Restaurant News: After series of setbacks, Buraka set to open by March 4
Wisconsin State Journal: Dining
SAMARA KALK DERBY skalk@madison.com, 608-252-6439, Feb 22, 2016
Wisconsin State Journal – Weblink
The East African restaurant Buraka, displaced from its State Street home for a large campus housing and retail development, is opening within the next two weeks on Willy Street.
Owner Markos Regassa had planned to open as early as this past summer, but encountered a series of setbacks he’d rather not focus on now. “I don’t want to blame anybody,” he said.
Regassa met with a fire inspector Monday morning and was expecting a building inspector as he talked to the State Journal in the afternoon.
He expects to have a grand opening the weekend of March 4, but allows that there may be a soft opening before then. “I just want everything to be correct,” he said.
“It’s stressful,” Regassa said. “It will feel good in a couple of months when everything turns out to be right and things flow as normal as possible.”
He’s just glad to have gotten through the construction phase, he said. “Now it’s the stress of running the business side and having everything right. It will be fine. I am excited.”
The Ethiopian native had a difficult time finding a suitable location for Buraka since its forced closure in October 2013. He wanted a spot near the UW-Madison campus or on Willy Street, and finally found a promising location in the former Jolly Bob’s, at 1210 Williamson St., which closed in December 2014.
Jim Vincent, the same architect who did the State Street Buraka, designed the new space.
Buraka had been in its State Street basement home for 13 years and Regassa’s cart had been a fixture on Library Mall for more than 20 years.
Regassa promises to have his cart at all the local festivals, but said he did not go through the September food cart review to get city approval to have his cart back on Library Mall this year.
“I’ll be at every festival for sure,” he said.