Blog entries for MilwaukeeMaestro

TPS23: Why are so many people so angry?

MilwaukeeMaestro — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 21:27:26 GMT

I have written 22 previous blogs as the title to this one indicates. My Friend works for OMC, and encouraged me to do so because I love two things more than anything: Food, and Sports. Well almost more than anything... Anyway, some of my articles people get really really mad and you can tell by the tone are actually upset that I wrote them. One recent reply finally got it on the head. A person under the name "Disbelief" wrote (Paraphrase): "Remind people that you are not a professional. It is your opinion, and they can take it or leave it". Isn't that the point of blogging. I write most of the time out of sheer boredom, and sometimes because I actually care, but when people start to get upset with my writing style or my opinions it is just absurd.

Earlier I wrote a blog ripping on Mr. Lucky because he was hogging all the reader blog space. Under the old format there were only three reader blogs displayed, and with him writing 1 or 2 a day there was no room for anyone else. I didn't care about his style or content, I was concerned that he was simply promoting himself in a forum that was inappropriate for such content. So my Mr. Luck Complaints aside, OMC is supposed to be about one girls opinion that Water St. is too "ghetto", or about how one guy can't get away from some girl, or about why summerfest was fun or disappointing. If you don't care what I think about Wicked Hop, or you think I am an idiot why read my comments? I am just a guy who has eaten at a lot of places, and watched countless hours of sports, and read countless articles about both sports, and food. Does that make me an expert? No. But who gives a flying (edit). Everybody needs to chill out. This is what leads to random acts of violence. Someone reads a blog, and can't believe that after 10 times at the Harp I have never disliked my meal. I write what I feel all the time, all truth, and frankly it seems like most of the time people respond in a positive way. Here is an example: the same week myself, and the OMC staff writer wrote an article about Swig. Replies to her article 2, replies to mine 9 (one was mine). Clearly people like to read what some guy thinks. I think my collection of blogs speaks for itself and demonstrates some sort of knowledge.

All right this is getting long. The moral of the story is everyone relax. Keep the random thoughts coming, that is what this space is for. Finally, if you disagree with me great, but do so in a reasonably respectful way, or just plain don't read my blogs. This link at the bottom of the page should help.

TPS 22: The Harp (The Best Bar Food Experience In The Mil)

MilwaukeeMaestro — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:45:56 GMT

Ok, after reading some of my recent blog entries I realize that I haven't written many positive reviews lately, so I am going to write about one of my favorite places: THE HARP.

This is THE place to go for bar food. I think that Hooligans on North Ave. has excellent food, including great salads, but the atmosphere inside is not great, and sitting outside looking at the traffic on North Ave. is also not thrilling. However, the Harp sits right on the river across the street from the new Trinity Bar, and Rudy's. Besides the fantastic back porch atmosphere, the food is outstanding. Here are some of my favorites:

Reuben Rolls: These are likely store bought, but I could be wrong. Regardless they are great. Egg-Roll skin deep fried around corned beef and sour kraut, served with Thousand Island dressing for dipping. They are probably mini-artery cloggers, but oh so tasty.

The Pesto-Chicken Salad Wrap: It isn't chicken salad as the name implies, rather strips of grilled chicken covered in a great pesto sauce, and accented by slices of fresh buffalo mozzarella. The wrap is wram and cripsy, and the mozzarella really makes this dish. I can not recommend this with any more passion.

The Sriracha Chicken Sandwich: If you like Sriracha Chili Sauce, hot and spicy, this sandwich is great. It is smothered in Sriracha, and makes you sweat under the sun on the porch.

The Beef Tenderloin Sandwich: Served on an onion roll with fried onions on top, and a garlic-mayo sauce this sandwich was my favorite until I met the Pesto Wrap. Again, as far as steak sandwiches go for the price the best tasting I have ever had.

Their wings are above average, their burgers are great, and there is another wrap I love that is southwestern or spicy something like that. The denouement for each dish is the Harp Chips. The Harp Chips are homemade potato chips with Parmesan cheese crumbs covering each deep fried delight.

Really the only cons to the Harp is that most of the tables on the porch are wood benches that aren't very comfortable especially if you are tall, the drinks are a little higher priced than they should be but that is for the view of the river, and sometimes the waitresses are a little slow because they are dealing with a lot of tables. However, all that aside it is, and will be, one of my favorite bars to eat at in Milwaukee, and one of my favorite restaurants at that.

TPS 21: Wicked Hop (Another Disapointing 3rd Ward Experience)

MilwaukeeMaestro — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:16:17 GMT

I don't know what it is. Maybe it's the fact that it takes me an hour to park, and my AC is broken, as is my driver's-side window, causing me to drip sweat as I search for a spot. Maybe it is the fact that these places I go to in the Third Ward people always tell me are great places. However from Swig, to Water Buffalo, to Rip-Tide, and now Wicked Hop I walk away consistently disappointed. I've written about Water Buffalo, and Swig, and now it's Wicked Hop.

Appetizer (Starts off on wrong Foot): Guacamole and Chips. The chips were great the Guacamole was so bad I would love to use an expletive to describe it. It was one of those clearly store bought Guacs. You know the one you are excited about when you get it from the refrigerated section, but then it has the smooth consistency of sour cream, is overly citrusy, and at no point even offers the hint of avocado except for the baby-vomit-green coloring. I think it should be against the law to offer Guacamole on the menu without actually making it in your own kitchen. If you want the best Guac in town check out Cubanita's. Their's is clearly homemade, and comes with their homemade Plantain chips.

Main Courses:

1. Buffalo Chicken Wrap. It is on the menu as the BBQ Chicken Wrap, and they were nice enough to make it buffalo. That was the only thing they did well. The tortilla was cold and way to soft. The chicken was ok, but there was not enough buffalo sauce, and the accompanying vegetables inside the sandwich were likely a frozen pre-mix. The way I explain restaurants like this is I say to people, "Think what Applebees would taste like if they had better ingredients. What if the people at Applebees had to shop at Glorioso's or Sendick's? Maybe the food would be better." Wicked hop is what Applebees would be like if they shopped at Pick n' Save (No offense to Pick n' Save I love you).

2. My dining companion also got a wrap, and I pretty much have told you the problems. I have an Idea. Wrap the sandwich and briefly throw it on the grill, or pan sear it so it is a bit crispy. I do it all the time at home with Fajitas. Wrap your food and then throw it in a dry hot pan, or on the grill or in the oven. It makes the tortilla warm and a little crispy and really enhances it.

