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.
We spend a good chunk of time in this episode — and on this podcast as a whole — talking about food from a global perspective. That’s one of the cool things about food in general: its ability to transport you from wherever you are to the origin of whatever taste you’re currently enjoying.
Most of the time, however, even when you’re on a taste-bud trip to far-flung corners of the world, there’s always the local element — the restaurant you’re sitting in, the chef who prepped it, the place that supplied the ingredients. The event we talk about at the top of this episode is all about all of those things.
Actually, the “restaurant you’re sitting in” part gets a pretty sizable tweak for our first topic: the Fondy Farm Feast. The location of the 13th annual event, as you may guess from the name, isn’t exactly (or even kind of) a restaurant. Mequon Nature Preserve is 510 acres of prairies, wetlands and forests located just over the border in Ozaukee County. And while the feast Aug. 18 will take place on a mere sliver of that land, it’ll provide an incredible setting for an even more incredible meal.
We say that based on previous menus because the event is staying tight-lipped about what it plans to serve this year. What we do know is that 200 lucky guests will dine under a massive tent overlooking the Fondy Farm, enjoy live music from Shuga Blue, bid on items in the silent and live auctions, and even hop on a tractor for a ride or two. If for some reason you’re hesitant not knowing the menu in advance, just take a look at this roster of chefs doing the cooking:
- Zakiya Courtney of Vegan Soul
- Mary Kastman of Purslane
- Gregory León of Amilinda
- Martin Magaña of Mezcla Fusion Revolution
- Travis Martinez of Sugar Studio
- Sam Sandrin of Midwest Sad
- Kristin Schwab of Uncle Wolfie’s Dinner Diner
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention you get a seemingly endless seven courses. If that sounds like a good deal, individual tickets are still available on the event webpage for $150. Now, on to the more global aspect of this week’s Milwaukee food news:
- Downtown is about to get a new Mediterranean restaurant on Water Street in the former Angry Taco/Bruegger’s Bagels location.
- There’s a wildly ambitious fusion spot opening on the Northwest side that’ll allow diners to combine two or more of Mexican, Indian, Italian and Chinese.
- In related news, Ann clues us into a review of Thai-Japanese fusion eatery Room Service in the latest issue of Milwaukee Magazine.
We hope you enjoy how Ann and I fuse our unique perspectives on all the culinary things happening around Milwaukee. If you do, think about leaving a few kind words in the form of a review wherever you listen to This Bites or sharing us with a friend. Thanks.
