Have a Heart
Are you worrying about Snow-mageddon or that, if you don’t make a reservation for Valentine’s Day dinner, you’ll never get into a restaurant? There’s nothing you can do about the storm of the century, so concentrate instead on the latter. To get you in the spirit to pick up the phone, let’s take a look at a few of our lovely hotels. The V-day menu at Mason Street Grill (Pfister Hotel, 425 E. Mason St.) is offering a special three-course menu on Feb. 11-12 and 14. The menu costs $79 per couple. You have a few choices for the first and second courses, with the dessert being a trio tasting platter for two. As an example, you could have lobster bisque with Strauss veal scaloppini and Delmonico potatoes. Call 414-298-3131 to reserve a table. At Milwaukee Chophouse (Milwaukee Hilton, 633. N. Fifth St.), the specials are à la carte – main lobster with vanilla-saffron cream and basil-coconut basmati rice ($47), and dry-aged filet with fried Penn Cove oysters and Spanish paprika béarnaise ($44). Call 414-226-2467 for reservations. In Kil@wat’s lime-green and orange dining room (at the InterContinental Milwaukee Hotel, corner of Kilbourn and Water), Valentine’s Day will be celebrated Feb. 11-12 and 14. The menu: oysters Rockefeller, wild mushroom and watercress salad, a choice of coffee and cocoa-nib rib eye or miso-seared sea bass, a cheese course and finally, dessert. You will roll out $65 (per person) lighter. To reserve: 414-291-4793.
Latin Lovers
Since the beginning of this year, Cubanitas has ventured beyond its native Cuba. The Milwaukee Street restaurant has been exploring Latin America with a different menu every week (Mondays through Thursdays, from 5 p.m.). In recent weeks, the menu has conjured up Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia and Chile. Through this Thursday, it’s Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama. Menu items feature carimanolas (yucca stuffed with ground beef); gallo pinto rice with lemon garlic tilapia; a beef, plantain and yucca tamale wrapped in a plantain leaf and served with coleslaw; and a coconut milk-pigeon pea rice with black tiger shrimp and rum sauce ($5-$15.50). Next week will feature El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. (728 N. Milwaukee St., 414-225-1760)
“Sconnie” in the Village
When you’re traveling, sometimes it feels nice to find a little piece of home. Would you believe that you could get that in New York’s Greenwich Village? I was as dubious. But a restaurant owner who identifies himself as “a guy from Wisconsin” (though he attended UW-Madison, he’s not a native) has opened three restaurants staffed by former Wisconsinites. Read about it here, in our own Milwaukee Newsbuzz.
Look for more Dish on Dining on Thursday, if I’m not stuck in a snow bank somewhere.…
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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.
