Each week on “This Bites,” Milwaukee Magazine dining critic Ann Christenson and 88Nine’s resident foodie Tarik Moody discuss Milwaukee’s culinary and restaurant culture. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and explore our previous episodes .
It’s not often that a really interesting new restaurant sneaks up on me and Ann, but that seems to be what happened with Frankies, which we both get very excited about as the lead topic of this week’s episode.
This great addition to the East Side (1815 E. Kenilworth Pl.) specializes in Caribbean, West African and American cuisine, and is run by Donna Aboagye, a native of Ghana who leans on recipes her family has fine-tuned over generations.
In an Urban Milwaukee article, Aboagye emphasizes that enjoying global dishes doesn’t need to be an intimidating experience and that her restaurant happily offers to dial the spice level up or down — even to zero — to ensure the flavors shine for every visitor.
I personally have my eye on the Jamaican beef patties, but the whole menu (and the food images on their website) is worth a look. Here’s what else we cover on this week's episode, which you can listen to below:
- Downtown Dining Week returns Sept. 8-15 with fixed-price menus at 28 great places around the city. As Ann says, it’s the perfect time to try something new — and to tip servers a little more generously.
- The Corn King moves to the North Side. The fast-food restaurant serves up sweet corn in 24 flavors and several corn-dog varieties, including jalapeño cheddar and flamin’ hot.
- Brother’s Backyard Barbeque will open at 3530 W. National Ave., giving a proper brick-and-mortar location to what was previously a backyard catering venture.
- Fushimi Suishi will shut its doors this month and hold a store-closing sale Aug. 30-31.