You could accuse Ramses Alvarez of being audacious – over the top, even – with his maximalist approach to fusion cooking. At his previous food hall concept, Día Bom, Alvarez melded Asian and Latin cuisines in the form of lobster enchilada Rangoon and chorizo bao with yuzu avocado – and those were two of his simpler dishes.
Now he’s traversing parts of the Mediterranean at his new place, Brisa Do Mar (it means Sea Breeze in English) in the Third Ward, and is again holding nothing back.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
It’s so nice to see it – he’s in the former Riverfront Pizzeria space, a huge (300-seat) spot along the river with a private dining room and outdoor space facing the water. The hustle he plans to keep people coming through the door includes extended hours, cooking classes and special events.
Alvarez is well-seasoned himself. He trained at Coquette Cafe and Sanford in the early 2000s (he calls founder Sandy D’Amato a mentor), cooked some great food at the late Juniper 61, and was, for a blink, executive chef at Mason Street Grill.
He cooks well, and this big menu – which casts a wide net across the cuisines of the Mediterranean – is full of dishes you genuinely want to eat, and then come back and eat again.
To start, his Turkish flatbread is one of the most assertive tasting breads I’ve ever had – feta, kalamata olives, roasted garlic, and a rug of za’atar ($14). On its own, it’s overpowering – but dump your Caesar salad ($6 or $12) over it and between the crisp romaine and salty anchovy, it becomes wonderful.
The eggplant chips – large, thin coins lightly breaded, fried and served with harissa and smoked eggplant tomato sauce ($12) – are so much better than fried eggplant strips. Lighter, crispier and not so greasy.
I usually don’t like steak sandwiches because the meat is often too chewy – when you take a bite, it pulls right out of the bun. But then this one changes my mind. The grilled flank is really tender, and the caramelized onions and balsamic aioli keep it moist but not wet ($18.50). So much flavor, too.
I’m also not surprised the burger ($18.50) served here has been Ramsesified. The toppings on the thick, half-pound brisket patty (asparagus, wild mushrooms, porcini aioli) are great – yes, a burger need not have cheese.
If you’ve caught the Neapolitan-style pizza bug, you can’t stop thinking about getting your hands on it. It has that distinctive crust made from a long-fermented dough that bakes in Brisa’s blazing hot outdoor oven in 90 seconds. The effects are puffy, charred and chewy.
I’m not sure you can do better than his pesto with fontina and zucchini and crushed hazelnuts on top ($18), but I’ll be testing out that theory going forward. I’m also saving a NY-style pie baked in the restaurant’s other pizza oven – a gas-powered brick oven – for a future visit. The Naples-style ones are just too hard to resist!
I recently called Alvarez, who was enjoying a getaway in Seattle. On the phone, he couldn’t stop raving about the simplicity of the seafood there. “So clean, no seasoning. A little bit of butter, a little lemon – I was like, wow!” he says.
I think about that later when I’m having his whole, head-on, wood-roasted branzino ($29). The crust of earthy, pungent herbs encasing this delicate fish is intense. The effect is almost visceral, and I don’t yearn – not even a little bit – for simplicity.
509 E. Erie St., 414-231-9574
Mon 4-9 p.m.; Sun, Tues, Wed 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Thurs-Sat 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
Appetizers $12-$21; salads, sandwiches $14-$19.50; pizzas $13-$28; entrées, pastas $22-$32
Reservations accepted, walk-ins welcome
