# another question about Milwaukee **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 12, 2019, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-question-about-milwaukee/844730 "2019-12-12T00:52:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2019, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-question-about-milwaukee/844730/1 "2019-12-12T00:52:50Z")
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)? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2019, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-question-about-milwaukee/844730/2 "2019-12-12T01:27:23Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2019, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-question-about-milwaukee/844730/3 "2019-12-12T13:10:16Z")
Milwaukee has many fine dining opportunities. [Sanford](https://sanfordrestaurant.com/) is amazing. [Mo’s](https://mosaplaceforsteaks.com/) 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](https://www.bartolottas.com/') family operates a variety of top notch restaurants around town. And that’s just scratching the surface. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2019, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-question-about-milwaukee/844730/4 "2019-12-12T13:14:01Z")
Oh, Mader’s is good. I was sad to see Karl Ratzch’s closed a while back. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2019, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-question-about-milwaukee/844730/5 "2019-12-12T13:52:27Z")
> [@kitap](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2019, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-question-about-milwaukee/844730/6 "2019-12-12T14:48:54Z")
> [@kitap](#): > > Oh, Mader’s is good. I was sad to see Karl Ratzch’s closed a while back. Yep, this. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2019, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-question-about-milwaukee/844730/7 "2019-12-12T18:56:30Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > 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. Kopps is great for custard, but so’s Leon’s and so is Gilles too. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2019, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-question-about-milwaukee/844730/8 "2019-12-12T19:43:34Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Milwaukee has many fine dining opportunities… > > The [Bartolotta](https://www.bartolottas.com/') family operates a variety of top notch restaurants around town. 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 ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2019, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-question-about-milwaukee/844730/9 "2019-12-12T19:48:45Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2019, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-question-about-milwaukee/844730/10 "2019-12-12T21:34:22Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2019, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-question-about-milwaukee/844730/11 "2019-12-12T22:09:46Z")
> [@Spud](#): > > 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)