Lallande is a small, family-run bistro located in the heart of the Vilas neighborhood in Madison, Wisconsin. A baker and a pastry chef, Mark Pavlovich and Annemarie Maitri, together with their team, have created a charming space to continue to share their love for nourishing you.
Lallande is an ode to the dishes and cuisines inspired by personal family food traditions, travels, and curiosity. Ingredients move with the regional growing calendar. The menu is thoughtful, rich with European traditions, set in a warm and convivial atmosphere.
Our Story
Annemarie :: It was a hot, bee-buzzing July day. I pulled Mark to the back alley of the bakery. While standing on the uneven asphalt, I pitched him the idea of taking over the lease next door. We took a walk through the vacant coffee house and looked at it with fresh eyes. Nice light coming through the windows, we could get the fireplace working, an open kitchen could be over here, a small bar would be nice to chat with customers while we cooked. My heart started racing with memories of my childhood, the kitchens I grew up in, my parents, and my grandparents. The food experiences I have worked to recreate for my own children and my friends that visit our home. It soon began to reveal itself to us. It would look and feel and act like home.
Mark :: The idea to open a restaurant next to our bakery felt natural. It is the relationships that have formed over the years working with farmers and local food vendors that have deepened my love for this profession. From visiting our egg farmers, Steve and Beth, and meeting their flock, to spending the night in the sugar bush with Rufus boiling sap into syrup, or trout fishing on the Murphy’s land before picking up our butter order for the week, connections are made long before the dish meets the table or the bread is loaded into the oven. My style of cooking has been influenced by my love for travel and time spent living in Germany’s Black Forest. I am not shy about sharing my love for both craft and old-world traditional beer, meals shared communally and paced to be savored, and enjoying life’s simple flavors like stone ground mustard on a slice of dark bread.
Annemarie :: It began early for me, age 8, following my Pa around his garden barefoot under the hot sun in Louisiana, it’s where I learned how to identify a ripe tomato. It’s also where I learned to tend bar at age 12 at my grandparents' gumbo parties, well, at least how to garnish a drink and to be hospitable. Building salads and crafting dressings with my father I learned the importance of taste. Shucking oysters, peeling shrimp, picking crab all came with my first job as a prep cook, a day over 15 in a seafood restaurant in the beach town I called home, developing a deep love of food. The San Francisco Baking Institute taught us technique and gave us the skills to be consistent, but it is the relationships with the land and our farmers that keep driving our creativity and stewardship.
Mark :: We learned to cook from family, by practicing over and over, by tasting, by reading, by foraging, and by growing our own food. Time spent cooking for our friends and family jammed in our tiny kitchen or gathered casually in our backyard deepened our ability to hone flavors, dishes, and timing. Our desire is simple: cook with fresh seasonal ingredients, always with intention. We want to take the best care of you while you dine with us. We want you to leave better for having been in our space. We hope your experience not only nourishes, but inspires you to reflect on the seasons and the connectivity food can have between people, relationships, and nature. Annemarie and I, along with our team, look forward to hosting you at Lallande. We’ll put some great music on, get you a drink, feed you real well, and hope you’ll stay awhile.
“The people who give you their food give you their heart.”
― Cesar Chavez
