Milwaukee Notes

[Jim Leff]

These are notes, not reviews....I'm posting as a civilian here, just one of the hounds. Quick reports from quick bites here and there, and reaching conclusions on the fly.

I was totally disappointed by Kopp's, the mega-proud local burgers-and-frozen-custard landmark. I went to the one at 5373 n port washington rd glendale. I got a burger, which was ok (sauteed onions were made way ahead and were wet and globby). Mostly, it was a good bun well toasted with plenty of fat. The patty itself revealed its mediocrity when eaten by itself. Ick. The frozen custard was candy sweet, and had all the vanilla trueness of white Lucky Charms. I'd imagine Kopp's fans would snort and tell me you're not supposed ot look for "vanilla trueness" in this sort of populist food. Baloney. I've had populist custard all over the country that had great deep vanilla flavor, and seen kids gleefully slurping up custard with less than enormo sweetness level. There's no excuse for crappiness.

I didn't make it to Leon's, the competing custard concern. But I suspect it's similar. Just a hunch.

However, I did chance upon Omega Frozen Custard 4695 s 108 st Greenfield, WI 414-425-8520, and it was enormously classier. I'll add it to my pantheon. Didn't try a burger...just custard.

Miss Katie's Diner 1900 W Clybourn St, Milwaukee: [phone]
Decent diner but a bit slick. No real soul, and my waiter was a nasty, distracted lout. I ordered corned beef hash, and was surprised to find that it's just hash browns with some cubes of grilled corned beef in it. But I have to admit: just hash browns with some cubes of grilled corned beef in it tastes pretty good!

Ma Fischer's Family Restaurant 2214 N Farwell Ave Milwaukee [phone]
ok, this was much better. I had some of the most perfect diner homefries of my life....I think these are the homefries I've always been secretly hoping for in my heart of hearts. No bell peppers or onions or anything....slices of potato with a deeply caramelized spuddy ridges. I loved the barely-detectable subtle grassy tang from the butter which only was apparent thanks to restrained application of salt. They're unafraid to go bland. It's beautiful. Ma Fischer's is the sort of place that's so famous and ubiquitous that locals underrate it. I've seen that happen so many times. No one will ever send you here. But you must go.

Public Market is yuppie foodie wonderland. I liked the chopped pork sandwich at the Hawaiian conecssion (not sure how they do it, but the chopped pork is actually b aked in to the unbroken roll). Nice people there, too. Across the aisle is a bakery making some high-faluting stuff that looked showy but tasted disappointing. Exception: their Midwestern guilty pleasure dessert bars, hidden with shame on the lowest shelf. They're great, don't miss them. The Wisconsin products concession carried Door County Kettle Cooked Chips from Milwaukee. Excellent, clean, richly soulful. Worth looking for.

Saz's State House 5539 W. State Street Milwaukee 414.453.2410
http://www.sazs.com/
I ate my first-ever plate of fried cheese curds at the bustling bar with an aromatic glass of microbrew from Milwaukee Ale House and was in heaven. Unfortunately, they don't serve bratwurst sliders until nighttime.

Water Street Brewery 1101 N Water St, Milwaukee - [phone]. Beers are kind of bleh. Menu turned me off, too.

Stonefly Brewing (formerly Onopa) 5 E. Center St. Milwaukee [phone]. I never made it into this place...they keep odd hours and it's in an out-of-the-way corner of town. But I have a real good vibe about the beer and the idiosyncratic food menu. I later found this review at mkeonline, an excellent local community site:
http://www.mkeonline.com/story.asp?id=1403507&format=print

In that same part of town (which looks run-down at first glance, but actually is rife with interesting bohemian stuff):

Club Timbuktu 520 E Center St. Milwaukee 414-265-7000 African restaurant/nightclub. looked good.

Riverwest coop and cafe - 733 E. Clarke St., Milwaukee [phone]
Artsy/activist cooperative grocery and restaurant. The latter has excellent homemade ginger beer & veg chili. http://www.riverwestcoop.org

Quick non-food note (please, if you want to discuss this, start a thread on "Not About Food"...and then post the link to that thread in reply to this posting). Milwaukee Art Museum was a huge surprise. Their modern collection is small but really wonderfully chosen. Then you finally get to the top floor and find the expansive realm of a deseased rich local collector. It was like finding the promised land. Tons of German Expressionism and Georgia O'Keefes and much more...and totally totally empty on a weekend afternoon.

Places I sadly missed:

Three Brothers (no Serbian for me, alas

)

Karl Ratzsch's (looked great, but arrived 9pm Friday and was too late!)

Buckhorn Supper Club (supposed to be a fun scene, though not for food)

Milwaukee Ale House - www.ale-house.com 233 N Water St # 1, Milwaukee - [phone]. I liked the beer I had at Saz, but never made it to the mother ship.

Bunzel's Meat Market 8415 West Burleigh http://www.bunzels.com
Bratwurst steeped in beer and onions then grilled on an outdoor grill Saturdays only. Arrive early...or be disappointed like I was :(

[Fydeaux]

Wow! You really did make it all over the place! I am sorry for the places we sent you that you found disappointing, just as I am gratified for the places that you enjoyed.

Had I known that that corned beef hash was one of your grails (holy or otherwise) and that you would be in my part of town, I would have suggested a stop at Lisbon Cafe (just a few blocks from Bunzel's) where the corned beef hash is a transcendental, rapturous experience.

