Let's see, what to do in an election year? What else? Let's EAT!

MR. B's announced this week that it will bring the "beefsteak banquet" to Brookfield.

The Mr. B's event is potentially the first Milwaukee-area gluttonous feast of its kind: "all you can eat, silverware optional."

According to a Jan. 30 article in The New York Times, in the mid 1800s, special "beefsteak" dinners were hosted as political fundraisers. Rows and rows of predominantly male eaters arrived and donned white aprons and chef's hats to plunge head first into a raucous, all-you-can-eat beef smorgasbord with all the trimmings ... minus silverware, that is.

A 1912 Times piece noted that the beefsteak banquets were a proverbial who's who of politicos and guests, coming together in a rudimentary, but very patriotic environment, to stuff their faces, and their favorite candidates' wallets.

The Mr. B's beefsteak dinner -- Sunday, May 4, from 4:30 p.m. -- 8 p.m. -- features salad, meat course, side dish and dessert, and costs $55.95 per person, plus tax and gratuity. It is not a political fundraiser, says Bartolotta's John Wise.