Do you like butter? Like, REALLY like butter? Do you even know? Do you KNOW how good butter can make something?
Solly's Grille has their original burger, which is juicy sirloin, Wisconsin butter and stewed onions. You make it a cheeseburger too, which, duh. I needed one, which I ordered at the old-school U-shaped counter. The waitress could walk through the center, filling water glasses and shelling out dishes full of butter burgers - when and how often they choose.
It didn't take long for my burger, sitting in a pool of its own butter juices, to come out. There was a thick layer of butter inside the top bun that quickly melted down into the meat and to the bottom bun. That makes for a very rich, moist burger. My tastebuds were all "whoa! Everything is tasty! Butter makes everything better" and then my heart went "wait, wait, what what are you doing - that's a burger drenched in butter." My solution was to gobble up the rest of the burger before I could think about it too much - much to my tastebuds' delight.
The fries were thick, crinkle-cut that offered a nice crisp texture change. This is something you just have to try. A butter burger - who knew?Grade: A
Miss Katie's Diner borders on "touristy," but that label means nothing to me if the food is good. The diner has a '50s theme and has been around for 25 years.
It serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and has been known to be frequented by celebrities. President Clinton and then-German Chancellor Helmut Kohl in 1996; Rachel Ray featured the diner's breakfast in Food Channel's $40 Dollars a Day; Hillary Clinton stopped by in 2008; Henry Winkler in 2008 (there's a bronze Fonz statue in downtown Milwaukee); Michelle Obama visited in 2010.
And the table we were seated at had a plaque that said "Party Host(ess)" was filmed at that table Nov. 4, 1999. No clue what that means.
Our waitress was a bit sassy, and I loved it. The menus are pretty straightforward with eggs, omelets and some french toast. I opted for the three slices because it came with ham, Italian sausage or bacon. I went with sausage.
Yes. The French toast was accompanied with two tubs of butter and syrup, so of course I slathered that all over it. Delicious. I really like French toast, can you tell? The sausage was also tasty. It was quick, filling and tasty - so tourist trap or not, I'm a fan.Grade: A
MillerCoors produces a lot of beers - including Blue Moon, Leinenkugel and Crispin. That's in addition to the Coors, Miller Lite, Milwaukee's Best, etc.
We took a tour around their facility, and it's pretty much what I expected. The whole experience was a little ... off. The tour guides are extra rehearsed, to the point where their inflections and everything is just so forced.
The best part, though, is that it is free AND you get some pretty sizable samples. One of which I ended up spilling because I'm really great at life.
If you have time, sure, it's interesting to see a huge, huge brewing facility. But for the experience - go for the smaller guys, for sure.
My new favorite thing to do in any city is to find their public market. Don't get me wrong, I love Morgantown's farmers market, but there's something really cool about a ton of small businesses churning out their products in a bustling city center. I could see myself just perched up in Milwaukee's Public Market working away at one of the tables.
There are a ton of vendors here - everything from cheese and fish to prepared side items like twice-baked potatoes and fine chocolates.
We, of course, had just finished eating somewhere so I didn't have a full-on lunch here. But, I did get some chocolates. I got a peanut butter cup and a caramel bar from Kehr's Candies. So good.
After dinner, Tony and I decided we needed some drinks. Water Street Brewery was along the way. Perfect.
We each ordered a flight of their signature beers. We also got a basket of brewery chips, but I totally forgot to snag a photo. They weren't bad: potato, sweet potato and beet with ranch.
The beer was quite good for the most part. I loved the honey lager light, which was easy and crisp. The Raspberry Weiss was delicious and fruity. The amber, which I usually love, wasn't my favorite. It was maybe too hoppy? I'm not sure. Octoberfest was decent, too.
It was pretty empty inside, so it was a pretty chill environment. But I had a lot of fun here. Good place to people watch and have some good convo.
Grade: B
AJ Bombers is known for having one of the best burgers in Milwaukee. Specifically, their "Milwaukee Burger" was declared the Winner of Travel Channel's Food Wars. That alone was reason enough for me to want to check it out.
We were seated quickly at the restaurant and handed plastic menus with a marker to check off our selections. This is a nice way to eliminate any confusion. I dig it.
We were also handed a bowl of peanuts. And, apparently, people just throw the peanut shells all over the place when they're done. Wouldn't it be easier to have another bowl to throw the shells in? It's also cool that the peanuts will travel to booths via this overhead contraption, but the table we were at was not equipped.
I ordered the Milwaukee Burger, which is a quarter-pound burger with Wisconsin colby cheese, Nueske's bacon, and Schlitz onions. I also ordered a side of tater tots.
This burger was made up, individually, of decent components. But altogether, I thought it lacked something. Maybe a sauce? I ended up using, gasp, ketchup. I liked the burger, liked the onions, like the bacon. Just a little bit of something-something would've put it over the top for me. And the tots? Can't really go wrong.
After we finished, I *happened* to glance over to see a caramel cookie frozen custard special on the chalkboard ... Yep, pretty damn good.
Grade: B
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