For many business owners, the grind of keeping an operation running is enough to fill 40 hours and then some. About four years ago, Don Woods decided to double down: The owner of Faded Club Barbershop on Monroe Street bought the empty space next door — which had previously been the site of New Orleans Takeout for decades. Woods replaced the worn carpet with gray flooring, installed a new referee jersey-striped counter and commissioned one of his regular clients from Faded Club to build a few tables, some with stool seating.
The result is Stadium Takeout, a restaurant that hawks Philly cheesesteak sandwiches, wings, Chicago hot dogs and more to both Badgers fans and residents in the adjacent Vilas, Greenbush and Regent neighborhoods. Many of the menu items — including the au jus accompanying the cheesesteak, several of the dipping sauces for the chicken wings, the hand-cut fries and the Italian ice — are made from scratch daily.
“I like to eat,” says Woods, an affable and creative entrepreneur with a deep devotion to customer service — and, apparently, hard work. “I’ve always enjoyed cooking, and this kind of food has been around my family for years. It doesn’t feel like work to me.”…