First Impression: Taco Bandito

Tyler Maas
Along with the influx of new microbreweries, distilleries, and faceless luxury apartment complexes, Walker's Point has also become a go-to destination for an exciting cast of new restaurants. Following the ...

First Impression: Good City Brewing

Tyler Maas
It's only August and 2016 can already be chalked up as a tough year for bars and restaurants on Milwaukee's East Side. After 11 years on Kenilworth Place, Yield screeched to an abrupt stop in May. Y-Not III's B...

First Impression: Black Husky Brewing

Tyler Maas
// It's a story as old as time. A young man from a small northwoods town moves to the big city. He meets a woman. They fall in love. After starting a family and spending years in the city they met, the man ...

First Impression: Fixture Pizza Pub

Tyler Maas
// While Walker's Point was never lacking for bars and quality Mexican restaurants, and these days isn't for want in regard to upstart microbreweries, distilleries, and fine dining options, the neighborhood...

First Impression: MobCraft Beer

Tyler Maas
// While historians are quick to acknowledge the role beer played in establishing Milwaukee as a world-renowned utopia of yeast and barley beverages, there was a stretch when the "Brew City" moniker didn't ...

First Impression: Lost Valley Cider Co.

Tyler Maas
// Much like the rampant expansion craft brewing has experienced recently, the world of hard ciders is bursting with exponentially more brands that are creating exciting and new concoctions in effort to kee...

First Impression: Wy’east Pizza

Todd Lazarski
// When Applebee's announced last month it would be rebranding its 2,000-unit bastion of corporate mediocrity in order to take back respective neighborhoods with a "fire-breathing workhorse" of wood-burning...

First Impression: Karl Ratzsch Restaurant

Tommy Ciaccio
// It seems silly and even a little arrogant in 2016 to be writing up a First Impression for an institution that predates the first World War, but the newest iteration of Karl Ratzsch's, and how it came to ...

First Impression: Wauwatiki

Tyler Maas
// Wauwatosa nightlife is changing. After long existing as Milwaukee's quiet and kind of uptight neighbor, recent years have seen the suburb's dining and drinking identity improve mightily and grow exponent...

First Impression: C-viche

Todd Lazarski
// From Odd Duck to Lazy Susan, Goodkind to Vanguard, to the re-saddled Palomino, many of the big-deal restaurant openings in Bay View over the past few years have mostly kept a pork-bellied hue of New-All-...

First Impression: Pepi’s Place

Tyler Maas
// Let's be clear, Pepi's Pizza isn't new. In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find a Milwaukee pizzeria with a longer history or more loyal customer base than the Italian joint that thrived on 16th Street be...

First Impression: Urban Beets Cafe & Juicery

Tyler Maas
// While food trends come and go, and we'll be the first to admit buzz words like "artisan", "gluten-free" and "farm-to-table" have been misused and abused so often lately that the terms have been rendered ...

First Impression: Dock18 Cocktail Lab

Tyler Maas
// As much as Milwaukee leans on its rich brewing history, there has been an exponential uptick in the number of distilleries popping up around town in recent years. Great Lakes Distillery was at the forefr...

First Impression: Iron Grate BBQ Co.

Tyler Maas
// Way back in October, local dining writers were thrilled with the announcement of a strange-yet-intriguing partnership that would squeeze an established coffee shop/roaster and a barbecue joint beneath on...

First Impression: Easy Tyger

Todd Lazarski
// When Brady Street Hardware shuttered last year and set off a building owner vs. neighborhood association pillow fight over what should fill the space, it highlighted the fact that if the bohemian center ...

First Impression: Asian Fusion

Matt Wild
// The East Side stretch of North Avenue is currently going through ch-ch-ch-ch-changes. Most of those changes have been smart: a remodeled and expanded Ian's Pizza is terrific, the new East Library (and AT...

First Impression: Kickapoo Coffee

Monica Reida
// Milwaukee has seen an increase in recent years of coffee shops treating coffee like something to be savored, like a gourmet food item, similar to cheese or wine. From Stone Creek Coffee opening a high-co...

First Impression: Jack Rabbit Slim’s

Tommy Ciaccio
// When one ponders West Allis, the common reflex is to dredge up a bunch of stereotypes. Like all stereotypes, those affixed to 'Stallis are at least vaguely fashioned from truth. The polarizing suburb is ...

First Impression: Point Burger Bar

Tyler Maas
// With so, so many great breweries in Milwaukee and the exponential growth in excellent craft beer being made throughout the country, it's tough not to empathize with some Wisconsin brewing operations tryi...