Dining Out

When talks started a few years ago between restaurateur/hotelier Andy Ruggeri and his friend, advertising executive Drew Vallozzi, about opening a hotel in downtown Waukesha, the economy was far more robust. The pair was able to secure $1.5 million from the city of Waukesha to help renovate a decayed 19th-century building at the high-traffic Five Corners intersection. The result – the new Clarke Hotel and its fine dining restaurant, The Black Trumpet – opened in December, with the hope this would help invigorate the city’s shopping district. The economy now being what it is, that proposition looks more iffy. It’s…

A catwalk of sorts from the front door to the hostess station is its own amusement – more distracting than the Jackie Chan movie projected on the wall. The blonde hostess, dressed in a low-cut strapless dress, smiles and studies the seating options. Behind her, co-owner Omar Shaikh looks on. This man is the perpetual watcher, his face defined by trademark dark eyeglass frames. As at Carnevor, the steakhouse Shaikh owns a few doors away on Milwaukee Street, Umami Moto is a scene. Chicago designer Rocco Laudizio expunged his own dramatic blood-red design from the space, which formerly housed the…

Hunched parka-clad bodies hurry past the windows, bracing against the wind. But all is warm and cozy on our side of the glass. The bartender keeps the liquids flowing and chats up the patrons seated on white, tufted bar chairs. They stretch like a chain of paper snowflakes, with diners settled arm to arm on the green banquette. Hanging lanterns, with a handmade crochet look, give off a vintage-hip glow. Now is when I usually tell you we’re on Milwaukee Street or Broadway in the Third Ward. But lo, such is not the case. The new restaurant that’s brought dining…

It was one of those September nights that makes you think you could wear flip-flops indefinitely. (As if the big “W” won’t be bringing its badass self back to town.) The warm, syrup-thick air stirred up kinetic energy on that main drag to the stars, Kinnickinnic Avenue, known by some on the South Side as “The Other Brady Street.” All I know is that once KK gets a hair north of Lincoln, you have the feeling you’re in the center of things. LuLu Bar & Cafe is on the west side of the street. On the east, there’s a Mexican…

In Las Vegas, you can’t avoid the casinos. These entertainment metropolises are where everyone goes to shop, gamble, dine, watch a live show, gamble and do the things that happen in Vegas and stay in Vegas. What happens in Milwaukee stays at the Potawatomi Bingo Casino, or so I hear. That newly expanded complex – to the tune of a $240 million addition, completed last summer – is an entertainment facility, to be sure, but its raison d’tre is obvious. Until recently, the casino’s dining options were limited to a buffet, sports bar and high-end restaurant (Dream Dance), whose location…

I have been chided for actions unbecoming of a sushi eater. To fall within the bounds of proper decorum, a person should eat a piece of nigiri sushi (rice layered with raw fish) or futomaki (sushi roll) in one bite. But come on, now. Anybody who’s eaten sushi occasionally has wrapped their chopsticks around something even Mick Jagger couldn’t comfortably squeeze between his plump upper and lower lips. So I’ve given up caring how foolish I look struggling with a fist-size piece of food in my mouth. Because when I look around, everyone else is struggling too. It’s a comical,…

I’m looking for bikers. Tattoos, mullets and heavy facial hair, leather jackets and chaps. Can’t forget the chaps. Because if you go to the new Harley-Davidson Museum and grab a meal at the restaurant, Motor, the place looks like a ZZ Top Convention. That statement above? It’s a complete fabrication. Although the decor taps into the motorcycle mystique, the restaurant and its clientele seem to transcend stereotypes. On one visit, the diners seated near me ranged from a young couple with preschool-age kids to retirees snapping digital photos of their meatloaf to guys who looked like they walked out of…

The stereophonic croon of Hall & Oates sets the calendar pages flipping back to 1981. Conical lava lamps, stacked between martini shakers behind the bar, glow in fluorescent Kool-Aid colors. Icons of music and film – Elvis Presley, Natalie Wood – peer out from black-and-white photos hung on the wall. Bunkers Nostalgic Lounge & Eatery lives up to its name. Scott Bunker, whose West Allis fixture Bunkers on Mainstreet ended its 17-year run in 2000, capped off 2007 with a new bar just blocks from his original place on Greenfield Avenue. He and partner Cheryl Stefaniak’s cozy eight-month-old – seating…

At a table kitty-corner from mine, a father and daughter share mango ice cream and gulabjamin – warm little fritters soaking in sugar syrup. Behind me, a couple of college students dip their naan in mint chutney, taking voluminous bites and planning a second siege on the buffet table. A woman sits alone, calmly sipping creamy masala tea, one hand resting on the table, burgundy linen topped with clear Plexiglas. An Indian restaurant without an all-you-can-eat lunch buffet is all but unheard of in Milwaukee. Our quantity-conscious bellies demand it. The East Side’s Mayura Indian Restaurant– a sibling to Brookfield’s…