In mid-June we had a three-day weekend, thanks to Juneteenth, so we decided to take this extra time to do a trip to Milwaukee.  Why Milwaukee?  Well, Cyril is a pretty big fan of beer, so the Brew City was a perfect destination for him – but Wisconsin as a whole is also well known for its cheese production, and since we both love cheese we thought we’d also like to try some food there.  We ended up getting a pretty interesting selection of things to eat, as well as exploring many parts of Milwaukee, so all in all it was a good weekend away.  We’ll share here some of the delicious things we tried, and where we got them – but as a fair warning, we will show some images of meat here.

Speaking of cheese – one of Wisconsin’s most iconic foods is cheese curds, and specifically fried cheese curds.  Of course we had to try some while in Milwaukee, so we got ourselves an order to split at Points East Pub, which has a really great selection of bar foods.

And then we got some more at The Vanguard, a casual and vegetarian-friendly restaurant in the city’s Bayview neighborhood.

At the Vanguard we also got some poutine, which are made with cheese curds as well – this is their classic poutine, with a meatless caramelized onion gravy.

And since Wisconsin is also known for its sausages, the Vanguard has a huge, customizable selection of sausage on its menu, including vegetarian and vegan options that you can swap in to many menu items.  We got the Thai Breaker with a veggie sausage:  it’s topped with peanut sauce, shredded carrots, lettuce, and crunchy pieces, all on a bun.

For even more cheese deliciousness, we headed over to the West Allis Cheese Shoppe, which originally opened in the suburb of West Allis but also has a smaller location in the Milwaukee Public Market.  You can buy all kinds of cheeses there, but they also have a food menu you can order from.  Miriam got one of their customizable grilled cheese sandwiches, with muenster cheese, lettuce, avocados, and jalapeños, all on rye bread, with a side of homemade potato chips.

And Cyril tried their ultimate breakfast sandwich, which comes with a fried egg, ham, bacon, cheddar, and provolone stacked on rye.

West Allis Cheese Shoppe is also well known for their over-the-top Bloody Marys, so here’s the Milwaukeean, topped with a mini bratwurst slider, a piece of bacon, a few cheese curds, a beef jerky stick, a few strands of mozzarella, and pickles, olives, and celery, plus a small beer on the side.

There were some other cool restaurants we heard about in Milwaukee – for example, Oscar’s Pub and Grill, which some say has the best burgers in the city.  Miriam was able to get a veggie burger there, and she added on to it some smoked gouda, avocado, and jalapeños, served with a side of Parmesan-dusted fries.

Cyril, meanwhile, got the Big O burger, which comes with chipotle jack and smoked gouda cheeses, bacon, chorizo, fried onion, jalapeños, and guacamole on the side.

We also heard about Mader’s, a German restaurant dating back to 1902 that serves up a secret item:  a giant pretzel, about the size of a steering wheel.  It’s not on the menu so you have to ask for it special, and it comes out all warm and buttery with mustard and cheese dip on the side.

There’s also Kopp’s, a small local chain that serves up frozen custard (plus other fast food fare).  There we tried a simple sundae, with vanilla custard and a hot fudge topping.

We were also told that Uncle Wolfie’s Breakfast Tavern was some of the best morning fare in town, so we headed over there for brunch one day.  Miriam had their fresh fruit parfait, made with blueberries, raspberries, banana, and granola on top of strawberry Greek yogurt.

And Cyril tried the Wolfundito, which comes with chorizo, sweet potatoes, peppers, onions, guacamole, sour cream, pico de gallo, and beer cheese sauce, all topped with a fried egg sprinkled with spicy seasoning.

And finally, it wouldn’t be a trip away for us without trying some local pizza, and we specifically wanted to get our hands on some Wisconsin-style pies.  These pizzas are kind of unique for two reasons:  because they’re made with an ultra-thin crust, and they’re also cut into squares despite being each pizza being round, so you can get some odd-looking pieces.  We decided to visit two places, the first of which was Pizza Man, dating back to 1970.  We tried one of their signature pizzas, the artichoke a la mode, topped with red sauce, sliced cherry tomatoes, artichokes, garlic, basil, and cubes of cream cheese …

… plus a regular cheese pizza with red sauce and artichokes.

We also went to Zaffiro’s, which is even older – they opened in 1954.  We got another Wisconsin pizza there, this time topped with spicy sliced giardiniera peppers.

It was definitely a dairy-heavy weekend, as you can see:  we had grilled cheese sandwiches, pizzas, cheese curds, cheese-topped burgers, poutine, frozen custard, and a Bloody Mary with cheese accompaniments.  But we also found a cool breakfast café, a giant pretzel, and a a place that makes some really creative veggie sausages.  We went all around Milwaukee, on foot and by bus, and through traveling to all these interesting food spots we got to see a lot of the city.  These are just some of the many things you can eat in the city, so we hope we gave you some good ideas of where to go and what Milwaukee has on offer.