Each week on This Bites, dining critic Ann Christenson from Milwaukee Magazine and Radio Milwaukee’s resident foodie Tarik Moody dig into the city’s culinary and restaurant culture to help you find new spots, old favorites and the best ingestibles around Milwaukee.
Tarik and Ann needed a minute to cleanse their palettes, so you can expect a fresh episode of the podcast next week. In the meantime, there is a heaping helping of food stuff happening around the Milwaukee area, and I’ll do my best Tarik impression to guide you through it.
The biggest piece of news that hit particularly hard for this food-loving individual is the shocking announcement that both the cheel and Daily Taco will shut down for good next week. These two restaurants located just a few blocks apart in Thiensville took different approaches but shared an ability to deliver high-quality nourishment. Losing them is a blow to the North Shore in particular and southeastern Wisconsin in general.
What made the cheel’s dishes just a little more delicious were the various hardships the restaurant had to overcome the past few years. Its original building — a comparatively cramped space dating back to the 1890s — was lost to a fire in November of 2020, but the owners decided to rebuild and opened their new doors almost exactly three years later.
Chef Barkha Limbu, who co-owns both restaurants with her husband Jesse Daily, spoke to OnMilwaukee’s Lori Fredrich and noted the decision was “a personal one” while adding that she needed “to take a pause to focus on my son and myself.” That pause will begin after the final day of service for the two Thiensville eateries: Saturday, Nov. 9. If you want to grab a meal at either before then, the cheel recommends reservations, while Daily Taco is a first-come-first-served situation.
Fredrich was her typically busy self this week and shared another timely conversation — this one with Adam Bartoszek, who along with his wife Wioletta have plans to open a new Polish restaurant. They announced the project back in August, and Adam provided a few updates in his chat with Fredrich.
I’ll leave most of the conversation for you to explore, but some of the details Adam shared about Wioletta’s Polish Kitchen included a general South Milwaukee location (no specific address yet), a casual approach with counter service and a modest seating area, and a potential opening in February of next year (if everything goes to plan).
The new spot would fill a Polonez-sized hole in Milwaukee’s food scene, which has gone without a Polish-focused eatery since that legendary St. Francis restaurant closed two years ago.
In nearby Bay View, the new resident of the former Lakeside Bakery officially began serving this week, and locals apparently breathed a giant sigh of relief when hot ham and rolls were on the menu.
That’s according to Journal Sentinel dining critic Rachel Bernhard, who spoke with Batter & Mac co-owner Brittany Wohlfeil about the first days of the business’s second location. It seems most potential customers were highly concerned about being able to get their pork and carbs, and the bakery was happy to oblige — to the tune of 600 pounds of Badger Ham at the ready this past Sunday.
Despite my family lineage tracing back to the south end of Milwaukee, the whole ham and rolls thing has always baffled me. Honestly, I’m way more interested in pretty much everything else Batter & Mac will put in its display cases: cake, croissants, cookies, crookies(?!?!?!), brownies, cheese pockets and more. At their 1100 E. Oklahoma Ave. location, Wohlfiel and her sibling co-owner Kasey Gushowill also pour coffee and espresso drinks powered by Vennture Brew Co. beans. To see everything they have going on, be sure to read Bernhard’s story.
I know that’s already a lot compared with the typical This Bites weekly report, but with the podcast taking a quick breather, let’s still do the usual roundup of Milwaukee food news:
- Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers has been absurdly popular since opening its four Wisconsin locations, and three more are now in the works.
- The owner of Asian comfort food spot AN OX Cafe will put a different spin on that laid-back vibe when Adam’s Bar & Grill opens in Old North Milwaukee.
- Also toward the north end of things, Wilson Club and Cafe will take over a 100-year-old building in the North Division neighborhood.
- If you just can’t decide between tacos and doughnuts, the Dunkin’ store at 242 E. Capitol Dr. will soon get an attached Taco Pros location.
- Finally, the Journal Sentinel’s Jordyn Noennig got some answers for anyone wondering what’s going on with the former Spice House on King Drive.
Whew. That should more than hold you over until Tarik and Ann are back at it next Friday. Thanks for hanging in there with us, and happy eating.
