When it comes to dining in Milwaukee, you could do a lot worse than Brady Street. The nine-block causeway is well-equipped with a wealth of cuisine to address a wide variety of cravings. The East Side thoroughfare is home to outstanding Italian food, a restaurant owned and operated by a James Beard Award-winning chef, and the city’s best-known empanada purveyor. There’s sushi, sausages, specialty sweets, decadent vegan burgers, Mexican favorites, pizza, Thai food, Middle Eastern classics, seafood, an iconic bakery, cafes, and even something called “a pasta flight” that’s served on a wooden plank.
Being famous—or infamous, depending on who you ask—for its night life, Brady Street also has an abundance of pub fare in its midst. Though there’s no shortage of places on Brady that are serving burgers, slinging wings, and putting their deep fryers to work, one neighborhood establishment stands head and shoulders above its bar and grill brethren on one of Milwaukee’s best-known and most food-laden streets.
Pete’s Pub (1234 E. Brady St., 414-312-7457) opened in the longtime home of Brady Street Hardware and the not-as-longtime home of a bar/restaurant called Harry’s On Brady in the spring of 2020. Somehow, despite coming into existence at the outset of a worldwide pandemic, the business helmed by former Jack’s American Pub owner Peter Marshall managed to survive the unprecedented obstacles it faced in its infancy.
Now more than five years in, Pete’s appears to be thriving, which makes sense when considering its high profile location, the inviting space it calls home, its respectable beer and spirit selection, and legitimately solid specials. Oh, and the top-notch comfort food it routinely serves up might have something to do with it, too.
Inside, Pete’s is a spacious place with a classic feel. There’s an expansive bar, a handful of booths nestled against the rear wall, pub tables aplenty, a few four-tops situated beside the Brady-facing windows, and weathered tiled floors that all combine to give the establishment a dash of English pub flare. On the other hand, the twenty-somethings and weekend warriors that frequent Brady Street won’t feel out of place in the slightest with the presence of a Pop-A-Shot machine, video poker, a pool table, dart boards, and an array of TVs showing sports.
It’s a delicate balance to strike, but Pete’s manages to ably walk that fine line between Brady Street dive and comfy gastropub. That duality extends to the menu at Pete’s, a business that simultaneously offers Jäger Bomb specials four nights a week and crafts some of the best bar food served on and around the East Side. In fact, that attempt to cater, at least in part, to a college-aged crowd actually translates to some great deals on many of Pete’s menu items.
On Tuesdays, you can snag a pound of bone-in wings tossed in one of Pete’s nine sauces or coated in one of five specialty dry rubs plus a side of fries for $10. Even when they’re not on special, a standard order of eight total flats and drummies are well worth the full $16 price, as they’re plump, juicy, and liberally covered in delicious sauce or rub (such as the zesty “Gunpowder” dry rub you see above).
Weekdays from 2-6 p.m., you can get a Simple Smash Burger for a scant $5. “Simple,” is the operative term here, as it is just a single American cheese-covered beef patty on a soft brioche bun with a side of ketchup and a pickle spear. Basic as it might be, it’s still very good…especially for the price. That being said, maybe plan on a side when taking advantage of this special or order two of ’em. If you’re seeking something more substantial or inventive on the pattied beef end of the spectrum, perhaps a traditional Smash Burger (available as $14 singles, $17 doubles, and $19 triples that each includes a side), one of its other specialty Smashes or its tongue-torching Engine No. 6 Patty Melt will be more to your liking.
It’s not just wings and burgers. There’s a small-yet-focused collection of “Hand Helds” on the menu at Pete’s, including options that feature smoked brisket, braised pork, as well as a few vegetarian selections including a “Grown-Up Grilled Cheese” and a variety of mains (and some sides as well) centered around mushrooms. During our latest visit, we enjoyed the Hen Solo, which featured tender and succulent chicken thighs dredged in a thick, crackly breading that was set atop a fistful of pickles, drizzled with honey—your choice of regular honey or hot honey—and encased between two pieces of toasted brioche.
While we’re bound to return to try one of the specialty Smash Burgers soon (and maybe do another round of quality control on some wings while we’re at it!), the Hen Solo is currently our high watermark for food at Pete’s Pub. It’s also worth noting that, as both a nod to Marshall’s UK roots and because it’s a restaurant in Milwaukee, “Fish & Chips” is available every Friday, complete with the decidedly British side offering of mushy peas available upon request.
There’s clearly no lack of dining options on Brady Street, but next time you’re in the area and seeking high quality riffs on bar and grill classics that are served in an accessible and altogether inviting setting, consider paying a visit to Pete’s Pub. Don’t just do it for Pete’s sake, do it for your own good.
