Best Chef: Midwest (IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD, WI)
Karen Bell (Bavette La Boucherie, Milwaukee)
Steven Brown (Tilia, Minneapolis)
Justin Carlisle (Ardent, Milwaukee)
Gavin Kaysen (Spoon and Stable, Minneapolis) WON
Ann Kim (Young Joni, Minneapolis)
Category Archives: Wisconsin
2018 James Beard Award Finalist restaurants in Minneapolis and Milwaukee to try.
Filed under DINING, Milwaukee, Minneapolis
good burger at NorthPoint one the Milwaukee Airport
I was sad to learn that usinger’s, the famous sausage maker, no longer has an outpost in the Milwaukee airport but I had a very good burger with cheddar cheese and grilled onions at NorthPoint in the main terminal. I could see the cook flipping the burgers on a grill through a window by my table. good frozen custard too. Best of all my flight left ahead of time. Only wish it was a direct flight to Des Moines, which used to be available a few years ago. Now you have to take two puddle jumpers, via Minneapolis.
Milwaukee in the snow
Amtrak finally got me to Milwaukee, but three hours late. Our 10:25 am train was delayed and delayed until it merged with the 1:05 pm. Oh well. Much of the ride was thru a white out of snow. In Milwaukee I had to trek through pelting snow up the hill to my hotel, the hilton city center. I was one of the few people on the street at 3 pm and although the snow was so intense I couldn’t look up without pf getting hit in the face with snow, I made it to the Milwaukee public market where I had a very late lunch at a salad/sandwich/juice bar called The Green Kitchen and then wandered thru the snow to explore the Third Ward warehouse district. I had an early dinner at Kiku, a Japanese place near the hotel, and returned to the hilton looking like the abominable snow woman, my boots caked with snow, my jeans wet, snow covering my blue coat. very happy to be in bed watching white and Davis from my home state of Michigan win the gold Olympic medal for ice dancing.
Filed under Milwaukee
Milwaukee in February – why not?
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It’s hard to get excited about a trip to Milwaukee in February – especially when it’s been so darned cold here in the Upper Midwest. But the NYTimes travel section yesterday had a story about the Walker’s Point area that got me a little psyched. (Granted I’ll be there more for work than pleasure but hope to sneak in a quick walk around town.) Here’s the story: In Milwaukee a district for a bite or a brew
Of particular interest to moi:
BRAISE
Servers note that 90 percent of ingredients used at the two-year-old restaurant — with the exception of coffee, tea, spices, citrus and chocolate — are sourced from regional farms. Menus change daily, but the cooking by the chef David Swanson is consistently hearty and robust.
1101 South Second Street; 414-212-8843; braiselocalfood.com
CLOCK SHADOW CREAMERY AND PURPLE DOOR ICE CREAM (The cheese appeals more than the ice cream this winter)
A cheesemaker and a separate ice cream business share production and retail space in the newly built, LEED-certified Clock Shadow Building. Tours ($3) offered by the urban creamery (come Wednesday or Friday to see the popular cheese curds being made), culminate in cheese samplings. The popular Purple Door, known for unusual ice cream flavors like whiskey or chai with pink peppercorn, plans to move at the end of the month and reopen nearby in March.
Clock Shadow Creamery, 138 West Bruce Street; 414-273-9711;clockshadowcreamery.com. Purple Door Ice Cream, 205 South Second Street; purpledooricecream.com.
ANTIQUES ON SECOND
The biggest of several antiques stores in the area, this one opened in 2010 in two merged early-19th-century warehouses. Shoppers can ride the operator-manned freight elevator between three floors stuffed with vintage clothes, wood chests, record collections and eclectic finds like a midcentury vinyl living room set.
1039 South Second Street; 414-645-9640; antiquesonsecond.com
Filed under Milwaukee
where to stay along the Mississippi in Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota
One of the worst nights we’ve had was staying aboard a boat that doubles as a hotel of sorts along the Mississippi River in Dubuque Iowa. It seemed like a good idea but the quarters were cramped and strange; the boat was docked beside not only a busy road but a railroad track so it was noisy; and we were the only people aboard. Given that this boat was among the recommendations listed for where to stay along the Mississippi in a 2009 issue of a Minneapolis based mag, I’m not sure how the other recommendations will be. But here they are just in case:
– Golden Lantern Inn, Red Wing, MN
– Tritsch House B&B, Alma, WI (this is a really nice little river town!)
– Alexander Mansion, Winona, Mn.- Wilson Schoolhouse Inn, LaCrosse, WI
– The Hancock House, Dubuque
– Mont Rest, Bellevue, Ia. (long been curious about this place)
– Tatanka Bluffs, Redwood Falls, MN
– Belle Rive, Lanesboro, MN
– Oakenwald Terrace. Chatfield, MN
– Woodland Trails. Hinckley, MN
– Inn at Sacred Clay Farm, Lanesboro, MN
– Solglimit, Duluth, MN
– Blue Heron, Ely, MN
– Loon Song Bed and Breakfast, Park Rapids, MN
– A.G. Tomson House. Duluth, MN
– Covington Inn, St. Paul, MN
Note to self: when next in Milwaukee – try the Iron Horse hotel
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| Established | 1882 |
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A friend came home from a weekend jaunt to Milwaukee raving about the city in general and the Iron Horse Hotel in particular. (Nope that’s not it above – that’s the fantastic Milwaukee Art Museum) The Iron Horse a boutique hotel in a former 100-year-old warehouse at the crossroads of the city’s Fifth Ward and Latin Quarter. With its urban chic decor and high marks from the travel industry, it looks like well worth a visit. Last time I stayed in Milwaukee, about six years ago, I stayed at the old dowager of a hotel, the Pfister, which was a little bit frumpy but interesting and near the lively historic Third Ward district. I see online that there’s a $259 package at the Iron Horse that includes tickets to the fantastic Milwaukee Art Museum, inside a whimsical building designed by Santiago Calatrava, and the new Harley-Davidson Museum. One thing I didn’t realize about the museum, which resembles a bird, is that its “wings” open at 10 a.m. daily (when the museum is open), close and reopen at noon and close at 5 p.m. (8 pm on Thursdays). Now that I’d like to see! (Below is the new building he’s designed for NYC’s World Trade Center site – didn’t realize he’s doing that.)
