OT: Milwaukee Restaurant/Food/Beer/Entertainment Discussion

[Ill-yasova]

Brandied Grapefruits are awesome.

[El Duderino]

Personal list.

Burger: Sobleman's, runner up to AJ Bombers and Kopps.
Pizza: Balestreri's, runner up to Caradaro Club, I need to try Zaffiro's still because they look amazing.
Chinese: Silver Dragon

I do more of my own cooking over eating out so don't have as much to add as some other people

I really love Mexican food and have visited plenty of Mexican places with really good food, but i've yet to taste tacos anywhere that taste as good as the tacos my mom learned to make many years ago when we lived in California, and the tacos i now make myself.

In fact, everyone in my family loves these tacos so much that we had them today for Easter and everyone on my dad's side of the family also makes their tacos the same way. I was so full a few hours ago after eating five of these tacos, i went into ones of those food coma's where i could barely move.

[RiotPunch]

Zaffiro's is great, but overrated. I'd take Maria's or Lisa's over them any day. I'd take Paisan's over all three.

[chuckleslove]

I forgot to mention my favorite Mexican place in Milwaukee is Cielito Llindo's.

[soboMP3]

For pasta/Italian in the downtown area I really like:
- Pasta Tree on Farwell/Albion. Great atmosphere (especially for dates), fresh pasta.
- Centro Cafe in Riverwest on Center St. Awesome New York like cafe setting. Everything is super cheap and made fresh to order. Always busy, so be ready to wait.
- Calderone Club on Old World Third. Great place to go to before a game.

Mexican:
- Conejitos. Anyone from Milwaukee would know this . Dirt cheap. Paper plates!
- Cafe Corazon in Riverwest. Tiny little place with amazing food.
- Cempazuchi on Brady. A little more fancy/Aztec/fusion version of Mexican food. Their Chille Rellenos are amazing.

Pizza:
- Palermo Villa on North/Murray - my absolute favorite pizza in the city.
- Zaffiros on Farwell. Cardboard crust but good with great sauce.

[Newz]

Everyone gives Cempazuchi good reviews. I have been there three times now and have yet to have a good meal. Maybe I'm just ordering the wrong things... or maybe you guys just have crappy taste in food.

Also, I love Calderone Club before games.

[RiotPunch]

Deli Sandwiches at Koppa's on Farwell is something everyone should try on a summer afternoon at least once.

[soboMP3]

Everyone gives Cempazuchi good reviews. I have been there three times now and have yet to have a good meal. Maybe I'm just ordering the wrong things... or maybe you guys just have crappy taste in food.

Also, I love Calderone Club before games.

There have been a few time's where I've ordered their burritos (usually pretty good) but the meat is all burnt and I send it back. Otherwise I really like their Tortas, Burritos, Tacos Al Pastor (duck) and as I mentioned, their Chille Relleno is delicious. I know a lot of people who don't care for it either. I really just do like it .

I would like to find something *really* authentic in the area though. I imagine somewhere in the more latin areas of town would be good. Some hole in the wall that isn't a mass-production La Perla or La Fuente etc.

I'll be at Calderone with a group before the game Wednesday, myself!

[Newz]

Botanas is probably my fav.

[Wooderson]

Here is my personal list of favorites (I love everything from Dives to the pricey joints):
Best Steak: 5 O'clock Steakhouse
Best Seafood/ Place to try something new/best beer: Hinterland Gastropub
Best Mexican: Cempazuchi
Best Burger: Oscars Pub and Grill (opened by former soblemans cook and better in every way)
Best Pizza: Zaffiros
Best Fish Fry: Fritz's Pub
Best Greek: Apollo Cafe

Yep, Apollo dominates OGs. A little bit more expensive, but soo worth it.

I'll add Pastiche in Bay View to the list (don't think it's been mentioned). Really great date place / atmosphere if you're willing to drop a little coin.

[Wise1]

Cajun - Maxi's Southern Comfort in West Allis.

[showtimesam]

For pasta/Italian in the downtown area I really like:
- Pasta Tree on Farwell/Albion. Great atmosphere (especially for dates), fresh pasta.
- Centro Cafe in Riverwest on Center St. Awesome New York like cafe setting. Everything is super cheap and made fresh to order. Always busy, so be ready to wait.
- Calderone Club on Old World Third. Great place to go to before a game.

Cafe Centro is awesome!

[showtimesam]

Everyone gives Cempazuchi good reviews. I have been there three times now and have yet to have a good meal. Maybe I'm just ordering the wrong things... or maybe you guys just have crappy taste in food.

