The May edition of Food & Wine has a nice toast to Milwaukee in an article from Jim Meehan.

Meehan says he used to visit "Milwaukee once a year when (he) went to college in Wisconsin, mainly to check out sausage races at County Stadium (now Miller Park) and earn (his) "I closed Wolski's" bumper sticker. But now, (he) goes there for the cocktails."

And, who can blame him?  His piece toasts our city "known for Pabst Blue Ribbon and Schlitz" but says Milwaukee also "has a surprisingly awesome cocktail culture."  Of course, we already know this.  

He mentions Bryant's, Distil (one of his "best bars in America"), Great Lakes Distillery, The Hamilton and Bittercube.

Check out the story here.

If you haven't walked or driven past The Moderne, 1141 Old World 3rd St. (corner of Juneau Ave. and Old World Third St.), you really should. The 31 floor development is truly impressive and, while not even open yet, has already changed the vibe, look and feel of the area.

Today, there's great news in a scoop from BizTimes.com that iconic Chicago restaurant, Carson's Prime Steaks and Famous BBQ, will open in The Moderne's first floor in October. Carson's currently has two locations. One on Wells St. in Downtown Chicago and a second in Deerfield.

I had heard several months ago that The Moderne project was pursing a big name restaurant, and this is definitely a huge name and a coup for the development and for Downtown Milwaukee.

Matt Rinka, a great local architect, is designing the space. Rinka also designed the building.

Carson's has numerous accolades under its belt, and not only from Windy City locals and media but Esquire, Food Network, Business Week and more. Read all about it here. 

The Moderne is on track for a September opening. Be ready for the bibs, finger licking and barbecue of Carson's in October.

Milwaukee's doing just fine in the eco-friendly arena as it scored a top ten mention in a recent Earth Day related list from MaxPoint Interactive.

MaxPoint Interactive, says in a news release, "analyzes billions of data points consumed by neighborhoods across the U.S. such as: offline point of sale data, social media, videos, music, local Web pages and online magazines."

For its April Interest Index, the company "scored each neighborhood across hundreds of topics related to consumers interested in and purchasing eco-friendly products like hybrid cars, as well as green technology such as solar panels and alternative fuels."

The result was this list of its top 10 cities that showed the highest interest in eco-friendly products and issues.

1. Washington, D.C.
2. Austin, Texas
3. Honolulu, Ha.
4. San Francisco, Calif.
5. Medford, Ore.
6. Portland, Maine
7. Tampa, Fla.
8. Burlington, Vt.
9. Milwaukee
10. Columbus, Ohio

We all know that Milwaukeeans work hard and play hard, and now Parade confirms it putting Brew City at No. 20 on its list of "America's Hardest Working Towns."

This latest ranking, a creative marketing tie-in from Parade and Total Cereal, was based on average hours worked per capita, willingness to work during personal time, number of dual income homes and local employment rate.

The top five cities were Columbia, Mo.; Hartford, Conn.; Norfolk, Va.; Bloomington, Ind., and Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Here's what Parade.com had to say about Milwaukee.

20. Milwaukee, Wisconsin

"With the decline of manufacturing jobs in Wisconsin, Milwaukee residents have been hard at work over the last decade revitalizing their hometown, including the construction of the Milwaukee Riverwalk and Miller Park. Metro Milwaukee added 3,000 jobs to payrolls in February of this year alone. The city scored four points above the national average in sacrificing personal time for work and five times above the national average in agreeing with the statement, 'I must admit, I work most weekends.'"