But I hope you'll find an occasion to return to Milwaukee and try the things you missed.

[Jim Leff]

fydeaux, thanks. the only place I was "sent" by our previous thread was Saz, and that was perfect for fired cheese curds (everyone else wanted to send me to that fast food chain, forgot the name). Thanks! The other names were places I had on my list that I asked folks to comment on. Being stubborn, I went to as many as I could, in spite of others' opinion, anyway!

[URBANSUBURBAN]

Jim, thanks for your notes on your visit to Milwaukee. I'm sorry I missed your original (I assume) request for recommendations in Milwaukee.

I'm in agreement with you on Kopp's. As a Milwaukee native who moved back to the area five years ago I am quite familiar with the reverance many people hold Kopp's. I do not enjoy their custard and their food is inconsistent at best. Of their three Milwaukee locations I've only found their southside location (76th Street & Layton) to be somewhat consistent on food preparation.

There are two areas I credit Kopp's - custard marketing and favor of the day creativity. Kopp's has undoubtly increased the visibility of frozen custard and added an element of coolness to it. Also their creativity with favor of the day is unrivaled. Some of the ideas they unvail are truly remarkable - unfortunately their base custard is lacking.

A quick note on Leon's - while I believe it is superior to Kopp's I am not sold on it either. Their vanilla (the only flavor I use to compare custard stands) has an unpleasant after taste that does not suggest natural ingredients.

While custard preferences are intensely personal I have found a few stands that offer what I believe to be outstanding custard. I've long been a fan of Mack's on Moreland and Grandview in Waukesha. Their vanilla is oustanding and their Mocha Almond Fudge is the stuff dreams are made of. Their service has suffered sense they were sold three years ago to a new owner and I can't comment on their food but the custard remains noteworthy.

Also of interest is Bubba's on Capitol Drive in Pewaukee. Very good custard and they make what I believe is the best Black Cow in the are. Also the cheeseburger at Bubba's is what I believe it should be at Kopp's. Great fresh bun and flavorful patty.

Even further from Milwaukee are the Kiltie in Oconomowoc and Mickey's Fresh Frozen Custard in Hartford. You may have heard of the Kiltie, it's a classic drive in with car hop service. The custard is passable (they do not feature flavor of the day) but the food and atmosphere rule the day here. Their grilled ham & cheese is a greasy delight and their shrimp dinner is a marvel of modern engineering (trust me on this).

Mickey's in Hartford offers great frozen custard (please note their hours are seasonable - same with the Kiltie). Their vanilla is very good and when they offer it their Hazel Nus is a to die for flavor. Lastly their root beer float is death in a cup in terms of richness but a great treat.

A few other treats in the western area of Milwaukee are John's Drive In on Arcadian Avenue in Waukesha. The Root Beer is made on site and has no preservatives so you have to drink is cool and fresh. A chilled mug of John's root beer and a bag of fresh popcorn on a summer evening makes all the troubles of the world disappear for a few minutes.

Lastly, as this is getting way too long, I would recommend Golosi Gelato Cafe in Oconomowoc (162 E Wisconsin Ave). The Golosi family is from Italy - Italian is freely and frequently spoken in the cafe and the gelato is the real deal. Take a scoop or two of their amaretto gelato out to the benches overlooks Fowler Lake behind the cafe and you'll be a happy camper. A note on this - there is a major road reconstruction project on Wisconsin Ave in Oconomowoc during the summer of 2008. It is difficult but not impossible to reach this area you just need to be patient.

I hope all will sample and discuss the wonder of food offering in the greater Milwaukee area.

All the best.

[Jim Leff]

I can tell you're a true custardhound via your vanilla litmus test. Yes. Vanilla it must be. Please try Omega and let me know how you like it.

I, meanwhile, will scheme and ponder excuses to come back for a grand custard tour. It would be pretty tough to follow up with gelato, but it's not unthinkable.

Thanks for the great posting. I hope other hounds are taking note! :)

[joypirate]

FYI, food at Milwaukee Ale House is nothing special. The beer from Capital Brewery (though in Madison), on the other hand, is worth the flight from NYC.

A few other things I've picked up:

Beans and Barley - veggie-friendly restaurant (for Mrs. Joypirate) with high quality simple dishes. Great burritos. Solid beer selection with good local microbrews (new glarus, lakefront).

Oakland Gyro - This is such unabashedly amazing 'hangover' food that I sort of wished I was hungover. Delicious gyro, and they give you a whole squeeze bottle of tzatziki so you can self-regulate, which I love as I often find I want more than places usually provide. These guys are no joke.

Mayura Indian - competent if somewhat overpriced Indian. Unusually good chaat and surprisingly willing to bring the spice without much fuss.

Mason Street Grill - probably deserves it's own write up but very, very solid and reasonable. It's nice to see a non-chain steak house now and then doing solid work. Service is almost ridiculously helpful - though maybe we'd just been in Philly too long. Steak was great, didn't seem to have any of that water/broth-y mushiness you sometimes come across, very beefy-tasting filet mignon.

I haven't really done a custard comparison beyond noting that Stella's fat cat has good custard but that it doesn't taste all that different from the custard you get in a gelati from Rita's Water Ice in Philly, i.e., good not great.