Ann Christenson

Ann Christenson has covered dining for Milwaukee Magazine since 1997. She was raised on a diet of casseroles that started with a pound of ground beef and a can of Campbell's soup. Feel free to share any casserole recipes with her.


June 13, 2013 The Daily Mil

Morning Links for June 13 2013

Toothbrush? Check. Shower? Check. Morning Links? CHECK!! Yes, it’s time for another edition of our Morning Links.  If anybody has the secret to longevity, it’s Betty White. The star of TV’s “Hot in Cleveland” shares her “diet” secrets. This woman is 91?  Fore! You know it’s really summer – and Father’s Day weekend – when the U.S. Open is back. This is the first time time in 32 years that the high-profile golf tournament has been played at top-rated Merion Golf Club. The website Gawker.com claims that it has the solution for the Get-Happy-Within-Seconds rule: Watch this video of dogs…

June 11, 2013 Dish On Dining

Rocking Dinner

                                                 Honeypie photo by Adam Ryan Morris In August, a crew of girls ages 8 to 16 will attend the first local Girls Rock Milwaukee music camp (at UW-Milwaukee). This youth-oriented rock ’n’ roll camp is the work of Valeri Lucks, co-owner of Honeypie and Comet Café. On Monday, June 17, Honeypie is doing a 5-course Girls Rock dinner, the proceeds from which will go to Girls Rock Milwaukee. Local chefs – from Meritage’s Jan Kelly to Odd Duck’s Lisa Kirkpatrick, Balzac’s Rebecca Berkshire to The National’s Honeypie – are taking a course. Lucks is handling the fifth and final…

June 10, 2013 Dish On Dining

Jose’s Opens in Fox Point

                                                    Jose’s Blue Sombrero in Fox Point  The North Shore dining mix has a new Latin arrival – Jose’s Blue Sombrero. The DeRosa Corp.-owned Mexican restaurant served its first flautas and chiles rellenos today (8617 N. Port Washington Rd., 414-351-9280). The restaurant — the old Outback Steakhouse, south of Brown Deer Road, just west of Walgreen’s — has a 14-table patio and a salsa garden where the staff will grow herbs and vegetables for the restaurant’s salsa. The menu is pretty massive, including guacamole made tableside, combination plates, fajitas, burritos, enchiladas and specialties like pork in tomatillo sauce, and steak-portobello quasadilla ($4.99-$18). DeRosa also operates a…

Dish On Dining

Farwell Sobelman’s Says Buh-Bye

                                             Sobelman’s burger photo by Adam Ryan Morris Sobelman’s East Side Grill has breathed its last (1952 N. Farwell Ave.). Last week was its last in business. The burger joint opened four years ago in the one-time Patty Burger space. Owners Dave and Melanie Sobelman continue to operate restaurants at 1900 W. St. Paul Ave. and 1601 W. Wells St. When the East Side location opened in 2009, it was called Sobelman’s Tallgrass Grill. (The burgers were made from grass-fed beef.) Dave dropped the “Tallgrass” name in early 2012 and reverted to the Angus beef served at the other two Sobelman’s establishments.…

June 7, 2013 Dining Reviews

Hot in the O.C.

Photo by Chris Kessler Order No. 31?” The clerk behind the mic at Georgie Porgie’s phrases it like a question. I rush the counter. There’s precious cargo inside that white paper bag, and to hell with anyone who has longer legs and a more savage hunger than me right now. The bag bulges. I fold the top tightly over to keep the contents warm – a crispy chicken sandwich, double Porgie burger and an order of fries. I’ve also procured a dish of the frozen custard flavor of the day (PB Delight). Other customers are on my heels, waiting for…

June 6, 2013 The Daily Mil

Morning Links for June 6 2013

Morning Links is like the dawn. You can always count on it coming back. Without further ado then, our latest installment of the news you absolutely, unequivocally need to read now: The Waukesha sheriff’s office’s investigation into the Butler Police Department has turned up some startling “misdeeds.” The report, expected to be released today, claims that officers viewed and emailed porn on village computers and cell phones. The Obama administration says today that it approves the National Security Agency’s “need” to collect the telephone records of millions of Verizon customers in the U.S. Say what? That ponytail, those orange Crocs. Few can deny…

June 4, 2013 Reviews

Hot Type

Letters from Hillside Farm, the new young adult novel from Madison man of letters Jerry Apps, is intended to teach its impressionable readers the importance of a well-written letter. The tale, set during the Great Depression, unfolds in brisk letters penned by a boy for his grandmother. (MH)  Milwaukee art gallery proprietor Dean Jensen’s fourth novel, Queen of the Air, follows one of the biggest circus stars of the 20th Century, Lillian Leitzel, as she discovers a soul mate in Alfredo, a world-renowned trapeze artist. Jensen will be at Boswell Book Company June 13 for a reading. (CH) Esquire magazine…

June 3, 2013 Dish On Dining

Palomino Is Back in Action

  Palomino (2491 S. Superior St.) has been closed for what some may think is an interminably long period of time (since early April). And for what reason? To turn this 10-year-old Bay View watering hole/restaurant into something worthy of 2013. Actually, it was really just time for a facelift. Good news for people who miss the Pal. Your first official taste of the new space and menu is coming up soon – Tuesday, June 11, to be exact. The interior facelift includes adding a curved soffit above the bar and a communal dining table made of reclaimed wood, redoing…

May 31, 2013 Feature Story

Street Life

Keep up with the local food trucks and carts with our Twitter list. Ofelia’s Mexican food Cart @waterfrontdeli ➸ This pop of color, stationed weekdays at Water and Mason, doesn’t travel far. It’s run by the Milwaukee Waterfront Deli people just up the block on Water Street, kitty-corner from City Hall. Deli owner Jere Pandl was inspired by a vibrant food cart he and his wife saw on a trip years ago to Santa Fe, N.M. Here, Ofelia’s has become a Downtown summer staple, staking its ground Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., weather permitting. The menu is Mexican basic – tacos…