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.
Peanut butter and chocolate. Peanut butter and jelly. Peanut butter and damn near anything. Certain items just go together perfectly. But we need to remember that wasn’t always the case. When that first person took smashed up peanuts and smashed up grapes and sort of mushed them all up between a couple slices of bread, everyone thought they were crazy.
Which brings us to pho and breakdancing.
We’re pretty far from the realm of “two great tastes that taste great together” — mainly because one of the things isn’t food. When you look at both sides of the equation, however, it sort of makes you go, “Huh, this isn’t a bad idea.”
It’s a great idea, in fact, and it’s about to become a reality thanks to the work of three local organizations: ElevAsian, Chucho’s Red Tacos and SapSap. While we’ve mentioned the perfectly titled Pho 1 Pho Contest on the podcast before, we decided to dig a little deeper and invite Alex Hanesakda from SapSap into the studio to talk about … well, just about all things pho.
We jump off with a chat about the combination pho competition and b-boy battle that’s happening from noon to 5 p.m. this Sunday, and how it started creeping into Alex’s brain. Then we really dive into the pho aspect of life in general, including its beginnings, the crazy ingredients that find their way into some dishes (think sandworms and dehydrated squid) and an expert viewpoint on how to elevate your own pho.
I’m doing things flipped today because that conversation with Alex really is the main dish of the episode. Ann and I start, however, with a chat about the interesting changes at Ardent.
The city’s food lovers had a long time to get to know Ardent, which opened more than a decade ago on Farwell Avenue as a fine-dining establishment with relatively limited seating. Then chef-owner Justin Carlisle decided to move away from that exclusive approach and make it more of — as the headline of Ann’s Milwaukee Magazine article puts it — a “place for everyone.”
There’s still an element of exclusivity in the form of an eight-course tasting menu served in the restaurant’s space that formerly housed Red Light Ramen. The casual flavor comes from “The Lounge,” which only accepts limited reservations and encourages walk-ins to enjoy a menu that follows the less-stodgy approach. We’re talking things like pork chops, something literally called the “Simple Salad,” and even burgers and hot dogs — all still prepared with that elevated Ardent flair.
Some great conversations in this episode, which you can enjoy by hitting the “Listen” button at the top of the page.
