Eating Milwaukee

Many cities have gotten facelifts in the last decade, but Milwaukee, more than any other, has managed to hang on to the best of a bygone era and blend it seamlessly into the shock of the new (Santiago Calatrava’s art museum addition, for example). Nowhere is this more apparent than in the dining scene, a tasty stew of tradition and trend.

OLD SCHOOL
Want to see what your great-grandparents ate in restaurants 100 years ago? Milwaukee has several options. Karl Ratzsch’s, in the heart of downtown’s East Town neighborhood, has been serving up schnitzel and strudel in its beer-stein-and-stag-head-lined rooms for more than 100 years. The signature roast pork shank with sauerkraut, schnitzel with new potatoes, and roast duck with red cabbage are as comfy as Grandma’s sofa.

Three Brothers, housed in the old Schlitz Tavern, is renowned for Serbian home cooking. The linoleum floors, bentwood chairs, dusty bottles of slivovitz (plum brandy), and the reassuring smell of slow-cooked sweet-and-sour cabbage got me hungry in a hurry. Order some burek—phyllo pastries filled with beef, cheese, and spinach. Roasted goose, duck, suckling pig, and veal breast all looked wonderful. I settled on lamb, roasted and braised with peppers and onions, served with pickled cabbage and rice. I cleaned the plate. Palacinka, Serbian crepes with apricot filling, were superbly rich and shouldn’t be missed. This type of cookery is almost nonexistent these days, and any trip to Milwaukee should include a visit to Three Brothers.

Friday-night fish fries are a long- standing Milwaukee tradition. I was lucky enough to check out the South Side’s incomparable American Serb Memorial Hall. The fifty-five-year-old joint seats almost 1,000 people (in a space replete with chandeliers!), and the lines form early on Fridays. The cod and perch comes with fries, slaw, and plenty of sliced rye bread. The fish is standard fare, but the scene is uniquely kitschy. Check out downtown’s Historic Turner Restaurant—I prefer the wood paneled booths in the bar. The 1882 landmark, founded as a gymnasium and athletic club, does a superb Friday fry. Get the cod and perch combo, but be sure to substitute the thin, crisp, earthy potato pancakes for fries. Palm Garden in the Lakefront Brewery by RiverWalk serves a decent fish plate, but at 6 p.m. the Brewhaus Polka Kings take the stage and you can dance the night away along with 300 of your closest friends. The golden maple-syrup-infused root beer alone is worth the trip.

Wisconsin is crazy for custard, the soft ice cream with intense density, egg-yolk richness, and big vanilla-bean punch. It’s best sampled at Leon’s, a 1942 drive-in on the South Side. The custard is made each day, offered in several flavors, sizes, and in myriad sundaes. I can personally vouch for the butter pecan and vanilla custards, as well as sundaes served with a classic fudge sauce.