food lovers guide

Edited and written by Ann Christenson With Abby Callard, Claire Hanan and Matt Hrodey Photos by Adam Ryan Morris It feels like we spend an awful lot of energy defending the city from outside perceptions. Yes, there are the taunts of a sophistication deficit and a borderline obsession with meat and cheese. But our level of cultivation can be addressed by zeroing in on the second part of that charge: meat and cheese. Unlike cities whose culinary traditions have faded over time, we still have a healthy butcher shop culture (energized by a new generation of local food pros). As…

Oro di Oliva photo by Peter DiAntoni ORO DI OLIVA Step One: Open a bottle of typical supermarket olive oil. Step Two: Take a sip. Step Three: Vow to never repeat Step Two again. Sample the wares at a premium olive oil shop, and there will be little comparison. The muted lack of complexity of the former will be replaced with the latter’s loads of body and flavor. That’s why premium oil devotees drop coin on quality. Fundamental to the stores’ approach is encouraging people to taste the goods. Oro di Oliva stores its oils and vinegars in stainless-steel fusti…

Indulgence Chocolatiers owner Julie Waterman. Photo by Adam Ryan Morris INDULGENCE CHOCOLATIERS When Julie Waterman started her business in a 900-square-foot Waukesha kitchen in 2007, the staff consisted of a single person – herself. Seven full-time and two part-time staffers later, IC is moving its production facility to Walker’s Point this summer. In 2012, the company opened its Shorewood chocolate shop – a modern salon where no fewer than 23 flavors of truffles are laid out on a marble counter – with plenty of room to display its wares, including chocolate bars, toffees and s’mores kits. Waterman also uses the…

Photo by Adam Ryan Morris; food styling by Tamara Kaufman. 1. Slightly sour, spreadable Quark cheese, is made at Clock Shadow Creamery in Walker’s Point. 2. Uplands Cheese Company’s Pleasant Ridge Reserve, an award-winner several times over, owes its complex, musty flavor to an up-to-15-months aging process. 3. Bleu Mont Dairy’s earthy bandaged cheddar is aged in cedar board-lined caves. 4. Evalon, made by LaClare Farms, is a Gouda-style aged goat cheese. 5. Sartori’s nutty, firm Black Pepper BellaVitano has attributes of both cheddar and Parmesan. 6. The dense, supremely smooth Dunbarton, by Roelli Cheese Haus, is like an elegant,…

Photo by Adam Ryan Morris Why go to a specialty spice shop instead of buying at the grocery store? Besides the obvious freshness factor, there’s variety, cost and the expertise of the swamis of spices. The advantages are clear once you’ve spent 10 minutes weighing the pros and cons of gray sea salt over fleur de sel with a spice merchant. Penzeys Spices and The Spice House are Milwaukee success stories, each business run by the children of Spice House founders Ruth and Bill Penzey Sr. Daughter Patty and her husband Tom Erd run the handful of Spice House locations,…

  Camembert king Steve Shapson. Photo by Adam Ryan Morris. Fifteen years ago, Steve Shapson sold surfboards and parasails at his now-defunct Screaming Tuna Surf Shop. When the beer-brewing craze hit, Shapson stocked equipment for home brewers. A customer shopping for a thermometer turned him on to cheesemaking, which has given the Mequon hobbyist another profession – weekend cheesemaking-workshop instructor. The Cheesemaker – the name of the business Shapson runs with his wife, Mary Jo – shows John Q. Public how to be curd-proficient. Shapson offers four weekend workshops per year out of his home. Saturdays are spent learning the…

Empire Fish Co. Photo courtesy of Wauwatosa Chamber of Commerce. A fete for the olfactory senses. That is the gift of shopping for fish. But truly, a good fish market shouldn’t make you cover your nose with a hankie. Put your freshwater and saltwater needs in the hands of two local reliables: Empire Fish Co. stocks its fish case with catches from respected vendors practicing sustainability – the index of a good monger. Sign up for the mailing list on empirefish.com, and you’ll receive emails on what’s fresh – whether it’s skate wing, tilefish or Viking Village scallops – and seasonal,…

LOOKING FOR LOCAL LAMBS? In a stall at this season’s Milwaukee County Winter Farmer’s Market at State Fair Park, Steve Pinnow offered a warm smile to shoppers stopping to look at the packaged cuts of lamb in his cooler. Pinnow and his wife, Darlene, are the affable owners of Delavan’s Pinn-Oak Ridge Farms. Their meat – chops, loin, boneless leg, rack, spare ribs – comes from Wisconsin lambs raised on a hormone- and antibiotic-free diet. The healthy feed gives this superior meat a clean, subtle flavor. Find it at Metcalfe’s Market in Tosa and Outpost Natural Foods. wisconsinlamb.com. NEW ARRIVAL…