jetsytravels

I have been spending the last couple of days with my older son, which is always a pleasure and is always hard on the credit card as he loves to go out to eat.  More than that, he spurns any home-cooked meal that doesn’t involve steak or lobster… (I guess that says something about my cooking, doesn’t it?)

Suffice it to say, we have eaten out 3 out of 3 of our latest meals.  Here’s where we went:

Louise’s in Brookfield.  We had fried calamari while waiting for friends – those were great (the calamari and the friends!). Dinner was “heavy” – heavy on the creamy sauces.  Good tasting but just a bit too much of a good thing. Abundant salad though – a real plus. There is a Louise’s here in Milwaukee, near the cathedral where we had brunch once.  I remembered it being better.

Bistro 333 in Milwaukee (Downtown in the Hyatt).  This was with a Groupon and we arrived for lunch about 2pm.  The bar was just opening.  I am not sure if the restaurant is closed on Mondays (Seems odd for a hotel restaurant, doesn’t it. We had a couple of unusual beers – Gerry’s were both Leinies (pronounced line ees – the nickname for Leinenkugels): A dark one he didn’t like followed by an amber he did.  Mine was from another local brewery and was really different.  “Very hoppy” the waiter described it.  I wish I could find the name.  I thought he told me it was from Lakefront Brewery, but I check their labels and nothing ran a bell.  We had a cheese board to start (how Wisconsin!) and it was enough really for a small meal for two people…cheese crackers, sausage, nuts, cranberries.  Gerry really like the blue cheese. For seconds, Gerry had a walleye sandwich.  (If you have even been to Wisconsin, you will recognize that these are the foods that are synonymous with the state:  Beer, cheese, walleye. If you have never been here, when you come to visit as I know you will since my descriptions are so enticing, be sure to order them.)  I had a pulled pork sandwich which was fantastic – topped with red cabbage (another Wisconsin iconic food?)  It was a very good lunch – which we followed each with a nice long nap!

Screaming Tuna (Walker’s Point, Milwaukee – in fact, right across Water Street from our “apartment”).  Gerry discovered this restaurant with Urban Spoon on another occasion recently, but it was new to me and a good discovery!  I prefer  places that are close enough to walk (I is easier to stagger home than drive) and as in most all cities, parking in downtown Milwaukee is not always easy. Good thing it was close, too, because it is cold out there!  I should say “was cold” because it is supposed to get up to 50 degrees today.  Screaming Tuna is a sushi place – though I was hard pressed to find the typical sushi and sashimi on the menu.  There were lots of unusual sushi and sashimi options, though.  The Screaming Tuna signature roll was really good… I have never really understood what “complex flavors” meant but I am pretty sure it describes this roll based on seared tuna.  I would definitely order it again, and all for me, so I could really dissect the taste.  We also had a bowl of sashimi with sticky rice that was quite good, too – just overshadowed by the Screaming Tuna roll.

Of course, every dinner with Gerry also involves entertainment:  Last night’s entertainment was a repartee between our waitress and Gerry over his pocket puppy… complete with some sort of banshee call that would wake the puppy up and a supplier who also dealt in miniature giraffes…Gerry was really on, but this young lady, with her very deep voice, bandied it right back to him without missing a beat.  It was a lot of fun to watch – both of them way out of my league!