Finally, The Famous Bloody Mary. What a freaking joke. Ok I get it for brunch it comes in a Boot. Great. The mix is homemade, great. That means nothing if it sucks. It is like they made a crappy bloody mary and covered it up by putting a ton of little garnishes including a decrepit mini dill, a black pickled mushroom, a beef stick, and a bunch of weird string cheese that looked like noodles floating all over in it.

I just don't get how these places stay in business. I mean the food sucks, and people still go because the price is right, and you can sit outside. I got an idea everyone come over to my house. I will charge half the price, make better food, and you can sit on my lawn. People need to check out places like The Knick, and Harry's on Oakland. Those two places are what Wicked Hop, and Water Buffalo wish they were.

TPS 20: Favre, Sabathia, and The Feelings of the Fan

MilwaukeeMaestro — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 19:11:30 GMT

Hello out there in reader land. I was going to do something special for TPS #20, but instead I'll save it for #25. I just have to write about these two topics. For those of you who don't care about these topics stop reading. This blog might end up being long, I'm not sure, but I have to get it out.

Topic #1: Favre

There are few athletes that received the love, and deserved the love of the fans the way Brett Favre did, and still does. I have a friend, who since the retirement of Favre, actually does not use the word four anymore. He will say, "Hey maestro set the timer for Favre minutes", or, "Hey I'll have Favre Big Macs and a large fry". A little sick I know, but that is what it is like to be a life long Packer fan. When so much of your memories with your family and friends center around the right arm a country boy from Kiln, it is easy to see why people care so much about Brett.

After the Packer loss to the Giants I literally blacked-out from grief. Sure I had a few beers, but as I sat in the booth of my farve-ite bar I was in a haze. I broke a plate and a glass by accident, and my companions wondered what was wrong with me. They had seen me through the game, and knew that I wasn't drunk. I'm not sure what happened the next couple hours, but I knew the season was over. When Brett retired, I wasn't upset, or sad. Instead I was happy that I had the chance to watch him play, and the privileged of calling him my QB. I started mentally preparing myself for the Aaron Rodgers era. I liked Aaron's arrogance, and I liked the fact that he had been able to wait for his chance to shine. Sure I would have liked it if Brett had said "I'll be back", but he didn't, and I moved on.

Now, however, all of this speculation is messing with my mind. Why won't either side come right out and say anything?:

Brett: "I want to come back" or "I am retired and that is it"

Ted Thompson: "We want Brett" or "We have moved on. Brett is on the trading block"

As a fan I am so sick of all the talk. Look Brett I love you. You are the best. If you read TPS #1 you will see why I think you are one of the greatest of all time, but now I just want closure one way or the other. I would welcome Brett back with open arms if he did it right now. The longer he waits the worse it is for the team. Is he better than Aaron Rodgers, we don't know for sure, but the answer is almost definitely, yes. So Ted and Brett open your bleeping mouths and settle this thing right now.

I heard from a beat writer that fan opinion of Favre returning is mixed. I don't think it is mixed I just think people want is resolved now. It can only hurt the team to drag this out as Aaron Rodgers tries to prepare for the season. If Brett does come back... do it now so that the team can start to gel again. As fellow fans, what do you in reader land think?...

Topic #2: CC

I have been a Brewer fan all my life. Going to games and watching them at home with family and friends. This is the first time, that I can remember, where the Brewers have done something to win. Doug Melvin went all-in, and it wasn't a bluff. His hand was steady, and his voice showed the resolve this team has been missing for years. Mark Antanasio (sp?) deserves all the credit. Finally we have an owner willing to spend money to win, in turn attracting fans and making money. If only all franchises in this city were like that (....Bucks). CC may not bring us a world series, but he likely is the piece that will get us into the play-offs, and until then, he will bring hope to a great baseball city, and the team that plays in it.

Go Crew... here in writing I am pledging to shave my head, and pee my pants, if the brewers make the playoffs. If you want to join me check out this website:

http://peeyourpantsforthebrewers.com/index.php

Until then... let me know your thoughts on the crew.

TPS 19: The Real SWIG

MilwaukeeMaestro — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:45:01 GMT

I noticed that one of the staff at OMC went to Swig recently and really enjoyed it. In fact it is at the top of the page with a big picture and everything. While I assume that the writer is being honest, and knows what they are talking about, I can't believe we went to the same restaurant. I couldn't disagree more. I generally write about restaurants, and I recently went to swig and decided not to write about it because it was so bad. I don't like dumping on someone's livelihood, but after reading the review at the top of the page I had to write this one.

We started with the hummus w/ pita ($8.50). This was good. The pita was good, and the hummus was too, but I don't think I have ever even had a bad hummus plate.

I ordered the crab cakes w/ Chipotle Pesto ($8.50 (4)). They were terrible. They were coated with cornmeal, and when I ate them all I could taste was cornmeal. Then I dipped them in the really elaborate looking sauce that came with. Again cornmeal. The sauce had no flavor. Chipotle Pesto is what they called it. There was no chipotle flavor, nor was there pesto. It was a bland tomato sauce. They were without a doubt the worst crab cakes I have had in Milwaukee. If you want to try a crabcake that has crab, and taste like crab, go to Balzac. They have the best crab cakes I have ever had.

My companion ordered the organic baby greens salad w/ beef tenderloin ($7.50+$5.00). It came with a roasted red pepper dressing. The dressing wasn't bad, but the mandarin oranges that came didn't fit the dish at all. Also, to call the steak that came on top beef tenderloin is blatant false advertising. They were very thin slabs of a grey beef that were edible only with gobs of dressing and feta cheese. We were expecting a small thick tenderloin cut into strips.

To top it all off the people next to us had a terrible experience. The man sent back a glass of wine, and the woman sent back her fish that was the special of the night. She was so upset that she didn't even want anything else. They did give the people free drinks, and a free dessert, which is all you can expect, but that's not the point. I have never been anywhere where I disliked my meal, and so did the table next to me to such a degree.

Our waitress was very good, but good service is secondary to good food, and the food was anything but.

I am marking this date on my calendar. If this place is still in business in two years I will go there and spend $100 sampling everything on the menu thinking maybe I missed something. Until then I will never go back and I will recommend my friends never go. The reason they moved off Water isn't because it fits better in the Third Ward, it's because the food stinks.

