Cuban Holiday
In the “what to do this weekend” category, there’s the Cuban Day Block Party Celebration on Saturday. It’s the third year the Cubanitas peeps have put on a party, and like a proper block party, the festival folks will close off Milwaukee Street in front of the restaurant (728 N. Milwaukee St.) for several hours during the day. Twelve dollars will get you access to the all-you-can-eat Cuban buffet (offering specialties like ham croquettes, guava pastries, roast pork, sweet plantains and spinach empanadas). Live music and free salsa dance lessons too. The party is Saturday May 17, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Note: If it rains, they’ll bring the event indoors.
Pizza on the Patio
Have you noticed the empty plaza just east of Tosa’s Pizzeria Piccola on State Street? That 1,600-square-foot spot will be Piccola’s outdoor patio. Piccola (owned by the Bartolotta Restaurant Group) plans to have an enticing Tuscan spot out there this season, with rustic tables, hanging lights, potted plants and live music a few times a week. The pizzeria has been open for five years now. I can’t believe it’s been that long. (7606 W. State St., 414-443-0800)
The Cake Man
When Greg’s Soup-er Desserts opened in 1983, Ronald Reagan was president and the Michael Jackson album “Thriller” was new. That feels like forever ago. Greg’s Soup-er Desserts started with sandwiches, soups and desserts and just kept growing. Owner Greg Castle moved to his current location in South Milwaukee in the late ’80s. As the times and tastes have changed, Castle has added new things – most recently, panini. Special-occasion cakes are popular requests, and Castle says if he’s in the shop when a last-minute order comes in, he’ll never turn it down. Look on the chalkboard for daily lunch offerings. Castle makes a few kinds of soup (chili, split pea), a sandwich (barbecued beef, for example) and a daily casserole like beef, bean and cheese enchiladas. The baker’s Soup-er hours: Tues-Fri 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sat 9 a.m.-2 p.m. 1015 Milwaukee Ave, South Milwaukee, 414-768-9800.
Dining Heaven
Don’t plan a vacation for the first week of June. Downtown Dining Week is back. From May 29 to June 5, 30 Downtown restaurants will offer a three-course prix fixe menu for lunch ($10) and dinner ($20). Milwaukee Downtown Bid 21 lists the participating restaurants on its Web site. Say you want to have dinner at Hotel Metro Bar & Cafe (411 E. Mason St.). A $20, three-course dinner might look like this:
First course: soup of the day, house salad or baked Brie with raspberries.
Second course: choice of chicken Argentine; orange roughy stuffed with Brie and asparagus; or pan-seared pork chop over cinnamon-brown sugar apples.
Third course: chocolate velvet cake or tiramisu
Click on one of the restaurants listed on the BID site – from Butch’s Clock Steak House to Coquette Cafe to Swig – and you can download a PDF of the lunch and dinner menus. Check it out:
http://www.milwaukeedowntown.com/categories/12-diningweek
The Importance of Being Earnest
The weeks are quickly clipping by. It won’t be long before I stop pestering you about our famous Readers’ Choice Dining Awards. If you haven’t had a chance to complete your survey, please take a few minutes to do that. One way to complete it is to send in the ballot found in the May issue of Milwaukee Magazine. Another way – it’s easier and faster – is to fill out our online access survey and hit submit. Please do us the favor of completing the survey, whether it’s the online or print version! Surveys submitted through our Web site will also be eligible for a prize in our random drawing. Note that we will accept only one survey per person. (I promise you, we’ll be able to sniff out duplicates online, so don’t try it. We have the technology….) Click on the link below to access the survey. And please vote!
http://www.milwaukeemagazine.com/readerschoice/
Can’t get enough dining? I chat about restaurants every week with Jane Matenaer and Kidd O’Shea on “The Mix.” Listen between 8 and 9 a.m. on Thursday, May 22. That’s 99.1 WMYX-FM.
Also check out critic Paul Kosidowki’s picks for the best events in arts and entertainment in Culture Club.
