As mentioned in a previous thread, friends of ours are moving to Milwaukee from BC. Any suggestions for a good restaurant we could treat them to, with a gift certificate or the like? They both like wine and have moderately sophisticated palates, aren’t snobs, eat just about everything. Is there a place that says “Milwaukee” without promoting brats, beer, and Kringle? Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Q the M, where might you go for an anniversary dinner with the kid(s)?
I don’t have restaurant recommendations, but my cousins rave about Kopp’s Frozen Custard. They go so far as to pack some in dry ice every time they come east so we can all share. Apparently frozen custard is a real Milwaukee thing.
Milwaukee has many fine dining opportunities.
Sanford is amazing.
Mo’s has fantastic steaks. Waygu, Ribeye, etc.
Mader’s is about the last bastion of genuine german cuisine left in the area, and has great schnitzel, sauerbraten, spaetzle, two types of saurkraut, and more.
The Bartolotta family operates a variety of top notch restaurants around town.
And that’s just scratching the surface.
Oh, Mader’s is good. I was sad to see Karl Ratzch’s closed a while back.
Tell me about it. Luckily, the Mrs and I and our younger daughter had a fine dining experience there a few days before the closing announcement was made.
Heck, I still miss the John Ernst Cafe for their fine german cuisine, and I think they closed about 2 decades ago!
I’m also a fan of the Balistreri Family’s two restaurants. Their Bluemound Inn is in the fancier one but they’ve both got great italian food.
Yep, this.
Kopps is great for custard, but so’s Leon’s and so is Gilles too.
We’ve been known to drive to M’waukee* just to go to a Bartolotta joint. Bet you can get a gift certificate that’s good at any of them.
Lake Park Bistro is the classiest, overlooks “The Lake”* (which, since you can’t see Michigan, looks like you’re dining on a real coast). Just a mile down the coast is the Harbor House next to The Calatrava (he designed the Mke Art Museum with wings that open or close depending on the weather). Bartolotta’s is a great old place with a beautiful bar in “the village”*, in Wauwatosa (across from a delightful French bistro called Le Rêve), and they now have a French café farther west called Café Grace that does wonderful brunches.
*Just helping with the local nomenclature… your friends will very quickly lose their ability to pronounce the L in M’WAHkee, WizGAHNzin
Also, give George Webb’s a try. Be sure to check out the two clocks. 
Give a holler if you want to know my fave restaurants in Sheboygan County.
Thirty some years ago my family in Milwaukee would always take us to Pieces of Eight. Google tells me it is closed and Harbor House is at that site… no clue if it is any good or not. So, basically my post does no good other than a good location.
I do love Harbor House, it’s better than Pieces of Eight ever was. Great Seafood on a Great Lake! Our favorite place for seafood that’s more than the Friday Fish Fry.
However, a delicious Friday fish fry can be had at Serb Hall (and hundreds of other places in WI)