TPS 18: THE US OPEN... The Greatest Tourney Worldwide?

MilwaukeeMaestro — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:27:15 GMT

Today's topic: What makes the US Open so great?

The US open has long been regarded one of the greatest tournaments in sports. Besides some of the great memories it has given us: Hale Irwin winning at 45 years of age, John Daly reaching a 630 yd par 5 in two shots in 1993, Tom Watson's Chip-in on 17 in 1982 all but clinching his victory over Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer comes back from a 7-stroke deficit to win in 1960, and Tiger Woods winning by 15 strokes in 2000. However, aside from all of these great feats, the best part of the open is ... well it's open.

Ever since ESPN started airing the World Series of Poke, that "sport" has sky-rocketed in popularity. Why? If you listen to a lot of players at the big tournaments, and the celebrities who play in them, it is the only event where an amateur can compete with a pro/legend of the game. The US Open provides a similar situation.

In 2006 a 15 year old boy from Hawaii named Tadd qualified for the open. He missed the cut, but how fantastic is that. A 15 year old couldn't play against T.O., or dunk over Lebron James, and although the batting practice stories about Prince Fielder hitting dingers at Tiger Stadium at age 12 are legendary, he never laced 'em up for a game (Interesting note: Jason Kendall's father, Fred a coach for the Tigers at the time, was the one throwing the pitches to Prince. Afterwards he told his son Jason to watch out for that kid). This 15 year old boy tee-ed it up with the best of them, and although he didn't make the cut, what a thrill.

For years I have always said the greatest tournament in the world is England's FA Cup. A soccer tournament that is an open cup for any soccer team within the FA (Football Association). Teams that are semi-pro get to play the likes of Manchester United, and once in a blue moon, the shocking happens. I watched a game where the goal scorer drove and Ice-Cream truck as his day job, and then practiced with the team at night. It was amazing. He was playing against guys who make millions playing the very same sport. To make an American analogy it would be like having a tourney where the Madison Mallards played the Brewers in baseball, or The Bone-Crushers got to play the Packers. There need to be more tourneys like this where amateurs have a chance to go head to head with their heroes.

Back to the U.S. open, and why we love it. We love hearing that Tony Romo and Justin Timberlake, both scratch golfers, attempted to qualify. Even better we love seeing qualifying amateurs make the cut, and rub elbows with the big boys. It gives us all the feeling that "Maybe I could do that". Clearly if any of us possessed the skills to do that, we already would have. However, like in any sport, sometimes the stars align and you get hot. Imagine if by hitting 20 three-pointers in a row at the local YMCA you got to come off the bench in an NBA game. All it takes is a few remarkable qualifying rounds, and boom you get to hit balls with the greatest in the world.

So, is the US Open the greatest tourney in the world? Who knows, but the idea behind the event, and knowing that anyone has a chance to play in it gives it a much greater appeal than a lot of other tourneys.

TPS 17:EURO 2008 (That's Right Soccer)

MilwaukeeMaestro — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 23:41:14 GMT

I have been away for awhile. Sorry to all my loyal readers who are used to reading my blogs about places I love to eat. However, as I have said before my other passion is sports. Anyway, if you are home during the day (June 7-June 28), have tivo, or are able to watch a match on tape delay I highly recommend watching as much of the EURO 2008 tourney as possible. Remember it is played once every four years, and the current title holders are the Greeks.

Here are 7 things to watch for in this years tourney (7 for Ronaldo's Jersey number):

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal): The commercials say it all. Get ready to dance with the Portuguese. This man was unquestionably the best player in the world for the past year (Manchester Utd). If you haven't seen him play he is absolutely mind-boggling. He has speed that can only be compared to someone like Devin Hester. I'm serious. From 0-60 faster than any player I have ever seen in soccer. If you think I'm kidding check it out. He has the dribbling ability of Isaih Thomas, the passing ability of Steve Nash, and the scoring ability of Kobe Bryant meaning he can score in a variety of ways. It is possible that he is the most entertaining soccer player to watch of all-time bar none (Pele, Maradona, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, KaKa etc.) (Key Match: Portugal v Czech Republic). Also, his girlfriend, Gemma Atkinson, a british tabloid star, and actress is pretty good-looking.

2. The Sleepers (The Dutch) 12/1: Sitting sixth on the odds list behind (Germany 3/1, Spain 11/2, Italy 7/1, Portugal 15/2, France 17/2), they are chalk full of fantastic players. This is a team that has goal scorers from top to bottom. They have four strikers that can score in the blink of an eye in (Kuyt, Van Persie, Van Nistelrooy, and Vennegoor of Hesselink). One of their brightest young stars Ryan Babel will not be on the squad due to injury, but if I were betting on a sleeper I would take the Dutch. The biggest thing standing in their way is they are a member of the group of death with France and Italy. Keep an eye on Arjen Robben the left winger, when healthy he is one of the fastest and fiercest left footed players in the world. (Key matches v. Italy, and v France.

3. Zee Germans (Favorites). Not having won a trophy since 1992 when they won the Euro '92 title they are hungrier than ever. With German Futball legend Franz Beckenbauer constantly running his mouth as the Director of football, he creates an atmosphere that could only be created in Wisconsin if Brett Favre became the GM of the Pack. 5'9" forward Lukas Podolski is the bulldog, pacey, forward who lead the team in scoring during qualifying. He is something like Steve Smith of The Carolina Panthers, he is small, but if you blink it's points for the other team, and probably a little dance on the end. Part of the reason they are the favorites is because they have the easiest round-robin group. (Key Match: V. Croatia)

4. Derek Rae. If you don't know who Derek Rae is by name, or face, you might by voice. He is the play-by-play part of ESPNs number one squad with the ever-chatty Tommy Smyth doing color. Smyth known for his John Madden like knowledge of the game, and his quirky delivery of said knowledge (The Irish guy who sounds ridiculous and yells "into the old onion bag"). Rae however is beyond poetic. His voice perhaps the perfect pitch and tone for announcing a sport, his descriptive phrases flow from him like he is reading a Faulkner novel, and his love and knowledge of the game are unparallelled. If I were to pick one voice to hear when I get to the pearly gates (big assumption), it would be his. BEST ANNOUNCER IN ANY SPORT.

