First Impression: WürstBar

Tyler Maas
Milwaukee and sausages go together like...hmmm. Actually, nothing really goes together quite like the pairing of Milwaukee and sausages. For better or worse, tubed meat delicacies have been synonymous with our ...

First Impression: Sticky Rice

Tyler Maas
This year has been an unprecedented one for restaurants. Amid the COVID-19 crisis, food purveyors have been forced to make drastic changes to their practices, overhaul their business model, retrain what's left ...

First Impression: Fuji Poké

Tyler Maas
Poké is sweeping the city. As recently as a couple years ago, the edible island dish was only available at a select few establishments in and around Milwaukee. However, the Hawaiian delicacy has quickly caught ...

First Impression: Pizza Pete’s (Cudahy)

Andrew Sawicki
On our various sojourns to our friendly neighbor to the south, Cudahy, we're always keen to explore the dining options on offer. We're especially interested in the many strip mall eateries—those clearly niche j...

First Impression: Damascus Gate Restaurant

Tyler Maas
The world could use some good news. Here, in what presently seems to be the darkest of timelines and at a point in which compassion and basic human decency seem especially scarce, it's easy to drown in the delu...

First Impression: Sabor Tropical

Tyler Maas
This story begins in the final days of 2016. As one year drew to a close and gave way to 2017, Midwest Diner decided to call it quits. Unbeknownst to anyone, the sudden closure of the venerable 24-hour greasy s...

First Impression: Hemp World CBD Cafe

Tyler Maas
It's been quite a year for CBD in Milwaukee. After finally hitting store shelves this summer, Cannabidiol (better known as “CBD”)—a hemp extract that’s a distant relative of marijuana without THC—has become muc...

First Impression: Stock House Brewing Co.

Tyler Maas
Following a Kickstarter campaign, considerable construction, various delays, and approval from the City of Wauwatosa, Stock House Brewing (7208 W. North Ave., 414-739-9876) officially opened last week. Owned by...

First Impression: SmallPie

Tyler Maas
Last week, Bay View—a neighborhood that's already home to such dessert destinations as Babe's Ice Cream, Canfora Bakery, and Honeypie—got a little bit sweeter. SmallPie (2504 E. Oklahoma Ave., 414-763-7067) off...

First Impression: Pita Palace

Tyler Maas
Last month, Milwaukee’s first Golden Corral opened on Layton Avenue. For reasons we can't quite grasp, the franchise’s arrival on the airport-adjacent causeway—which is also home to some quietly great restauran...

First Impression: Vennture Brew Co

Tyler Maas
We've now reached a point in which there's a new brewery opening in Milwaukee every month. An incredibly busy 2017 in local microbrewing—the likes of which had never been seen before in Milwaukee—now looks to b...

First Impression: Component Brewing Company

Tyler Maas
Though Milwaukee craft brewing has yet to hit a point of oversaturation, the city has reached a place in which breweries are literally opening on top of each other. In early 2017, Eagle Park Brewing opened a ta...

First Impression: Pizza Di Famiglia

Tyler Maas
Bay View isn't exactly hurting for pizza. Even with the recent loss of Little DiMarinis, the neighborhood is still bursting with a wide variety of pizza purveyors to suit almost any 'za craving. Places like Dom...

First Impression: Oscar’s Winner’s Circle

Tyler Maas
In spring of 2011, Elisabeth Stoeger and husband Oscar Castañeda quietly opened Oscar's Pub & Grill on 17th and Pierce. It didn't take long for buzz to build around the bar and restaurant, its excellent sel...

First Impression: Birch + Butcher

Tommy Ciaccio
“Contemporary Midwest cuisine.” The chosen style of cuisine served at the new Birch + Butcher (459 E. Pleasant St., 414-323-7372) feels as amorphous and open a concept as the space the restaurant occupies. The ...