It’s cold walking up State Street and the wind is cutting through my flimsy fall jacket, sending shivers racing up and down my spine and biting my face. My hands are almost numb, red from the cold and my obvious lack of preparation for this weather. I’m on the lookout for 320 State Street – the home of Mad City Frites. If I were to make this trek three weeks in the future the smell of frying fresh potatoes would lead my nose to the right place but for now it’s my eyes that have to do the work.

The restaurant is the new kid on the block this Fall and will be serving up Belgian frites to college students and foodies alike. The establishment is owned by Madison native Taylor Beebe, a 23-year-old St. Cloud State grad and James Madison Memorial High School alum.

Beebe’s inspiration for the business came out of a trip to New York City a few years ago.

“I went to New York City three years ago and had heard about this place Pommes Frites in the Village and probably spent 45 minutes trying to find my way around the subway and find this tiny little 600 square foot space,” said Beebe.

She eventually found it, and the the result was the inspiration behind Mad City Frites.

“So I fell in love with this place, finally found it, and just thought to myself, ‘This place would be so great in Madison,” and so I started chipping away at a business plan when I was working and in school,” Beebe said.

In fact, the object of Beebe’s inspiration was founded on a similar experience. Pommes Frites owner Suzanne Levinson explained that she thought her city could use some frites as well.

“Traveling through Europe as a student in the late 80’s I was bitten by the Belgian frites bug – and fell in love with the frites, the sauces, and idea of serving frites in a paper cone. I thought why not NYC? We had so many streets foods – but not the Belgian frites stand. So a bunch of years later I wrote a very detailed business plan, raised the capital and opened Pommes Frites in 1997,” said Levinson.

With her business plan in action and with support from her family and friends, Beebe quit her job and sold her house in St. Cloud and began to look for a space to turn her idea into a concrete reality.

“We were randomly walking down state street and I saw this place and absolutely fell in love with it and knew this was the right place and if we could make the numbers work that it was the right place to open, and so here we are,” said Beebe.

The restaurant resides in the former home of the Shakti bookstore and as I step inside, the space is barely recognizable from its previous form.

Paint cans speckle the windowsills, butting up against building permits, Mad City Frites posters and contractor sings. The space is almost finished but the remnants of what must have been a major construction project remain to tell the tale of how much work has gone into renovating this place.

The walls are slate grey and red, and along with the untouched stainless steel surfaces the space gives off an industrial vibe – just what Beebe, her Ideal Builders project manager and her designers were looking for.

“Our guide for design was to preserve the brick and have an “industrial” feel. I think everything came together beautifully and achieved both,” said Amy Wildman from Ideal Builders.

Jessica Nordskog, 39, co-owner of Wonder: An Idea Studio, Beebe’s designer for the project, worked a great deal on the interior as well.

“One of the original directions for the interior of the restaurant was revolving around an urban graffiti look. I wanted to design something that wasn’t too much of a stretch from that vibe as well as something that had some more mass appeal. Even though they dropped the graffiti direction, it still speaks to the urban chic feel that they ended up going with,” Nordskog said.

Along with a space for her business, Beebe also needed a menu. She settled on two sizes available to order, with 10 gourmet aiolis to choose from. In addition to the frites, the restaurant will serve up fritters as a weekend special and poutine – “total hangover food” as Beebe calls it – frites in a cup not a cone, covered with fresh Wisconsin cheese curds and smothered in gravy.

Carrie Anton, 36, co-owner of Wonder: An Idea Studio, and Jessica Nordskog worked alongside Beebe to name everything on her menu.

“Mad City’s Frites’ menu items are all inspired by the city and campus. We love when we can offer product names that are clever, but yet something with which customers will still connect,” said Anton.

Anton also spoke to the restaurant’s potential in a city like Madison.

“While the menu is small, I think patrons will be surprised at how filling the frites can be. A large is definitely a meal! I also think Madison will be very receptive to the fact that Mad City Frites is making food with real ingredients and all the frites are made to order. Nothing sitting under heat lamps,” she said.

As Beebe has moved from college grad to small business owner she says she’s learned things she never would have in school or a nine-to-five office job.

“You definitely learn a new set of vocabulary. You can talk about construction terms you would have never ever, ever learned…I’ve learned everything from electrical to plumbing to the ansul system in a hood. So it’s very, very different,” said Beebe.

Armed with inspiration, intense determination and a team of people helping her turn ideas into concrete reality, Taylor Beebe will soon swing wide the doors to Mad City Frites and take on the world that is self-employment in the restaurant industry.

“I mean there’s not an aspect of this business that isn’t scary. Obviously it comes with a risk, the restaurant business is extremely risky. But I believe in the concept and a lot of people believe in the concept and believe in me,” she said.

As I step out of the restaurant and back into the tundra I can’t help but wish I had a cone of piping hot frites to keep my hands (and my stomach) warm. A poster in the window promises me “happiness coming soon,” and for all the hungry mouths in Madison I hope it’s sooner rather than later.