For some people, McDonald’s is fine cuisine. If you like getting down on a Double Quarter Pounder or Baked Apple Pie, no judgment. But there’s an annual event that turns ingredients in items like those into actual gourmet food, and it’s coming back in just a few weeks.
Sharp Literacy held its first “Unwrapped MKE” back in 2016, and clearly the concept connected because the fundraising event will happen again May 30 at The Deco in West Allis. There, local chefs will embrace the challenge to prepare elevated small-plate appetizers and desserts using — as the release states — “McDonald’s core ingredients.”
Leaving aside comments about pink goo (which apparently the restaurant chain stopped using in 2011), you can count on getting some excellent bites at this year’s Unwrapped MKE, based on the confirmed participants:
- Central Standard Crafthouse & Kitchen
- Harbor House: A Bartolotta Restaurant
- Lemonyay
- Milwaukee Athletic Club
- Rot’s Hots Food Truck
- Saz’s Hospitality Group
- The Bridgewater Modern Grill
“For everyone who is eagerly tuning in to Top Chef: Wisconsin every Wednesday, we have the perfect event for you,” SHARP Literacy president and CEO Lynda Kohler Welsh said in the release. “At Unwrapped MKE, our vibrant restaurant community showcases their specialties in a whole new way, and attendees are treated to dishes they won’t find any place else. Every bite truly matters and makes a difference with our community’s most vulnerable students.”
Proceeds from the event, which has grown to pull in hundreds of attendees every year, support SHARP Literacy’s programs that reach 9,000 elementary-aged students around Milwaukee, Racine and Waukesha. The organization said more than $350,000 has been raised through Unwrapped MKE, which this year will also include a vintage mini-cocktail bar run by Central Standard Craft Distillery that features tasting-sized drinks inspired by 1920s speakeasies.
Tickets for the event are $100 per person and available now via the event webpage.
