OMC: How do you keep the menu at a place like Ristorante Bartolotta interesting and fresh without changing it so much that you alienate the regulars who have come to expect certain dishes? Is it difficult?

JU: At first it was very difficult. In my first few years here, Joe (Bartolotta) didn't want me to change a thing, because he knew people had their favorite things on our menu. Then, with time I was able to prove to him by introducing many, many specials with different ingredients and authentic preparations that, our guests were ready for a change.

I believed Milwaukee had seen enough bruschetta and caprese salads in restaurants. So nowadays, a third of our menu is fully seasonal; we change our menu at least once a month. And you can find more unique ingredients being used in our specials like mullet or tuna bottarga, items with cuttlefish ink, fregola pasta, semolina gnocchi, white and black truffles, etc.

And the response had been almost overwhelming. I thought some people were going to be more adventurous and order a few of these things, but never in my wildest dreams did I expect to see such an excitement to these specials. Nowadays, the ravioli, chicken, salmon and rigatoni dishes on our menu are not the most popular menu items anymore like they used to be, not even close.

I'm happy that Joe believes in what we are doing at the restaurant and he's very excited as well, to the point he and his wife Jennifer and the rest of their family come in and eat here very often; that's got to be a good sign. I think that with humbleness, passion and love for what we do; we can be a good restaurant to provide a good dining experience for our beloved guests; that's our goal.

OMC: Some have said that the number of fine dining places has grown more quickly than the pool of available talent when it comes to wait staff. Do you think this is true? Is it also true in the kitchen -- has it been harder in the past few years to find good sous chefs, prep cooks, etc.? Is it changing?

JU: It has always been hard to find good, qualified people since I've been here both in the front and back of the house. As far as the kitchen goes, I wish we had a couple more cooking schools with more students wanting to work at a good restaurant. When I say good people I mean good as in attitude. That to me is the most important thing.

I don't look for someone with 10, 20 or 30 years of experience. I fact, a lot of times that's worse because people with many years of experience are harder to mold to what you want them to do. Therefore I totally prefer the young, eager and quiet kid with little or no experience but the right kind of attitude to learn and listen. There's a fierce battle among restaurants to get these types of kids.

As far as front of house I believe there are a lot of people with lots of potential out there, problem is, to them it is just a job, they don't take it seriously, and that's what makes them be "not so great" a lot of times. But I've also worked with very smart, talented wait staff. So, the potential is definitely there but the attitude toward waiting tables has to change. Maybe not to the point of making it a career as in Europe but definitely taking it more seriously.

In Europe, servers are semi-sommeliers; they know a lot about their wines and can comfortably walk you through their wine book. A chef is seen at the level of a doctor or a lawyer. That's the other extreme, I'm not saying let's be like them, but if we are to truly become a world class-type dining destination, we've got to take things more seriously, there's got to be a middle point between what we do now and what they do in Europe.

The worst I've seen is when people go to school to do something else in life while working a part-time job at a restaurant and they don't take it seriously, because it's "just a job." In my mind, I don't care if you are going to school to be a rocket scientist, if you work here even one day a month, you ought to be responsible and do the best that you can during your shift.

OMC: Is there something missing in the Milwaukee dining scene? Some type of cuisine or style that you think is on its way here or should be on its way here?

JU: There could be a few things missing in Milwaukee but mostly we're doing fairly well as far as variety of world cuisine. There's always room for improvement, but we should be proud of our city in that respect. But we all need to get more serious at what we do; try to be more authentic.

For example if you go to a Greek restaurant, all of a sudden their "house" salad would have mozzarella or an Italian restaurant with a Feta cheese salad. Or someone tries to write their menu in French and it's badly misspelled and they switch titles in menu items between English and French with no rationale, maybe simply because they didn't take the time to find out how you say "this or that" in French. Those things turn me off. We could use some Argentinean churrasco as well. People need to know that churrasco is a traditional Gaucho country feast in Argentina and Uruguay, NOT as much Brazil like we all think.

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3 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review.

Recent Talkbacks ...

Posted by mitchgat on Oct. 2, 2007 at 12:01 p.m. (report)

I like Apollo Cafe on Brady or Ouzo on Milwaukee St. Both have good food and service.

Posted by laurafern11 on Oct. 2, 2007 at 11:57 a.m. (report)

What about Apollo Cafe on Brady?

Posted by danno on Oct. 2, 2007 at 9:20 a.m. (report)

Great article. Can one find a real Greek Salad in Milwaukee anymore since Kostas closed?