5. The Freedoms. If you think that the Phoenix Suns play basketball the way it should be played, with a fluidity and pace that never is dull, check out the French. With recently much maligned striker Thierry Henry likely out to prove that his skills were under utilized at Barcelona this year, look for fireworks from the French. If I had to pick a player to score the most amazing goal of the tourney it would be Mr. Henry. (Key Match, v. Netherlands, v. Italy).

6. The Azzuri: The Italians are the defending World Cup champions, and can't be happy drawing the Dutch, and the French in the group-stage with only two teams advancing. They are the San Antonio Spurs of soccer. They win with hard nosed defensive play, strength, and consistent flashes of brilliance from their "Big Three" on offense: The aging stalwart Alessandro Del Piero, The Marksman Andrea Pirlo, and the Cold-Blooded goal scoring of massive forward Luca Toni. However, with Captain Fabio Cannavaro out with injury, and the Italian squads ever present legend Pipo Inzaghi not on the final roster, look for a possible let-down from the mighty Azzuri. If you could bet against a team to not win I would bet against the Italians.

7. This Years Greece: I'm going to go with the Turks. I don't think that Turkey can win the tourney, but at 50/1 it might be worth 10 bucks. They have a chance to get out of their group if they can out-duel the Czechs, and co-hosts Switzerland, not an easy task. I can see them advancing behind the likes of Mehmet Aurelio (M, Fenerbache, Turkey), the mini-mite Emre (M, Newcastle, Eng.), Tuncay Sanli (F, Middlesborough, Eng.), and Hamit Altintop (M, Bayern Munich, Germany). Altintop is questionable, but if he can play this is a talented team.

Check it out whether you are a fan or not. It is extremely important to a large portion of the world. The TV ratings will dwarf any American sporting event except the Super Bowl (Depending on the final match-up it will likely receive more viewers than the Super Bowl). If you aren't a fan tune in to watch Portugal and France, they play the most attractive soccer.

Pictured (R-L, also my guesses for top three goal scorers R-L)

Cristiano Ronaldo, Fernando Torres, and Lukas Podolski.

TPS 16: This is Sportscenter

MilwaukeeMaestro — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:30:33 GMT

Anyone who watches ESPN knows the this is Sportscenter commercials. The generally have an athlete who is at the ESPN studios working for ESPN interacting with an anchor in a funny way. Here is my idea for a "This is Sportscenter" commercial featuring Prince Fielder.

The scene opens:

Scott Van Pelt: I love it when professional athletes eat in the ESPN cafeteria it gives us anchormen a chance to prank pro-athletes.

Cut to a lunch table with Van Pelt on one side of an unattended tray, and Stuart Scott on the other, putting strips of bacon on a veggie burger.

Scott: Sh! sh! He's coming. Act Natural.

Stuart: Hey Prince. How is being a vegetarian going?

Scott snickers, and takes a bite of his burger. Stuart also snickers and bites his burger. Prince confused asks:

Prince: What's So funny guys?

Scott: Why don't you eat up and we'll tell you.

Prince: (Shrugs and Bites his sandwich).

Cut to Scott and Stuart doing the evening SportsCenter looking beat up with black eyes and tattered clothing struggling to speak during the highlights.

Back To Scott: Yeah, that was almost as bad as the time we signed the Stanford Tree up for one of those Internet dating websites.

Cut to the Stanford Tree on a date at a nice restaurant with the Oregon State Beaver.

THIS IS SPORTSCENTER

TPS 15: Vegas Baby

MilwaukeeMaestro — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:18:32 GMT

Hello out there in reader land. They say "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas". I say let me tell you what happened in Vegas.

My friend and I boarded our plane to Vegas with excitement in the air. We were heading to the annual Vegoose Music festival. The yearly festival takes place around halloween in Las Vegas at the site of the UNLV football stadium. Musicly it was a hodge-podge with acts ranging from Fiona Apple to Widespread Panic to G-Love to Jurrassic 5. We however were headed out there waiting to see our personal favorites like Keller Williams and Yonder Mountain String Band, but were quite pleased with some of the other shows we saw. I'll tell you about all of that later, but for now lets start at day one.

DAY ONE: We arrived in Vegas just in time. My friend was about to punch me in the face on the plane ride because I wouldn't stop singing "Viva Las Vegas". We got off the plane and quickly cabbed it to the MGM Grand. If you haven't been there it is amazing. They have lions in the lobby in a little habitat type thing. I think lions are their trademark, because they had lion symbols everywhere. Luckily we had booked our trip well ahead of time through one of the internet hotel things like Expedia or something, and we got the flight and the hotel for 100 bucks a night. It was sweet. The first night, Friday, we saw Keller Williams at the house of blues. It was one of the best Keller shows I had ever seen. Possibly the best part of the show, and the best part of Vegas is that there is no "open container" policy. What that means is you can order a drink in one of the hotels, and then just walk outside, and walk down the street drinking it. It's amazing. We bought a bottle of Jack Daniels and just walked around pulling from it.

DAY TWO: Woke up a little groggy. We got in a cab and asked the cabbie where the best buffet was. He said that a lot of people think the Paris is the best bang for your buck, so we went there. It was amazing, prime rib, crab legs, 50 cheeses, baguettes, and 25 desserts. We ate our faces off, and headed back to our hotel to prepare for day one of the festival. We were heading to the grounds around 5pm, so this lunch buffet was a nice base. Right as we turned the corner from the Paris buffet towards the lobby I saw a GOAT, wait the GOAT, The Greatest Of All Time that is .... Jerry Rice. No one recognized him. He isnt very big, but it was f-ing Jerry Rice. I recognized him and almost soiled myself. It was pretty sweet. Anyway, where was I... Oh yes teh festival. Saturday we saw Yonder Mountain String Band, Keller Williams w/ String Cheese Incident, and at night Phil Lesh and Trey Anastasio. It was a grueling 8 hours of dancing like you are on a ton of drugs... hippies man. I do love the music though. After the show we went back to our hotel to prepare for the Late Night show of the day. It was String Cheese Incident. If you don't know String Cheese is kind of a strange jam band with bluegrass influences. They all came out dressed as gorillas, because of halloween. I think the guy next to me thought he was hallucinating the gorillas, but they were there. The night ended, and we went home and passed out.

DAY THREE: We went back to the festival and saw Tom Petty, G-Love, and Widespread Panic. It was a good time. I ate one of those giant turkey legs. You know what im talking about. I felt like I needed a mullet just to order one, but I just couldn't resist the majesty of the giant leg. That night we saw Phil and Trey for the late night show. You would think that two of the bigger names in the genre would make for a great show, but to be honest it was probably the worst of the trip. After the show we headed home and prepared for Monday our first day of gambling... boy did that go well.

