With a slightly dim, yet cozy and romantic atmosphere, the menu at Italian restaurant Onesto “pays homage to traditional Italian, but with our modern touches,” says restaurateur Joe Sorge (of Holey Moley, Smoke Shack, Swig and Water Buffalo.) The menu stay true to this concept, playing up housemade pastas and protein-based entrées.
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Visually, this place is relatively unchanged since opening in 1993. The old family photos and unpretentious, tight-fitting dining room make diners feel at home. It’s also helped that head chef Juan Urbieta has helmed this ship for so long. He keeps folks coming back for the fried calamari, brick-style chicken and hand-cut pappardelle with duck ragu.
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Entertainment, Friday Fish Fry,
Caterina’s Ristorante has been serving family-made Italian recipes since 1982. The dining experience begins with a complimentary antipasto appetizer and then it’s up to you to choose a delicious entree. Options range from pasta to seafood to veal and steak and lots in between.
Entertainment, Open For Lunch, Reservations Taken,
Build-a-pie workshop. Pick Roma tomato and strips of fresh basil with your sausage add fresh mushrooms, and you conjure summer. Add jalapenos and it’s a party. Cracker crust plus square shape for its medium and large pizzas equal old school.
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Whatever kind of Italian mood you’re in, Ann’s will have you covered. Choose from their wide variety of offerings, including some of the best pizza Milwaukee has to offer. The Sicilian style steak, stuffed shrimp and chicken cacciatore are some of their specialties.
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Third Ward butcher shop-resto that serves house-made charcuterie, sausages and so on. The pates and sandwiches should be in your mouth.
Open For Lunch, Outdoor Dining,
Friday Fish Fry, Open For Lunch, Outdoor Dining,
The setting for this counter-service joint (an old 1971 VW bus) draws extra attention to the plant-based activity going on here. Besides making their own seitan for sandwiches, they craft vegan ice creams. Sandwiches range from Jamaican jerk seitan on ciabatta to grilled sun-dried tomato pesto. Try a date shake like the mango zinger or an almond cocoa bowl.
Owner Emily Ware – a partner in the market’s Green Kitchen salad, sandwich, juice bar – restored a 1971 Volkswagen Bus that forms the visual centerpiece of her business (located in the former FORM Fine Goods & Floral, next to Thief Wine Shop & Bar). Read more…
Group Parties, Open For Lunch, Outdoor Dining, Reservations Taken,
Menu of small and large plates, including scallops and a burger. Dim sum cart offers a selection of dumplings.
This North Shore address is all about fish. Sashimi, nori rolls, shrimp tempura, fried softshell crab, etc. The hot and cold appetizer menu is a particularly good value. The Murray Avenue location also serves four kinds of ramen.
It was called Sushi Magic. This kit promised to turn the stickiest of fingers into a nori-rolling pro. If I had only opened the box. But my Sushi Magic, a well-intentioned gift, ended up on a yard sale table (where it didn’t sell).
Dan Van Rite (of the late Hinterland) and Dan Jacobs (late of Odd Duck) offer their takes on dumplings, noodles, Asian pancakes and dishes like Peking duck. Read more…
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The Swingin’ Door Exchange inhabits a red-awninged space under one of the city’s most majestic venues, the Grain Exchange Room. The dig’s first incarnation as a bar – called the Exchange Tavern – began in the 1930s. The owner of the neighboring barbershop took over the place in ’67, renaming it the Swingin’ Door. Nowadays, the Door still gets its patty melt and Friday fish fry on, but it’s rolling with the times – packing in a hodgepodge of the hungry, from bike couriers to number-crunchers. Read more…
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