So much is happening this week, the last days of August 2018. The grounds of the old Pabst Brewing Company are hops-ing, er, hopping, with the soft opening of Milwaukee Brewing Company’s MKE 9th Street location. (Festivities are scheduled through Sept. 2, with the grand opening set for Sept. 15.)
This is part of a much larger revitalization project on the Pabst grounds. The brewery and the new beer hall-style restaurant, Glass + Griddle (1130 N. Ninth St.) are both inside a redeveloped building called The 42, which was formerly used as a Pabst warehouse. The restaurant opened Aug. 29, along with the brewery’s soft opening festivities. Creating and executing the culinary side of Glass + Griddle are executive chef Kyle Toner (who ran the kitchen at the late Wolf Peach) and chef de cuisine Daniel Pope, late of Miller Time Pub & Grill. (Incidentally, Pope’s beer-cheese soup recipe appeared in our “Eat Like a Wisconsinite” feature.)
The tenor of the menu has “beer companion” written all over it, encompassing things like snacks and shares, burgers and sandwiches, salads and veggies, and larger plates (prices from $3 up to $28). Some examples: beer-poached shrimp with cocktail sauce; disco fries topped with Italian beef, giardiniera and fresh mozzarella; Korean fried chicken wings; cucumber apple salad with fennel, radish and yogurt ranch dressing; grilled jerk chicken sandwich with pineapple relish and green onion mayo; half-pound burger with beer cheese and sun-dried tomato ketchup; seared lasagna and Strauss hanger steak with chimichurri and fried potatoes.
Hours during opening weekend are noon-1 a.m. Closed Mon and Tues, Sept. 3 and 4, reopening on Wed, Sept. 5: Kitchen hours are 4-10 p.m.; bar open until 1 a.m. Lunch service will be added in the coming weeks. Also to come, a raw bar with fresh-shucked oysters.
An open-air rooftop beer garden is tentatively scheduled to open in spring 2019.
