Each Friday on Radio Milwaukee, Milwaukee Magazine’s dining critic, Ann Christenson, and 88Nine’s foodie Tarik Moody discuss Milwaukee’s culinary and restaurant culture on This Bites. This Bites is supported by Society Insurance.
This week, we're talking about the upcoming Black Restaurant Week, Iron Grate's partnership with a traveling beer garden, Chef Ana's Friday Fish Fry, a new Stone Creek on Downer and Dream Dance's new spring menu featuring kangaroo meat.
Read more and listen to the whole podcast below.
Black Restaurant Week
BlankSpaceMKE, an urban arts organization is hosting Black Restaurant Week from April 15-21. For this week, a variety of black-owned restaurants will open their doors with special deals to promote their businesses.
Through supporting African American businesses, you're supporting small businesses. You're giving back to the community and bringing some social, economic uplift to the community. Plus, you'll get the chance to discover new tastes and places.
Try to hit up all of these restaurants this week (You'll probably want to keep coming back well after April 21, too):
- BigCountry's BBQ, 8167 W Brown Deer Rd.
- Coffee Makes You Black, 2803 N. Teutonia Ave.
- Chic Underground Lounge, 770 N. Jefferson St.
- The Cultured Vegan at Mi Casa Su Cafe, 1835 N Dr. Martin Luther King Dr.
- Daddy's Soul Food & Grille, 754 N. 27th St.
- Dee's Elegance Bar & Grill, 7420 W. Villard Ave.
- In the Nick of Time, 9002 W. Silver Spring Dr.
- Irie Zulu, 7237 W. North Ave.
- Mi Casa Su Cafe, 1835 N Dr. Martin Luther King Dr.
- Mister Bar-B-Que, 8322 W. Lincoln Ave.
- Mr. Perkins Family Restaurant, 2001 W. Atkinson Ave.
- On the Bayou, 2053 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Dr.
- Pass Da Peas, 7870 W. Appleton Ave.
- Rise & Grind Cafe, 6007 N. Teutonia Ave. and 2737 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Dr.
- Scene 1 Restaurant & Lounge, 5526 W. North Ave.
- Tony's BBQ Unlimited, 3510 W. Villard Ave.
- Uppa Yard Jamaican Restaurant, 4925 W. Fond Du Lac Ave.
Additional black-owned restaurants who have participated in this initiative in past years include:
- Ashley's, 1501 W. Center St.
- Jizzle's Sandwich Shop, 4618 W. Burleigh St.
- Mama Nana's, 7276 N. Teutonia Ave.
- Monterrey Smokehouse, 551 W. Becher St.
- Terri Lynn's Express, 10704 W. Hampton Ave.
Iron Grate at the Traveling Beer Garden
This year Milwaukee's Traveling Beer Garden has a new travel partner: Iron Grate BBQ. The tours are kicking off at Juneau Park and Greenfield Park on May 16, where you will also be able to get some of the country's best barbecue with your beer. Their hickory smoked snack stix, summer sausage, fresh curds and house pickles will on the beer garden's menu next to the Sprecher beers. And, the full Iron Grate food truck will be making many appearances to the parks throughout he summer. Here's the full schedule:
Kangaroo at Dream Dance
Dream Dance Steak at Poto has a new spring menu created by Chef Matt Baier featuring delicacies like seared sea scallops, served with bacon shallot jam, fennel leek puree couscous and oh yeah, Kangaroo.
That's kangaroo served with blackberry chutney and wilted spring greens, and the prosciutto and fresh mozzarella salad, made with house-cured prosciutto and house-made mozzarella and topped with arugula, organic tomatoes and a cool Riesling vinaigrette dressing.
Ann's tried kangaroo meat before and loved it. (But, no, it didn't taste like chicken, or duck.) It's a sustainable meat and fun fact: there are actually some environmentalists who are "kangatarians," as in they're vegetarians except for kangaroo meat. Sounds like it's worth a try.
Latin-inspired fish fry pop-up
Chef Ana of Kasana in Milwaukee is hosting her next pop-up restaurant. Velobahn Coffee & Cycle will be hosting her four-course Latin-inspired fish fry dinner on April 27. A $35 ticket gets you a signature gazpacho, tortilla velenciana, bacalao española and arroz con leche for dessert.
The Stone Creek on Downer is coming soon (with a food menu!)
The new Stone Creek location on Downer has an opening date: Friday, May 11. The space is going to be designed more as a cafe than coffee shop and it is going to launch a new food program for Stone Creek.
Project EAT is the name of their new culinary offerings, which will focus on comfort food that is "elegant, accessible and transparent" (EAT). Right now, the most you can get at Stone Creek is a pastry or an oatmeal with your coffee, so we're looking forward to trying this bigger menu.
