“This place has very minimal freezer storage, and when we purchased it, the freezers were in the basement,” Cross said. “So you had to walk down the ladder, sit on an office chair because the basement was only five feet tall, and slide over to the chest freezers.”
Once renovations are completed, an extended wing of the restaurant will enclose the walk-in freezers, allowing for a new prep area and greater storage of fresh products that are more easily accessible.
With this new space comes additional space for kitchen equipment. Due to the expansion, the owners are choosing to no longer rely on the food truck as a second kitchen but rather expand their utility in the restaurant. This will result in menu changes that Cross has been wanting to achieve.
“[Customers] are going to drive what the menu looks like,” Cross said. “They want steaks, they want Prime Rib on Saturday nights, Fish Fry on Fridays, and we couldn’t produce that in our current kitchen.” As with all construction projects comes the domino effect of resulting changes that need to be made. The exhaust vent from the range needs to be moved to the roof, the bathrooms need to be enlarged for ADA compliance, and the electric system needs to be reworked to accommodate the new ventilation. On top of that, the Crosses plan to replace the tile flooring in the kitchen due to the cracks from water damage.
“It’s a lot of planning […]. We are very fortunate to have an amazing crew working with us,” Cross said. “We could not have done it without them.”
One change Chuck Cross is excited to make is a renovation to the bar. They plan on making the bar more “intimate” by removing a post that separates one half from the other, with the overall goal of introducing a cozier feeling.
Menu changes are being overseen by Cross’s business partner, Ben Altschul, who owns several restaurants in Madison. Ben and the Cross’s management team are in the process of designing a new menu for the Tavern.
“I did not know you couldn’t just say, ‘Can we have this? Can we have that?’” Cross said. “There has to be a rhyme and reason to line cooking and the ingredients you order, as they can be used in multiple recipes as opposed to one.”
In the past, Water Street Tavern has taken pride in the quality of its ingredients, and they plan to do the same with their new menu.
Cross is hoping for April 15th to be the opening date for Water Street Tavern, but expects the renovations to take until early May.
“Whether the kitchen is available for Syttende Mai, or we’re grilling outside for Syttende Mai, the bar must be open,” Cross exclaimed. “That’s the ringing of the bell!”