DAY FOUR: We woke up and decided it was time to gamble. We went to the old strip, freemont street, where the gambling is a bit cheeper. In Vegas the main strip with all the big hotels generally has higher limit tables for almost all of the gambling games. Freemont, which is known for its overhead light show, has a lot lower limit tables. We played a little roulette, my friend played some blackjack, and I hit the slots. I actually played in one poker tourney it was a ten man sit and go, $30 entry. I got third and missed out on the money. It was a terrible beat. I was a near lock and the guy hit the river. "That's no-limit baby".

Anyway the slots is where it got interesting. I immediately won $125 at a quarter slot machine. Then I went to the nickel slots. I hit the jackpot. The siren on the top of the machine went off, and the old lady next to me almost soiled her depends. The casino staff cam and paid me my 3200 nickels, or $162. So now after all my winnings I had a little over $300 burning a hole in my pocket. It was dinner time, and I wanted to have a $300 dinner for me and my buddy. We asked around, but really couldnt find anywhere we wanted to go. This stripper who was trying to get us to come into her club was like, "You want to spend $300 on dinner? You should come in here". I was like, "Eh... I haven't had all my immunizations I'll pass". We ended up at the MGM grand dining room where we had Surf and Turf and a bottle of red wine. It was fantastic. It was now about 10 o'clock, and time for our final late night show. This time it was Widespread Panic, and it was in our hotel... oh yeah, and it was halloween. All the hippies were in costume. The show was good, and when it ended it was one of the greatest scenes ever. All these gamblers in the MGM grand were instantly bombarded by a parade of costumed hippies. My buddy and I decided it was bed-time since we had an early flight the next day. We got to the room, and I had $20 left in my pocket. I said, "let's go downstairs, ill blow this 20 and then we can sleep, so we did. Except I didn't blow the 20... I put it in a slot and won $1,000... we instantly went to the bar, and I said to the bar tender "ill have three shots of your finest whiskey, a 7 and 7, and a Kettle One Vodka Gimlet"... the cost $210... each shot was $50... oh well i was still up. We drank and drank and you know what happens next....

DAY FIVE: We overslept. When we finally woke up the line to get a cab was 50 people deep. We did the only thing we could and chartered a stretch hummer limo to take us to the airport. It was great and it only cost $60. We made it just in time, and I passed out instantly on the plane. Vegas was great, but I think I lost 3-4 years off the end of my life. Winning in Vegas has to be the best vacation a person could have. Losing on the other hand.... well it probably sucks.

TPS 14: The Best Vacation Ever

MilwaukeeMaestro — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:02:02 GMT

Most of the time I blog about dining, but of course this week is bringing out the superfluous blogger in everyone. So, let me tell you about the best vacation I ever went on. The year was 2000. The occasion was my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary. The Trip.... A Norwegian Cruise Line trip around the Caribbean. Let me explain something about cruises; they are totally amazing. This particular cruise I was one had 12 different servings of food per day including a midnight buffet. For my devoted readers you know I love food. For people that see me in person you know i love food. Any place serving a midnight buffet is like my utopia. Anyway, lets start from the top.

We flew to Miami and left from there. Miami is an interesting city. I was there three years later for a four night run of Phish over new years eve, and I noticed something. Nobody speaks English. I mean seriously, I asked the hotdog cart guy for some ketchup and he looked at me like I was on drugs, and I wasn't. I had to be like "Rojo... Rojo" which means red in Spanish. Anyway, we left from Miami, and instantly i loved it. We had a standard room. I think it was below the water, but I'm not sure. It was me and my two cousins, in a room with no windows. It was amazingly comfortable. Still to this day the best sleep I ever had because it was pitch black. I would wake up thinking it was ten in the morning, and it would be like 2:30. Lets move on.

Every night we would meet in the main dining room for dinner. Each table had their very own waiter who only had to serve your table. I think our guys name was Raul... he for sure was from Colombia. It was cool. All the staff was from different countries which were highlighted on their name-tags. Moving on.....

My mom is the type of person who would need a Dramamine I.V., but she was fine pretty much the whole trip. She of course was happy to go ashore at all the islands we stopped at, but didn't really get sea sick at all. The ship was so big you couldn't really tell you were on the ocean. We stopped at St. Martin, St Thomas, and another St. I cant remember. I got a deck of naked playing cards at St. Thomas and that was pretty sweet, although the pictures were from the 80s, so some of the "hair-dos" were a little much for me, but what do I care.

All-in-all I highly recommend going on a cruise. Ever since I went on this one I have been trying to go on another one. You get pampered and you don't have to do anything. It is like being on a floating resort that plans your visits for you. If you have the chance go on a cruise.

TPS 13: Travel to Chicago and Eat Here

MilwaukeeMaestro — Wed, 07 May 2008 00:38:30 GMT

Hello to all out there in readerville. As my devoted readers know (From reading my first blog) I spend every other weekend in Chicago visiting my lovely girlfriend. She and I have really developed a love for going out to eat which is easily satisfied in a city the size of Chicago. Thankfully, she is generally willing to try everything at least once, so we go to restaurants of all different types. Here are a list of Ten Chicago Eateries that every Greater Milwaukee food lover should try when they visit the big city to the south (In No Particular Order)

1. Le Colonial (http://www.lecolonialchicago.com/) (Downtown).This is without a doubt my favorite restaurant of all time (Sorry Sanford's). It is a Vietnamese restaurant, with a heavy French influence. As many know Vietnam was a French colony formerly. Anyway, it is a bit on the pricey side, but there is no topping the food. The interior is decorated to make you feel like you are at a French Restaurant in the middle of the Vietnamese jungle. If you like Vietnamese food, or are just someone who is willing to taste exquisitely prepared unique dishes this should be your first chi-town stop. Get the Sup Do Bien which is a seafood bouillabaisse with coconut milk and a noodles giving it its Vietnamese flair it is too good to even explain.

2. Sura (http://www.surachicago.com/) (Boy's Town). If I were to open a restaurant of my own I would pattern its menu after Sura's. It's Thai food Tapas style. There are about twenty small plates to choose from ranging between $5-$12. There are also a few entree sized options at a more entree-esque price $14-$18. When I go, we normally just get a bunch of small plates and share. You can stuff your face for under $20 per person. It used to be BYOB, and unfortunately they are phasing that out, but the food is still worth it. The interior is ultra-modern-chic, but that goes with the fashionable aura of the "Boystown" area of Chicago.