milwaukee – serbian food, sausages, santiago calatrava
Friends are going to Milwaukee for a college visit to Marquette U. so here are a few suggestions of things to do/see/eat:
– Three Brothers – a Old World Serbian restaurant in a neighborhood just north of the airport. Yes Serbian food. Good. Try the burek, sort of akin to Greek spinach and cheese pie
– The Milwaukee Art Museum, designed by Santiago Calatrava. The building alone – looking like bird landing on the lake – is worth a wander. There’s an exhibit on the building of the museum, marking its 10th anniversary. (more below)
– Usinger’s Sausages – okay, you don’t have to go to the original store downtown but it’s kind of a kick. there’s a stand selling them at the Milwaukee Airport.
Building a Masterpiece: Santiago Calatrava and the Milwaukee Art Museum
September 8, 2011–January 1, 2012
It has been named the sexiest building in the world, featured in TV ads and shows and Hollywood movies, and it has transformed the city of Milwaukee. In September, the Milwaukee Art Museum celebrates the 10th anniversary of its iconic building, the Quadracci Pavilion, with the exhibition Building a Masterpiece: Santiago Calatrava and the Milwaukee Art Museum.
Designed by internationally renowned architect Santiago Calatrava, the Quadracci Pavilion was the Spaniard’s first completed commission in the United States. In 2001, it was named Time Magazine’s “Best Design of 2001.”
Filed under Uncategorized, Wisconsin
Odds and ends from West Central Wisconsin
In Sparta, we ate at Angelini’s – a nothing fancy but good old-fashioned Italian restaurant downtown that was packed on a Saturday night and makes a good tomato meat sauce and has good thin crust pizza. One minor quibble – among the photos of presumably Italian notables (Sopranos actors, Al Pacino, Sinatra et. al.) hanging on the wall was one Benicio del Toro, who is Puerto Rican (full name: Benicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez)
In Westby, we ate at a nothing fancy very Norwegian cafe, Borgen’s – motto is “Spis, drik, a ver gla!” (Eat, drink, and be glad! in Norwegian I’m guessing. We didn’t get too adventurous or Norwegian (we skipped the Meatballs & Gravy with Lefse and the “Feisty Norwegian Chicken Sandwich”) but they served a good BLT. We had bacon several times during our Wisconsin trip (each morning at our B&B) and it never disappointed. But then bacon rarely does. I also was intrigued by a replica of a Kransekake, Norway’s signature cake often served at weddings, birthdays and anniversary parties – a conical tower of thin layers of cake made out of almost paste, that narrows as it rises from bottom to top.
Canoeing via the Titanic on the Kickapoo River in Wisconsin
We inadvertently picked the best day to canoe on the Kickapoo River in southwest Wisconsin last week – a Monday. We were going to go on Sunday – when it would no doubt be crowded – but the weather wasn’t promising so we waited a day and had the river almost entirely to ourselves, which was a treat. We rented a boat from a rental place in Ontario called Titanic (and managed to stay afloat!) – good boat, fiberglass with molded seats so slightly more comfortable. We opted for the 3.25 hour trip, which was a little shorter than that, put in at the landing beside the rental place and were picked up right on time at Bridge #5 (helps that the canoe rental guy had few other customers.) The river itself is narrow and very curvy, with high grassy banks and forested stone bluffs. Really lovely. Must do again! There are several other canoe rental places next to Titanic but it suited us well.
Filed under Uncategorized, Wisconsin
When we return to west-central Wisconsin – what to do
I always seem to return home from a trip with things I didn’t do but want to remember to do during our next visit. So here’s some of those for West-Central Wisconsin:
– bike on the 25-mile Great River State Trail which goes through Trempealeau. We’re told we can get shuttle service for this too – which we loved having on the Elroy-Sparta trail (it meant we could ride one way and be picked up at the end, rather than having to doubleback on the trail)
– in Pepin – maybe stay at A Summer Place http://www.summerplace.net (looked nice. It’s open mid-March to mid-November); other options include Lake Pepin Beach House, Journey Inn (an eco-retreat) and Pepin Farm Pottery and Guest house; TansyHus in Stockholm
– Go to the Oct. 7-9 Fresh Art Fall tour – a self-guided tour of seventeen artists studios and galleries in Lake Pepin region. see http://www.freshart.org including Gail Pommerening’s studio in Plum City (we liked her store, Art & Soul in Alma)
– in Stockholm – win the lottery so I can afford to buy something at the wonderful gallery, Abode.
Filed under Wisconsin
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