The early evening sun and perfectly cool breeze settled gently over Monroe Street as we walked to our dinner reservation at Lallande. Inside the 3-year-old 10-top bistro, I was simultaneously transported and at home. The open kitchen hummed and servers moved effortlessly in their crisp aprons and comfy shoes. It felt high-class but with low stakes—my happy place and exactly the feeling co-owner Annemarie Maitri is going for: “We want to be your French grandmother. That’s the style.”
A rare night out without our son, my husband and I lingered over our warm olives, bistro steak and braised rabbit, wine-braised leeks, and a cup of post-dinner coffee to cap things off. Taking in the room, I noticed friends celebrating milestones, a solo diner treating themselves and neighbors greeting each other from across the room. At Lallande, the food matters, yet all the other details are designed to accompany these seemingly small rituals that are actually life’s big moments.
Similarly, at Maitri’s Bloom Bake Shop next door, the cozy bakery glow and smells of fresh bread and sugar warmed me right up on a rainy day. Founded by Maitri in 2010, she now runs it with her husband and business partner, Mark Pavlovich, in addition to Lallande. As customers happily waited for to-go orders, a large box sat labeled, “Food Drive,” already filled with donations from customers and neighbors. On the pastry case, a note stated Bloom’s commitment to local ingredients and their thoughtful selection of gluten-free and vegan treats amongst their traditional Viennoise pastries. And then in walked Annemarie Maitri, her face and energy beaming from under her raincoat hood and hat. Immediately, it was clear: she carries the same warmth, generosity and feeling of home as the spaces she’s created.
As the daughter of a military parent, Maitri grew up all over—from Japan to the American South—shaping her understanding of food and her sense of hospitality. “My parents would embrace every food culture that we lived in, so I thought everyone grew up with escargot shells in their pantry and a rice cooker,” she shared. One might think such a cultured upbringing stands in contrast to the Upper Midwest tastes and temperature, but after twenty years in Wisconsin, Maitri considers herself Madison’s biggest fan. “My mom always used local ingredients,” Maitri says. “Moving here and walking the market…really felt like home in a way
that I didn’t expect it to.”
Maitri’s connection to local food and community shows up in tangible ways. “As a small business, we believe the values we hold for our community—not just feeding you—are important,” she says. One Bloom staff member, Scottie Cross, created “Donation Creation,” a monthly sandwich special that directs proceeds to hyperlocal nonprofits, like Rubin for Kids. On Lallande’s website, a section dedicated to “Our Friends” lists the countless farmers and producers they partner with to bring delicious dishes to the table. And even in the hardest moments of the last several years, those values held. During the COVID-19 pandemic, after having to lay off their whole Bloom staff on March 17, 2020, Maitri and a small team continued limited to-go orders and later made sandwiches for protesters following the murder of George Floyd.
That same spirit of care extends to her now-thriving staff teams at Lallande and both Bloom locations. “It is so important to me the magnitude and the responsibility of taking care of people that have chosen this place to work because so much of our life is work,” she says. Maitri’s longtime team member, Christy Harvey, says, “Annemarie is a great leader just being herself. She strives to serve the community with her expertise: great food with sustainability, inclusivity and love in mind. She takes care of her people by building a business that helps each staff member grow.”
Maitri, a mother of three, started her first business when her kids were three, five and seven. “It took a village, and that in turn was a gift for my children because
of the way they see this community and the way they see Madison. They all have a piece of them that understands that it can’t just be all about ourselves.” Maitri
says, “Even though this started out as mine, it’s not mine anymore. It’s all of ours, and it’s this big beautiful thing that we have to take care of and nurture.”
So what’s next on Annemarie Maitri’s Monroe Street horizon? Waltzing Matilda’s, a new breakfast-focused concept with the same values of supporting community and local farmers, will open in late summer just down the street from Lallande—a space to prove that breakfast doesn’t have to be American. “My mother used to make a Japanese fish soup. There are a lot of ways to enjoy breakfast,” says Maitri. “We have this beautiful world around us, and in a time when we’re not necessarily respecting it, I think we have opportunities to make people feel seen in this community.”
Whether you’re popping in for a pastry at Bloom or celebrating a special occasion at Lallande, Maitri’s restaurants and teams offer warmth, handcrafted food, and the feeling that people thought carefully about your experience before you arrived. For a busy chef and restaurant owner, her secret to success may be simpler than it seems: steady leadership, consistently showing up for others and the quiet joy of making space for community and connection around food—all daily acts of loving-kindness. These are Annemarie Maitri’s superpowers.
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