3. Tavern On Rush (http://www.tavernonrush.com/) (Downtown). Located on Chicago's signature Rush St. this is your quintessential steak place. With steaks as their specialty they also serve some mean seafood. The whitefish was a big hit when I went. It is not a place to go everytime you visit as it is quite pricey, but if you ever want to accidentally run into someone famous dining out on the town this would be the place to go.

4. Shine Morida (http://www.shinemorida.com/Shine/) (Lincoln Park). We got our first sushi sighting. Shine is a fantastic Japanese restaurant, and sushi therefore, is their specialty. If you like sushi, and are in Lincoln Park (near DePaul) this is a must visit spot. My favorite sushi spot in a city crawling with them.

5. Charlie Trotter's. (http://www.charlietrotters.com/) (Lincoln Park). I had to mention Trotter's or I would have been missing perhaps the most renowned restaurant in the city. I took my girlfriend there for dinner for her birthday, and to be honest it just really wasn't worth it. Get ready to spend around $300-$500 for dinner for two. The menu changes daily, but you basically choose from three different tasting menus of varying cuisine and course numbers. The food was very good, but everything was tiny, and some of the food was just to creative to be good. The desert was Sour Cream Sorbet. It tasted like frozen sour cream, gross. If you want to do the tasting thing go to Sanford's here in Milwaukee. It is cheaper, and the food is better. If you can afford it is certainly worth a stop for the experience. It has been voted the best restaurant in America by a number of polls a number of times.

6. Bricks Pizza. (http://www.brickspetaluma.com/chicago/menu.html) (Lincoln Park). It's Chicag. You gotta have a pizza place. I am a thin crust guy, and so this is a thin crust place. The pizza is great, and so are the combinations of toppings you can get. I recommend the Ditka (Meatlovers), and the Painful (pepperoni, onion, Jalepeno, and garlic). The price is right, and the place is cozy. A great spot to go with a group of people.

7. Quartino (http://www.quartinochicago.com/) (Downtown). I almost wish I didnt wait til number seven to mention this place. It is the best place to go in Chicago no matter the occasion because it is pretty inexpensive. They even expressly advertise "where the wine is as cheep as water". The house wine comes in huge carafes and is almost actually as cheap as the water. It is small plate dining, so most of the time when we go we order a bunch of stuff to share at the table. They have a ton of options pasta, pizza, salted meats, even different types of olives and olive marinades. Everytime I'm in town and we need a place to go with a few people I suggest Quartinos. It is a can't miss winner for good Italian food and tons of fun for a reasonable price.

8. The Wiener's Circle. (no website) (Lincoln Park). This would be your Chicago Hot Dog stop. The food is good, and the service is terrible on purpose. It is pretty funny. It reminds me of the old Ed Debevicks (Sp?) where the staff basically makes fun of you while you order. The unique experience and Vienna Beef makes it worth a visit.

9. Minnies (no website) (Lincoln Park). This place is so awesome. All the food is mini. A ton of mini-sandwich options (burgers, tuna melts, cuban, etc.), and ice-cream to fits its 40s diner decor. They also have a late night carry-out window where i have often gotten a box with 4 or 5 mini-sandwiches. Great place to go with kids, or if you are only just a little hungry.

10. Nookies Too. (No website) (Lincoln Park). Nookies Too brother of the original Nookies is you breakfast hot spot. It is not uncommon for there to be a wait of over an hour, with people actually waiting. The food is that good. They even had to build a back porch to get more tables in. I am not always a breakfast guy, but they have some great egg-meat-potato combinations. Any food you can put hot sauce on is good food in my book.

All of the places in Lincoln Park are about a $12 cab ride from downtown. All the downtown spots are about a $6 or less ride from anywhere else downtown. Boy's Town is a little north of downtown, but not as far as wriggleyville. It's about a $16 cab ride from downtown. If you ever are going to Chicago check some of these places out and let me know what you thought. Tomorrow check out my travel blog about the best vacation I ever went on.

TPS 12: Takara (Elm Grove)

MilwaukeeMaestro — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:58:55 GMT

Hello out there in reader land. Being from Delafield originally I often want to yell out phrases such as, "The West Side is the best side!", and "Where the hell is the smiley barn?". For this particular blog I think option number one is fitting. Often times I hear people talk about where the best sushi is in Milwaukee, and I am always open for suggestions. The not-so-informed pick is Izumi's (which I think stinks due to its inconsistency), the I'm-very-trendy-and-rich pick is Nanakusa (which regrettably I have yet to attend, but heard is wonderful just a bit pricey). I have heard a few other places muttered including Sake-Tumi on Milwaukee St., which was ok food wise, but i had a bad experience there. Finally, I think I have found the place. On bluemound road just a mile or two east of mooreland road there is a fairly new Japanese place called Takara. Here is the rundown:

Starters: Edamame (Steamed Japanese Soy Beans $4.95). It is hard to screw this up, but for the first time in my experience the dish was served with a Lemon Wedge which was a nice little compliment to the beans covered in sea salt.

Miso Soup ($2.50): I love miso soup, but I have to say this was not their best dish. It was a little bland and lacked any sort of signature flavor. Still it came with a lot of the dinner combos so that is cool. For those of you who venture to our capital city, Restaurant Muramoto on King Street just off the capital square, has the best miso soup I have ever had, and overall is awesome.

Companion #1 (Bones Scarface) #75 Sushi Deluxe 9pcs Sushi and Tuna Roll ($18.50). Served with miso and salad. This was a great order for anyone who really enjoys the fish and finds that most rolls tend to hide a bit of the flavor behind cucumber, avocado, etc. The tuna roll was just a standard sea-weed on the outside small piece of tuna in the middle. The salad had the nice standard orange colored, ginger flavored, dressing that is common in most Japanese restaurants.

Me: Spicy Tuna Roll ($5.95), Fashion Roll (Shrimp, tuna, salmon, avocado, cucumber, tempura flakes & tobiko $8.50, Naruto (Spicy tuna, caviar, avocado, scallion, rolled in thinly sliced cucumber $7.95). The spicy tuna roll was a very good version of an old favorite. The fashion roll was very good, but the star was the Naruto roll. It was finely chopped tuna mixed with caviar wrapped around an avocado cube. Then instead of seaweed to keep the roll together, thinly sliced cucmber was used, and there was no rice involved. This was one of the best rolls of any kind I have ever had. It is a candidate for the Ten Best Dishes list i'm putting together.

