Linda Lutz and her family took over the 40-year-old West Allis Cheese & Sausage Shoppe, 6832 W. Becher St., seven years ago. At the time, Lutz admits, she didn't know much more about the Wisconsin export other than Swiss was the one with holes in it.
Today, she's nothing short of a dairy state expert, but her knowledge extends beyond the stuff of cheeseheads.
"We had a lot of help from the cheese makers, and through working with them we met more people making other things. There is such a tight-knit little group here in Wisconsin -- they gave me a lot of good ideas."
Lutz quickly acquired connections with people across the state making jams, honey, spreads and breads, many of whom had no place to sell their goods in Milwaukee.
Opening the Taste of Wisconsin store adjacent to her West Allis Cheese & Sausage Shoppe's second location at the Milwaukee Public Market, 400 N. Water St., was the next logical step.
Lutz calls Taste of Wisconsin a "spin-off" of the cheese shop, but with more than 200 Wisconsin vendors represented, the two are mutually exclusive, save for the football-shaped sausages. Here you'll find things you might expect, like honey, preserves, cranberries and cherries -- "Wisconsin is the number one cranberry state," says Lutz -- but there are also many surprises.
"Our mustards are huge. We have a huge array," she says, mentioning Sprecher's new condiment, as well as her recent trip to the Mustard Museum in Mt. Horeb, from which she returned with a few spicy varieties.
You'll also find specialty, hard to find items like Big Butz B-B-Q sauce, made in Siren, and Stump's Bloody Mary mix and olives, made in Spooner. Winkie's cherry pie filling uses Door County Cherries and the beer cheese soup mix calls for Milwaukee-made suds.
"Almost everything we sell here is from small, family-owned and operated shops," says Lutz. "I don't have any really big companies represented at Taste of Wisconsin."
One week Lutz will stock Wisconsin-grown popcorn. The next, she'll meet a woman who makes organic dog and cat treats and offers to sell those.
"It's fun," she says. "Every week we're learning about a new family making new products. Our inventory is constantly changing and evolving."
Her custom-made gift baskets have been a hit with the out-of-town set looking to take a Taste of Wisconsin back home with them. Lutz creates baskets for weddings, birthdays, corporate events, or fills them with something specific for an individual by request.
A Wisconsin native, she stocks a lot of home state pride, and, naturally, has an affinity for its products.
"California can make all the milk they want, but they'll never take our cheese away from us."
"The West Allis Cheese & Sausage Shoppe is a big draw," says Milwaukee Public Market operations manager David Ware. "The cheese is one of the stars of the market, but everybody has a role to play here. It's variety that really drives the market."
OnMilwaukee.com staff writer Julie Lawrence grew up in Wauwatosa and has lived her whole life in the Milwaukee area.
As any “word nerd” can attest, you never know when inspiration will strike, so from a very early age Julie has rarely been seen sans pen and little notebook. At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee it seemed only natural that she major in journalism. When OnMilwaukee.com offered her an avenue to combine her writing and the city she knows and loves in late 2004, she knew it was meant to be. Around the office, she answers to a plethora of nicknames, including “Lar,” (short for “Larry,” which is short for “Lawrence”) as well as the mysteriously-sourced “Bill Murray.”
