Ally and I decided to make a quick weekend escape Milwaukee recently and we had the chance to dine at several interesting places. While I don’t normally say much about hotels, I have to give a major shout out to The Iron Horse Hotel. This was an absolutely amazing boutique hotel and one I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone visiting Milwaukee.
Our first dinner stop was Bacchus, located in the stunning Cudahy tower. Bacchus is part of the Bartolotta empire in the Milwaukee area. Bacchus is a classic fine dining establishment and all that that entails. The food is both sophisticated and clearly prepared with a significant degree of skill. I highly recommend the salad with the poached egg as a starter. My main was a pan-fried chicken–normally I avoid chicken in finer restaurants, but our server assured me it was excellent and he was certainly right! We ended with a remarkable cheese plate. This is the second time I have been to Bacchus, and both times I have been really quite overwhelmed by the quality and selection they have in their cheeses.
For brunch the next day, we decided to try a place that several people had recommended to us, Cafe Benelux . First off, let me just note HOLY CRAP WHAT A BEER MENU!! Honestly, I’m not sure I have ever seen so many beers available in a single location. It was, quite frankly, phenomenal. Truth be told, it was a little early in the day for both of us to drink too much beer, but that didn’t keep Ally from trying one of their killer bloody Mary’s, and I did sample a couple of lagers on my way through brunch. The food at Benelux is both creative and relatively inexpensive. I was stunned by how good the food was–My past experience has been that restaurants with enormous beer selections often tend to skimp on the food. We were both quite impressed with both the creativity and quality of the food, and I have to recommend the biscuits and gravy if you ever go there. It is both unique and wildly tasty.
Our final dining adventure in Milwaukee was at Sanford. Sanford has a Zagat rating that would rival the best restaurant in United States, and it certainly has the reputation as the standard by which all fine dining in Milwaukee should be evaluated. Overall, I found Sanford to be a pleasant experience. Sanford is clearly built in an old house and the dining room seats maybe 45 or 50 people at best. The food was unquestionably good, and the service was also excellent. Was it one of the best restaurant I’ve eaten? Probably not, but it certainly rates among the better third of places I’ve eaten. One minor complaint I have is that Sanford only offers a tasting menu on Monday through Friday. This is not clearly indicated on their website, so when we arrived on a Saturday night, we were unable to try the tasting menu. This was truly unfortunate, as I firmly believe the tasting menu is the standard by which one would evaluate any true fine dining restaurant.
Taken as a whole, our experience in Milwaukee was unquestionably better than we expected. Given the city’s reputation for beer and bratwurst, it was a pleasant surprise to find such excellent food prepared so well. I have no doubt there are many hidden gems in the Milwaukee food scene that we were not able to try, but we will certainly do our best to return at another time and look forward to such adventures!
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