milwaukee

Dec 19 2015

Supper club food: new at Kohl Center, former Shorecrest Hotel

Wisconsin supper club food is the star in new settings that are casual, stylish and distinctive as winter nears. Factor in an expansion of projects that call attention to supper clubs, and what we have is a food movement or renaissance that shows no sign of fading. Ron Faiola of Milwaukee, whose “Wisconsin Supper Clubs:(…)

May 16 2015

Take Ten: Fun farmers markets in Wisconsin

When trees bud and bulbs blossom, the arrival of fresh asparagus and morels can’t be far behind. Hoop houses and greenhouses hike the likelihood that locally grown spinach, tomatoes and more will ripen all year, but now is the time for farmers markets to move outdoors, rain or shine. Count these among my favorites. Dane(…)

Apr 4 2015

Food truck cuisine: sammies, pizza, ethnic specialties

Maybe we should count the return of food trucks and food carts right up there with robins as sure signs of spring. “Mobile food is not a new concept in the United States,” notes PasteMagazine.com. “From the chuck wagons of the Old West to the hot dog stands of New York City, quick, inexpensive food(…)

Jun 28 2014

Great American road trips: where to find them

I have a weakness for old postcards that show how summer vacations and destinations have changed. We remain ever-eager wanderers, but our expectations sure have evolved. Consider the messages on a fat stack of 1940s postcards that I found at a garage sale: “Continuous flow of hot water to spigot.” “State Health Board approved water.”(…)

Mar 22 2014

Milwaukee: new Blue Ribbon City emerging on Pabst campus

Two things make this Milwaukee brewery tour atypical: Your free pint is tapped before the sightseeing begins, and five minutes – tops – are spent talking about how beer is made. What visitors learn will pertain much more to advertising, architecture, relationships and rebirth than hops, lagers, filters and fermentation. The 90-minute tour at Best(…)

May 26 2012

Les Paul, GuitarTown mold Waukesha’s music image

Waukesha’s love affair with Les Paul, whose work forever changed the sound of music, is about to deepen. The city soon unveils an outdoor public art project downtown, in response to Gibson Guitar Corp.’s selection of Waukesha as the world’s eighth GuitarTown. (The others are Nashville, Hollywood, London, Orlando, Miami, Cleveland and Austin, Texas.) Wisconsin(…)

May 12 2012

Hot dog! Food trucks add sizzle to go-local menus

With the sunshine of spring comes a huge craving to fire up the grill and plop on the brats. Such simple, brown-and-sizzle pleasures turn extraordinary about 1,000 miles south. For breakfast: hot skewers of sausage doused with pancake/waffle batter, sprinkled with brown sugar and kissed with a syrup whose artisan flavors change with the season.(…)

Apr 21 2012

Friendship Force boosts goodwill through travel

If tears flow at the end, as they are known to do, you can bet it’s a sign that the trip was successful. That’s because when the Friendship Force travels, the journey extends beyond tourist sites and souvenirs. Participants sometimes make meaningful connections as they are introduced to the lives of average people in other(…)

Mar 3 2012

New national park, arms/armor museum, inn

Newly published is “The Wisconsin Passage: an Adventure in the Handmade, Homegrown and Historical Offerings of Wisconsin from the Mississippi River to Lake Superior,” a 208-page, paperback guide to 13 counties in the state’s mysterious northwest corner. “The book is the culmination of a dream that began 12 years ago when a group of northwest(…)