Adventures in Milwaukee
We didn't have as many meals out as I expected to this weekend -- one night we stayed at the hotel and munched the summer sausage and
Carr Valley cheese (including 10-year-old cheddar!) the meeting organizers had brought.
Lunch that day had been downtown at
The Safe House, Milwaukee's best-known secret destination, an institution since 1966. It's definitely worth spying out, but drop in for a drink -- the food's unremarkable pub grub, though I gather it's been somewhat updated. The password remains unchanged, as does the unique interior, as Himself was happy to discover.
Afterward, we went up to Glendale for a tour of
Sprecher Brewery, a 10-year-old microbrewery. The tour guide did a good job, but they don't operate their brewing or bottling machinery during the tours. I expect it would be more exciting to go to Miller and watch the bottles whizzing through the line, even from behind glass. The Sprecher beer is likely better tasting, though.
I can't really say, however, since I'm not much of a beer drinker. I tried only the Generation Porter, a special anniversary dark brew flavored with cocoa and raspberry. I could taste the flavorings, but the hops overwhelmed them, making it too bitter for me.
The $3 tour fee gets you four small glasses of beer plus unlimited Sprecher soda pop. I stuck mainly to pop. The company actually makes more than twice as much pop as beer. They brew their pop, like their beer, in a gas-fired kettle. It's lightly sweetened with Wisconsin honey.
I tried the ginger ale, the cream soda, Puma Kola and Ravin' Red. The ginger ale wasn't dry enough for me and the cream soda had a kind of funky flavor I didn't care for at all. And I consider Coke the perfect cola and no other comes close. I liked the Puma better than RC or Pepsi, though.
I enjoyed the Raven' Red most, partly, I suspect, because I had no preconceived notion of what it ought to taste like. It's made from cherry juice, natural essence of cranberries, honey and ginseng. The color's more blush than red; the fruit flavors are subtle and the sweetening is light. A very refreshing drink, not what you'd expect from the silly name.
We went on to
Kopp's in Glendale. I'm pleased to report that Kopp's is now making
two flavors of the day, every day! Most of us ate chocolate cherry, studded with dried cherries and bits of chocolate. No wonder everyone was satisfied with cheese and cold cuts for supper! (Actually, I missed them, but others apparently also made s'mores over a can of Sterno. To compensate, Himself and I made a wee hours trip to a
George Webb -- just as greasy as ever.)
Friday and Sunday night's dinners made up for the one light meal. On Friday, we ate at
Old Town Serbian Gourmet House, a delightfully Old World place, with white tablecloths, a duo playing classical strings and solid Continental fare.
Bowls of kajmak, a mild and creamy cheese spread, and ajvar, a spread made with eggplant and peppers, came with sesame-seeded white bread to start the meal.
We ordered an appetizer of pršut and cheese, translated on the menu as "A smoked curied pork garnished with feta cheese." When it came, we realized that the meat was not, as we'd expected, any kind of
curried pork, but rather
cured pork -- or prosciutto. Delicious.
We also had some nicely spiced lamb cevapcici; veal ones were available, too. And I got a lovely plate of sautéed sweetbreads, a special. Dinners came with soup or salad; I ordered chicken dumpling soup and received an excellent, parsley-flecked clear chicken broth with, essentially, a wedge of matzo ball in it. Others enjoyed Serbian tomato salad.
For an entree, I had trouble deciding between paprikash and roast duck and finally chose one of the house specialties, a burek, a massive, plate-sized, phyllo-dough construction layered with lightly seasoned ground beef (cheese and cheese-and-spinach were other options). Crispy outside and tender inside, it was very good, though a little bland; the beef could have used a good shake of hot paprika, I think. And it was immense -- I ate all I could and passed it around to the others and still had nearly half left.
Companions pronounced their dishes good: musaka, a huge slab of layered meat and eggplant that looked a bit different from Greek moussaka (less béchamel, for one thing); goulash, with big chunks of meat; raznjici, pork kebab; and a mixed grill Serbian plate.
By this time, we were stuffed, but I couldn't resist the palacinke. For $4.95, I expected one for us each to take a bite of, but what came were three big crepes rolled around a wonderful apricot filling and sprinkled with walnuts and powdered sugar. Heavenly. But even the six of us couldn't finish them on top of everything else.
We also shared a bottle of a lovely Burgundy-style wine, which our friendly waitress informed us came from Montenegro, as did she. Service was first-rate.
On Sunday, we had an indecisive group of four and finally decided to drive about to see what looked good. We checked out the menu of
Jalapeno Loco, which offered all kinds of moles, but a couple of people decided they weren't in the mood for Mexican food, so we drove over to
The Packing House.
Outside, a neon sign advertised steaks, ribs, veal and other meaty options. Inside, the 1970s-style mirrored decor was a little scary. But the disco decor belied an excellent, old-style, white-tablecloth chophouse.
I ordered an appetizer of deep-fried eggplant and got what must have been two eggplants' worth, cut into hefty sticks and coated in a crisp, light beer batter. It came with wedges of lemon and a dish of good marinara, but both were superfluous. The octogenarian crab-cake fanatic loved his pair of Maryland-style cakes, too.
As good as it was, I nearly regretted the eggplant when I saw everything my steak came with: first, a substantial green salad, topped with old-fashioned roquefort dressing -- mainly crumbled cheese -- and good bread, served hot; then, along with the meat, a pile of battered, fried "onion shreds"; a big dish of real mashed potatoes and a stack of nicely steamed vegetables ... all for $22.95. (Even at today's gas prices, it might be worth a trip just for dinner.)
Filet mignon is the specialty here. They offer it more than a dozen ways (and that's only a fraction of the menu). I got the garlic-stuffed version, a substantial, barrel-shaped piece of tenderloin stuffed with slivered garlic, wrapped in bacon and seared. Himself's steak was even better -- he ordered it au poivre, and got a similar garlicky filet, crusted in cracked black pepper and swimming in potent cognac sauce.
We were sated and carrying doggy bags, but when someone suggested jokingly that we stop at Kopp's on the way back to the hotel, everybody's eyes lit up. So we went to the Greenfield store to admire the fountain and lap up cones and cups of the day's flavor: luscious red raspberry, full of whole, ripe, fresh fruit.
The Safe-House
CLASSIFIED
Sprecher Brewery
414/964-2739
www.sprecherbrewery.com
701 W. Glendale Ave.
Glendale, WI 53209
Kopp's Frozen Custard
www.kopps.com
414/961-3288, 5373 N. Port Washington Road (south of Silver Spring Drive)
Glendale WI 53217
414/282-4312, 7631 W. Layton Ave., Greenfield WI 53220
262/789-9490, Galleria West, 18880 W. Bluemound Road (at Brookfield Road)
Brookfield WI 53045
George Webb
www.georgewebb.com
Multiple locations
Old Town Serbian Gourmet House
414/612-0206
www.wwbci.com/oldtown
522 W. Lincoln Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53207
(closed Sunday and Monday)
Jalapeno Loco
414/483-8300
www.foodspot.com/jalapenoloco
5067 S. Howell Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53207
The Packing House
414/483-5054
www.foodspot.com/thepackinghouse
900 E. Layton Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53207
Last edited by
LAZ on October 19th, 2005, 4:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.