Last summer, “Top Chef” fever gripped our city. As filming took place across the state for the upcoming 21st season (due to air in spring 2024), judges Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons and host Kristen Kish were seen at assorted spots around town (Kopp’s, Zócalo Food Park), while the film crew was spotted at the East Side Whole Foods. You didn’t need to be a superfan to get swept away by this closeness to celebrity – wondering where these food show personalities would show up next and which local chefs might play a role in this season. The show’s brass clamped down on giving away much of anything we could report, but we do know this: It’s our time to shine, baby. The holy trinity of beer, brats and cheese is primed for world domination. There are few things more satisfying than seeing visitors experience our foodways.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
Toward the end of filming, we had an opportunity to interview the show’s personalities, and we peppered them with quick-fire questions related to some of our most iconic foods. The one item that caused universal confusion: the cannibal sandwich. You’ll learn more closer to the air date, but for now, here are a few nuggets about this unappealingly named dish:
MilMag: Cannibal sandwich – yea or nay?
Kish: I haven’t heard that. What is it?
Simmons: I don’t know what that is. What is it?
MilMag: Ground beef tartare on rye with chopped onion.
Kish: Oh, yeah. A beef tartare sandwich… …Yea! [But] ha ha, the name is nay.
Simmons: I would try it. Yeah, I would try anything once.
