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| Duff Goldman attends the Iron Cupcake reception. |
Crowning Cupcake
Duff Goldman… DUFF GOLDMAN? The heralded pastry chef and host of the Food Network show “Ace of Cakes” was in town last weekend for the Iron Cupcake Milwaukee Pro/Am Cupcake Clash (held at MSOE’s Kern Center on Sunday, Feb. 13). The event drew 2,100 people! There were winners in several categories, and Goldman, owner of Baltimore’s Charm City Cakes, was the event’s celebrity judge. Goldman also showed up at a reception at the Iron Horse Hotel last Saturday night. Clad in sunglasses and a baseball cap, Goldman posed for photos and chatted up the crowd of bakers and Iron Cupcake friends, who nibbled on cupcakes – red velvet, bananas Foster and chocolate raspberry – from Brookfield bakery Julia’s Cupcakes. If you missed the Pro-Am Clash, you can still try cakes made by the winner in the “pro” category (as well as Duff’s Pick) – baking partners Erin Salerno and Melissa Martin. Salerno and Martin make desserts for INdustri Café, a new restaurant in Walker’s Point (524 S. Second St.). Right now, the regular menu lists the partners’ white parsnip cake with spiced pecans, cardamom and mandarin orange cream cheese frosting. Also, this week at INdustri, Salerno and Martin are offering the cake flavors that brought them glory at Iron Cupcake. One is a red velvet cake filled with black tea-vanilla-hazelnut mascarpone; the other is a white velvet, rose tea-infused cake with homemade strawberry, orange and coriander preserves. That cake is topped with strawberry-orange-cardamom frosting. In the future, they also plan to offer tarts, pies, cake pops and brownies on INdustri’s menu. For more details on Iron Cupcake Milwaukee, click here.
Frothy Fun
Where can you taste more than 200 beers? In a (perhaps) unlikely place – Milwaukee
Public Museum. This Saturday is the 13th Food & Froth Fest (sponsored
by the Friends of MPM). The breweries range from Abita (headquartered
in Louisiana) to Strangford Lough (from Northern Ireland). But there’ll
be plenty of Wisconsin representation, too. More than 21 food purveyors
will offer appetizers to accompany the suds. They include Café
Calatrava, Margarita Paradise, McBob’s Pub & Grill, Palms Bistro
Bar, Joey Buona’s and EatCake. And lest you wonder if there’s
enough to keep you occupied, live entertainment will be provided by the
bands 18 Strings, Brewhaus Polka Kings Featuring Art Kumbalek, Karen
& The Carnivores, and others. Feb. 19, 7-10 p.m. (800 W. Wells St.)
Tickets will be available at the door. Museum members: $50; nonmembers
$55.
People Power
In last Thursday’s installment of Dish, I
mentioned the fire that shuttered the downtown Waukesha bar-restaurant People’s
Park (337 W. Main St.). Owner Dan Taylor says that although the
fire was extinguished fairly quickly, it will be some months before he’s
able to reopen the business. The fire was so hot that it melted the TVs
and the plastic figurines on the wall-mounted sculpture behind the bar.
But Taylor vows that People’s Park will be back (and he will salvage
what is left of the sculpture. More details to come.
Look for more Dish on Dining soon…
Wait! Don’t stop reading. I’m on Twitter! Follow me @ann_christenson
If you spot a restaurant opening or closing, post it on the
comments section of my column, or e-mail me directly: ann.christenson@milwaukeemagazine.com.