Also, I love Calderone Club before games.

I have two "go to" items at cempazuchi (beside their amazing margaritas that are all booze without all the sugar).

Their Dinner menu has a number of great items, my favorite being the Pork Chop with mushrooms and an awesome sauce.

My other go to is the Enchilada with steak or the spicy pork. Their Enchilada is awesome!

[El Duderino]

Everyone gives Cempazuchi good reviews. I have been there three times now and have yet to have a good meal. Maybe I'm just ordering the wrong things... or maybe you guys just have crappy taste in food.

Also, I love Calderone Club before games.

There have been a few time's where I've ordered their burritos (usually pretty good) but the meat is all burnt and I send it back. Otherwise I really like their Tortas, Burritos, Tacos Al Pastor (duck) and as I mentioned, their Chille Relleno is delicious. I know a lot of people who don't care for it either. I really just do like it .

I would like to find something *really* authentic in the area though. I imagine somewhere in the more latin areas of town would be good. Some hole in the wall that isn't a mass-production La Perla or La Fuente etc.

I'll be at Calderone with a group before the game Wednesday, myself!

Last year my brother was on leave from the military and he wanted to visit the Harley Museum. After going there, we decided to get some authentic mexican food and just randomly drove around the south side looking for a hole in the wall type of place. I wish i remember the name, it was around 15th and Grant if my memory is correct and the food was fabulous. We were the only white folks in the place and there was only one waitress that spoke English to a degree.

The only bummer was it was a really hot summer day and it was even hotter inside the restaurant. Mix in i ate the hot sauce with the chips and while it delicious, it was also blazing spicy, which lead to even more sweating. I had some goat tacos and they were great.

Now as i type this, i think it's time to make another similar trip to the southside and try to find another small mexican restaurant. You could try the same, just drive around and try a place. A few days later we just drove around and found a very good Thai restaurant around 35th and National if my memory is correct. I enjoy searching out lesser known places even though sometimes it ends up not working out as well.

[El Duderino]

Cajun - Maxi's Southern Comfort in West Allis.

I've thought of trying that place, but never got around to it. So you were impressed?

One reason i've never eaten at a socalled Cajun restaurant is that while the spices used in Cajun food seems awesome, i absolutely loathe onions with a passion. Man do i hate onions.

Well, when i've watched stuff on say the Food Network and they'll focus on Cajun food, pretty much everything has onions in it and it's things not made directly to order so i couldn't just order dishes without onions.

Being born with this complete loathing of onions is a major curse and burden on me because nothing is used in so so many foods like onions are. I constantly have to look at labels when grocery shopping to look for onions and way to often i can't order dishes at restaurant that look appealing to me because it has onions.

If a magic genie granted me three wishes in life, i'd have to at least consider using one wish on ridding the planet of the pure evil which onions are.

[EastSideBucksFan]

Went to Smoke Shack tonight. Got the full rack of baby back ribs. They're smoked for 4 hours. Only have a limited number of racks each night. They dry rub them and they come out with no sauce. There's 5 sauces on the table to add if you want to. I like the Kansas City style sauce. Tender, juicy, fall off the bone. Fantastic.

Great sweet potato fries, mac & cheese, and corn bread.

Highly, highly recommend them if you like BBQ.

[Ill-yasova]

Cajun - Maxi's Southern Comfort in West Allis.

I've thought of trying that place, but never got around to it. So you were impressed?

One reason i've never eaten at a socalled Cajun restaurant is that while the spices used in Cajun food seems awesome, i absolutely loathe onions with a passion. Man do i hate onions.

Well, when i've watched stuff on say the Food Network and they'll focus on Cajun food, pretty much everything has onions in it and it's things not made directly to order so i couldn't just order dishes without onions.

Being born with this complete loathing of onions is a major curse and burden on me because nothing is used in so so many foods like onions are. I constantly have to look at labels when grocery shopping to look for onions and way to often i can't order dishes at restaurant that look appealing to me because it has onions.

If a magic genie granted me three wishes in life, i'd have to at least consider using one wish on ridding the planet of the pure evil which onions are.

I'm in the same boat. I only hate two things in the food world: Onions and Mustard. I miss out on a lot of good food because of the onion thing.

[Limca]

Just went to smoke shack last night. Excellent!! Good recommendation!

[El Duderino]

Just went to smoke shack last night. Excellent!! Good recommendation!

Where is this place? I love ribs.

[RiotPunch]

Just went to smoke shack last night. Excellent!! Good recommendation!

Where is this place? I love ribs.

Milwaukee St. and St. Paul Ave in the Third Ward.