If Takara sounds familiar perhaps you have been to their location on State ST. in Madison, or at their westside Madison location. They offer hibachi at all three locations, and their addition to elm grove about a mile east of mooreland on bluemound rd. is a great sight. I highly reccomend this place for anyone out west.

TPS11: Lunch at Kil@Wat

MilwaukeeMaestro — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:07:56 GMT

Hello Loyal Readers,

Im back to my regular format of reviewing restaurants or talking about sports. Today, Kil@wat located in the Intercontinental on the corner of Kilbourn and Water. I went to lunch with some real Milwaukee big-wigs. I felt like I was way out of my league. These people were real classy. I had to leave my "Denny's" language at home, and switch into "Applebee's" language. Here we go:

Companion One (Howard the Duck). Howard ordered the Barbeque Pulled Pork Sandwich w/ fries ($9 or $10). It was delicious. I think the most important part about this particular sandwich was it was served on an Onion Roll, and topped with cole-slaw. I think the onion roll is underrated, and topping the pulled pork with cole-slaw is a southern home-cooking trademark. Everything about this sandwich was great.

Companion Two (Ms. Claudia). Claudia ordered the greek salad with chicken ($10, $12 w/ Chick). This was a very hefty salad. Certainly enough to be a full meal. Topped with diced tomato, feta, kalamata olives, and a couple of Pepperoncini peppers. I didn't taste this because Claudia and I had just met a squash tourney and I didn't want to frighten her, but from her comments, and the looks of this salad I would say a pretty top-notch greek salad if tha tis your thing.

Companion Three (Ellen Griswold). Ellen ordered the Spinach Salad ($10). I think that it is on the menu as "the spinach salad" either way it is the salad that comes with spinach leaves. It was topped with bacon, and chopped hard-boiled egg. Ellen ordered the blue cheese dressing with it, but my guess is it generally comes with a hot bacon dressing as is the style with the spinach, bacon, egg combo. I can not access the Kil@wat menu form their web-page so im not sure, but this looked great as well. It wasn't as big as the greek salad, but because of the bacon and egg im sure it was as filling.

Me, The Prodigal Son. I ordered the breaded whitefish BLT ($10). This was a fantastic sandwich. It was served on a large sesame seed bun, and topped with bacon, lettuce, and tomato. It also had a really nice tartar sauce that had a strong hint of citrus. The breading itself was also nicely seasoned, and I was happy overall with my choice.

NOTE: As you all no I don't do dessert, but I have to mention something extra about Kil@wat. The bread you get to start the meal is fantastic. A couple of rosemary rolls which were great, and a couple of Pretzel rolls. The pretzel rolls make you feel like you are eating an extra fluffy hot pretzel from the bradley center or something. Overall A+ for the bread.

Overall, Kil@wat provides a very swank-up-scale atmosphere, but in the end is as casual as you want it to be. The prices for lunch are reasonable, and overall is a great place to do a business lunch. Don't be scared away by the fact it is in the hotel on the second floor. It is definitely worth a stop.

TPS 10: Dear Mr. Lucky

MilwaukeeMaestro — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:51:50 GMT

DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in this blog do not reflect the opinions of OMC, their staff, or their fanbase. The opinions are merely the thoughts of this writer, and are in no way meant to be taken seriously by anyone.

Dear Mr. Lucky,

Why do you have to post every single day? Sometimes you even post twice a day. When you do, you bogart all of the front page space. Only three reader blogs get to be on the front page, so when someone else writes something, and then you post two blogs it boots us off the front page. I mean sure, "The mothership" sounds really interesting, and clearly you are a top-notch stand-up comic, but do you really think people need to hear the monotony of your day-to-day routine. Maybe if you were a proctologist, or a plumber, or an IRS agent, you know, something interesting, I wouldn't mind reading about your daily routine. Anyway, if this little paragraph hasn't been enough to convince you I have decided to compile a top ten list of reasons you should just take a day off or something. You know let one of us guys get sometime on the front page.

10. Your picture looks like the face of someone who is trying to sell me a "male enhancement product". You're turned sideways with a look that is saying "Come on. Try it. You think I would have this smile on my face is I wasn't sure that it would increase YOUR size. Oh Yeah. I'm Mr. Lucky All right".

9. All of the cheesy titles. "Flu Bugged", "Colon The Barbarian", "Mail Dominance". I hope you don't do jokes like that during your sets. I mean you remind me of Kenny Banya from Seinfeld. You know, the guy who does a whole bit about how ovaltine should really be called "roundtine" because the can it comes in is round. I can see why they didn't pay any attention to you in Richland Center. Those people have a pulse.

8. The category you list your blogs in is Arts & Entertainment. They are neither Artsy nor Entertaining.

7. No one, and I mean no one, not even your best friend, thinks it is funny to read about how you were bombing, on stage during your 50 minute set (unreal), so bad that you started to fart. Then how great you thought it was that you could tell the people in the front row could smell it and no one suspected you. That is just weird.

6. Blogging is not like grade school. You don't get a medal for perfect attendance.

5. That guy who bullied you when you were a kid. Yeah, he doesn't read your blog, so stop taking out your aggression on us. What did we ever do to deserve this kind of treatment?

4. I'm Robert Goulet. You think I would get top billing. Goulet!

3. No one knows any of the people whose names you are dropping in all of your blogs. Until you can give me a Dom Irrera shout out or even a Carrot Top i'm really not interested who else was scheduled to appear with you.

2. At the bottom of every blog you provide a link to your web-page. It isn't even finished. All it is is one page with some blurb about how you hope we can all make it through our dobie withdrawal. Yeah, that's going to be tough. I will probably have to turn to alcohol. Oh wait that is what i would have to do if i was at one of your shows... sorry.

1. Day in and Day out im sure someone accidentally reads your blog, and that is three minutes of thousands of peoples lives they will never get back. If we subtracted that from your current life you would be dead already.

Dobie, i tease because I can hide behind a veil of anonymity, but this website is dedicated to Milwaukee. People come to it to read about events, sports, restaurants, etc. Basically all things Milwaukee. It is not a personal promotion place where you can blab on about your travels around the seedy bars of the Midwest. That is for ONAFRIENDLESSJOURNEY.COM ...

