The headline on the Buzzfeed story – “These ‘Pasta Flights’ From Milwaukee Are Making People Very, Very, Very Mad” – was infinitely clickable, albeit controversial.

A social media post made by Chicago journalist Brandon Pope during the Republican National Convention called out a trademark menu item served at Brady Street Italian joint Dorsia (1307 E. Brady St.) – messy piles of pasta plopped on a wood-like board. “Milwaukee’s food scene is UNDERRATED and deserves respect,” Pope wrote. But the Internet wasn’t having it, summed up by this user’s comment: “I cannot respect a restaurant that would serve me spaghetti on a 2-by-4.”

Hold up, now. The pasta is not served on lumber. The plank is actually “food-grade bamboo – no different than what’s used for charcuterie or sushi,” says Dorsia’s owner Jeno Cataldo. Beyond wishing “the guy used a little bit better picture of the food,” Cataldo found the attention “hilarious.” 

“We don’t take ourselves too seriously,” he says, adding that they’re proud of their flights, which allow diners to pick up to five different pastas, all served together on the board. “They sell like crazy. It’s not easy [to do]. Everything’s made to order. We have a little army in the kitchen.”

Food, culture, dialogue and education collide in this fall’s “Flavors of Africa & the Diaspora – Best Chefs Wisconsin.” Yollande Tchouapi – the mastermind behind the series of workshops, meals and roundtable conversations – has picked up where she left off five years ago when she closed her celebrated African restaurant Irie Zulu. She’s back in a very big way, championing global cuisines and the foodways of the state that’s been her home for 20-plus years.

Tchouapi says the only way to move forward as a community is by standing together – a core philosophy of Ubuntu MKE, her “cross-cultural incubator lab.” In just a few weeks, she signed on 40-some local restaurants, along with speakers, experts and nationally known guest chefs to round out “Flavors of Africa.”

Milwaukee is “becoming the epicenter of food in the Midwest,” she says. “So much is happening. We are on the verge of something great.” Sept. 15-Nov. 10, various locations.

Glorioso’s New Owners

“It would be foolish to change anything that [the Glorioso family] has done, other than where we can grow – maybe make the next Glorioso’s store [yes, they want to expand] a little bigger.” 

– Carmine Presta, whose family takes over the 78-year-old East Side grocery institution this fall

Like its sister restaurant in Madison, Milwaukee’s new Mediterranean Cuisine (753 N. Water St.) adds a Turkish twist to roasted meat. Their adana kebab is a skewer of minced, grilled lamb seasoned with red pepper. Another specialty, Iskender kebab, is  grilled, sliced lamb topped with tomato sauce and yogurt.  •  Pipsqueak Wine (6410 W. North Ave.) is a first for Tosa, a shop specializing in small-production, minimal-intervention wine – shop for a bottle or stay for a glass and a charcuterie board.  •  Conceived as a co-working space for creatives, Fruition MKE (825 N. 27th St.) doesn’t lack fuel. It offers coffee drinks and breakfast bowls, and sandwiches by MKE startup Street Biscuits N Bagels.  •  In September, local caterer Lisa McKay opened a bistro in the shuttered Triciclo Perú space  (3801 W. Vliet St.), which neighbors the headquarters of Pete’s Pops.