Downtown Dining Week is here! For the next week (May 29-June 5), participating downtown restaurants are offering multi-course meals at $15 or $25 for lunch and $35, $45 or $55 for dinner. See the full list of participating restaurants and their menus here, and check out our editors’ picks for what they’re most excited to try below.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
1. Prime Rib at Ward’s
$55 DINNER MENU | 540 E. MASON ST.
It almost seems like my duty as a Wisconsinite to pick prime rib, right? So you’ll find me at Ward’s, chowing down on a generous 16-ounce cut, baked potato on the side. MMMMmmm. – Carole Nicksin, editor and publisher
2. Crispy Skin Salmon at Aria
$55 DINNER MENU | 139 E. KILBOURN AVE.
I recently had the chance to talk to chef Heskeith Flavien about some of the menu changes he’s working on at this restaurant at Saint Kate – The Arts Hotel. The conversation got me excited to visit again and try some new dishes. Downtown Dining Week presents a great opportunity, as Aria is offering $55 for your choice of three courses. For my main, the salmon sounds best – love me a good salmon – and for dessert, I’m looking at that chocolate mousse. – Archer Parquette, managing editor
3. Third Coast Provisions
$55 DINNER MENU | 724 N. MILWAUKEE ST.
Their $55 three-course dinner menu has three choices in each course. They’re easy choices, for me – blue crab and pimento cheese croquettes, Great Lakes walleye with golden coconut curry and crispy rice, and carrot cake with “old-fashioned” creme anglaise, pecan crumble and bourbon caramel. The menu gives elegant but understated vibes. – Ann Christenson, dining editor
$25 LUNCH MENU | $45 DINNER MENU | 221 N. BROADWAY
I have to lead with my sweet tooth here – two of my favorite desserts rolled into one? And there’s strawberries? I’m a simple man with a simple heart. The rest of Onesto’s three-course options ($45) just sweeten the deal. I’ll take the bruschetta and the rigate alla vodka with dried Fresno chilis, please. – Evan Musil, arts and culture editor
5. Fried Maitake Mushroom at Bacchus
$55 DINNER MENU | 925 E. WELLS ST.
I’ve been wanting to go to Bacchus for a while now, and their $55 meal deal for Downtown Dining Week might just be what finally gets me in the door. I’m most excited about the friend maitake mushroom entree, served with sautéed vegetables and fingerling potatoes with a balsamic reduction. That sounds genuinely perfect to me. Pair it with the Hundred Acres salad for the first course and a molten chocolate hazelnut cake for dessert, and I’m in heaven. – Brianna Schubert, digital editor
6. Curd Your Enthusiasm at Flourchild
$35 DINNER MENU | 722 N. MILWAUKEE ST.
Sometimes this life feels like swimming through a swamp of pain and misery. Sometimes hopelessness beckons. Sometimes despair says “Howdy” and waves at you with an obscene flick of its wrist. Other times, there’s pizza. Man, I love a good wood-fired pizza, and Flourchild is one of the city’s top pizzerias. For Downtown Dining Week, they’re doing a three-course deal with your choice of starter (Greek Freak Salad for me), dessert (Your Donuts Make Me Go Nuts, obviously) and a main course pizza. The Curd Your Enthusiasm pie seems like the clear choice to me, with white sauce, crumbled bratwurst, fontina, cheese curds, pickled peppers, roasted garlic, caramelized onions, parsley. – AP
