Remembering a Peer
By now, the news has probably reached you that Journal Sentinel restaurant critic Dennis Getto passed away on Tuesday. I didn’t know him personally, but I respected him. I have a Getto memory to share. In the summer of 1999, I started looking for a property to buy. The very first house my Realtor took me to see was Dennis Getto’s. It was a total fluke. I remember walking through the kitchen and seeing a photo of Julia Child on the wall. At the end of the tour, I picked up one of the brochures about the house. The homeowner’s name – Dennis Getto – was printed on it. How odd, I remember thinking, that of all the people in Milwaukee whose home I’m walking through, it’s Dennis Getto. Our strangely parallel lives as restaurant critics crossed only briefly, but the impact his work has had on the community will be long-lasting. Like many others, I will miss his voice.
Feel Loved
Sometimes it feels good to be a working stiff. One of the activities planned for Downtown Employee Appreciation Week is Dunk the Boss. Maybe you’d rather compete in the Steno Chair Relay or Mouse Pad Fling? All very tempting. This gala week takes place Monday through Friday of next week (July 30-Aug. 3). Last year, I remember how blazingly hot it was the day of the World’s Largest Coffee Break (held again this year in Catalano Square in the Third Ward, July 31). Hopefully there’ll be a nice breeze off the lake. Wear a paper clip to this ginormous coffee-klatsch and you’ll get a free cup of joe. Businesses that plan to be pouring in the Square include Bella Cafe, Brew City Tea, Broadway Bakery and Strange Brew. If you’re one of the first 1,000 people there, you’ll get a free T-shirt. July 31, 9:30-10:30 a.m.
Watching a chef is better than watching sports. That’s my credo. Exhibit A: Iron Chefs of Downtown, also an event under the umbrella of Employee Appreciation Week.Iron Chefs is a competition between three local pros, who will cook their brains out in the Third Ward on Thursday, Aug. 2 at 12 p.m.The setting for this is the St. Paul Avenue side of the Milwaukee Public Market. Grills will be set up on the sidewalk and the three chefs – St. Paul Fish Company’s Brian Moran, The Pfister Hotel’s Brian Frakes and The Capital Grille’s Jeff Beale will be given a box of mystery ingredients supplied by the public market’s vendors. Then it’s every chef for himself. Their creations will come under the scrutiny of three judges: Mayor Tom Barrett, Supreme Court Justice-Elect Annette Ziegler and Journal Sentinel food editor Nancy Stohs. If you’re out on your lunch hour, take a stroll over there. Aug. 2, 12-1 p.m.
The Letter “S”
This is transition time for restaurateurs Joe and Angie Sorge, whose busy Water Buffalo (corner of Water and, yes, Buffalo) is the most stylish restaurant anywhere on Water Street, let alone in the Third Ward. The couple has changed the concept and name of Swig, another venture they own further north on Water (1227 N.), in anticipation of Swig’s eventual reopening in the space presently occupied by the Third Ward’s Sauce (217 N. Broadway). Sullivan’s, the name the Sorges have given to the old Swig, “puts a spin on classic stuff,” as Joe puts it. The décor has changed to “historic brewery meets fun bar,” continues Joe. The menu flirts with the labels bar food and comfort food – burgers, wings, chili, nachos and spaghetti and meatballs, shrimp po’ boy, stout stew. There’s outside dining and a fish fry on Fridays. Food-service hours are Wed-Sun 4 p.m.-10 p.m. Joe told me Swig will move to its Third Ward location at the beginning of next year.
Numbers Game
I work near the Summerfest grounds and I think at about 11:30 a.m. on Friday, I’ll be able to smell spanferkel (that’s roast pig) wafting through the Third Ward. And spanferkel means German Fest. What I love about German Fest are the stats. For example: 10,000 pounds of potatoes are used for the potato pancakes, and another 10,000 pounds of sauerkraut make their way into fest-goers mouths’. Roast pork sandwiches? 20,000. Strudel? 15,000 pieces. Other eats at German Fest: Bavarian steak sandwich, corned beef and sauerkraut wrap and rollbraten (boneless pork loin with seasoned onions on a kaiser roll). The Konditorei Cafe is the dessert place on the grounds. The sweets include black forest rum torte, honey torte, apple and cherry strudel and a German custard-filled coffeecake called Bienenstich. July 27-28, 12 p.m.-midnight; July 29, 12-10:30 p.m.
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, August 2. That’s 99.1 WMYX-FM.
And check out our Events Editor Julie Sensat Waldren’s picks for the best events in arts and entertainment on This Weekend.
