For spouses and business partners Sam Kincaid and Jon Nodler, Canter Inn began with settling into a different pace. In 2021, the chef pair returned to the Madison area after launching five restaurants in New York and Philadelphia, including their own: Cadence, “a 38-seat BYOB in an up-and-coming neighborhood.”
In the Midwest, they wanted to prioritize work-life balance. “We weren’t quite sure how a restaurant would fit into that,” says Kincaid. She took a job outside the kitchen at the local nonprofit REAP Food Group, while Nodler went for a culinary management position at Rule No. One Hospitality Group — but the idea of opening another restaurant of their own stayed with the couple. “We’ve been developing the ideas the whole time we’ve been back,” says Nodler.
Finding the right location and space was paramount. Last year, Nodler and Kincaid were sitting at Kristi’s Restaurant in New Glarus — a longtime dining spot camped in a green Queen Anne Victorian house built at the turn of the 20th century — when they overheard a conversation about the restaurant potentially closing. By then, the couple was living nearby in Green County. “[New Glarus] was always very welcoming,” says Nodler. As the couple explored New Glarus as an option for their restaurant, the former Kristi’s space helped their vision come together…