TPS 9: Vliet Street Gems (Meritage, and Fair Grounds Coffee)

MilwaukeeMaestro — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:23:20 GMT

What's happening to my three readers, Legally Blonde, aViking, and my mom. Thanks for reading guys. Anyway for those of you in the wauwatosa area/western Milwaukee this one's for you.

I went to Meritage for dinner with two dining companions: Jake Taylor, and Mary Swanson. The food was fantastic. Here is the rundown.

Apps: Barbeque Bison Slider ($6). This was amazing. It was only one slider on a small roll, the typical slider side, and it came with a side of show string sweet potato fries, but it was beyond tasty. The barbeque sauce was very tangy and sweet, and the meat was very tender. If this was a full size sandwich I would highly recommend it as a main course, but in lew of a soup or salad this is a great starter.

Braised Pork Crostini ($7): This was a nice little starter. Two small pieces of Rye bread toasted and topped with cabbage, and pork loin with an apple glaze of sorts. The pork was very very good, and made us regret not ordering pork as our main dish, but I recommend this as well if you like pork.

Jake ordered Steer Tenderloin ($20): This was your typical fabulous steak. It was topped with a Blue Cheese gremolata. I was curious about this. I tasted the blue cheese and it was really really good. I thought that the cheese tasted a little garlicy. Too my surprise "gremolata" is an italian mixture of lemon, herbs, and garlic. So that stuff was mixed with the blue cheese atop this tenderloin. A red wine sauce was underneath the meat on the plate, along with mashed potatoes and some veggies. Highly recommend this one if you like steak and blue cheese as much as i do.

Mary ordered Marlin ($22). This was the nightly fish special so unfortunately wont be there when you go. Let me tell you it was great. It came with a little avocado on top in a guacomole-esque state. Then the sauce and accompaniment was made from blood oranges which are awesome. It is a deep "blood" red orange that has a little more tart of a flavor than a regular orange. Wonderful dish that if it ever happens to be offered when you are there check it out.

I ordered Grilled Scallop Caesar Salad ($17). For my devoted readers you know how much i love scallops. This was no let down. This was also one of the more interesting dishes I have had in awhile and might make it on my best of Milwaukee dish list. The half head of romaine lettuce was char-grilled and really provided a neat backdrop for the scallops which were wrapped in pepper bacon. Of course the dish was tossed with a nice dijon-heavy caesar dressing. The scallops were perfect, the bacon was amazing, and the grilled romaine provided something i have not tasted in my life which is very rare. I highly recommend this dish on any warm day it was refreshing and tasty.

Again, for my devoted readers you know I don't do dessert. This is a time to make an exception. Right next door to Meritage is the Fair Grounds Coffee Shop. What makes this shop different than other coffee shops is it is also home to the kitchen that creates The Most Fantastic Shortbreads which are soon to be sold at Outpost grocery stores. If you like shortbreads there are no topping these. They formerly were made in Hartland, WI, but now with the coffee shop as a front their new location is the perfect home. Also, selling the Wisconsin staple Suzy's Cheesecakes this coffee shop is the best place to unwind have a cup of joe, a couple of shortbreads, and a couple of slices of Suzy's Cheesecake. Vliet St. you are lucky.

DISCLAIMER: The Meritage Menu will be changing for the summer in the next couple of weeks, but some of the items might be the same.

TPS 8: Coquette Cafe

MilwaukeeMaestro — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:07:29 GMT

Coquette Cafe the second child of Sandy D'Amato, Milwaukee's greatest and most famous chef, is located in the Historic Third Ward. My Dining companion and I decided to check it out since our mouths were still watering from my b-day dinner at Sanford's, Coquette Cafe'solder brother.

To start: The german potato salad, bacon, smoked salmon, herb salad, with caraway vinegarette ($9.95). This was a nice little opener. It was potato chunks a few smoked salmon and bacon squares, green onion, and some nice herbs with a very light topping of the caraway vinegarette. It was served cold, and was a great alternative to a salad of any kind.

my dining companion Annie Savoy: Annie ordered the Grilled Pork Loin ($19.75). This has to make my top ten dishes in the city list (I will release this sometime in the near future). It was incredible. The waiter said it was his favorite and that is why Annie got it. I could immediately see why. The pork was cooked perfectly, and had a great grilled flavor. It was served with potatoes, portobellos, and was braised with a rosemarry apple vinegarette. We were both worried that the vinegarette would be too sweet. It was not. It was just a perfect compliment to the porks sweetness itself. I highly recommend this dish to anyone who will give this place a visit.

My Order: I was feeling like a sandwich. I got the leg of lamb sandwich ($9.75). It was good not great. THe biggest problem was how little lamb was actually on the sandwich. There were really thin pieces of lamb on the sandwich, and in some spots were hardly enough to taste in any bite. However, when you were able to get some lamb it was fantastic combined with the olive bread. The sandwich was served hot, and grilled like a panini with an aioli and lettuce and tomato. I would not reccomend this because of how little lamb came on it. It did not do itself justice.

I highly reccomend Coquette Cafe to anyone who wants to know why the Lama himself ate Sanford D'Amato's food when he visited Milwaukee. It is the reasonably priced alternative to Sanford'. Check it out for lunch or head there for a nice dinner.

TPS 7: Tutto

MilwaukeeMaestro — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:52:26 GMT

After studying attention spans of the readers of blogs on OMC I decided to make my dining blogs a little shorter. So here we go

Tutto (Old world 3rd next to maders)

Food:

Mitch Weaver (Dining Friend): Chicken Marsala ($15). Mitch loved this dish. He took his pants off he was so happy, but was kindly asked to put them back on. It was good in my opinion... not great, but im not a huge Marsala fan. The chicken was quite good on its own. Very moist very nice. It was tossed in with a bed of rigatoni, and some cherry tomatoes in a Marsala sauce I would liken to italian dressing type clear tangy broth.

Mildred (Friend #2): Veal Cotoletta ($19). This dish was good. It was lightly breaded baby lamb with some bell peppers and other assorted vegetables. I think it could have used a sauce of some kind but the veal was very tasty.

Me:Traditional Sandwich ($9). This was great. A nice italian sandwich with salami, mortadella, bell peppers, a couple of cheeses, and muffalata (which is a spicy mixture of peppers, green olives, and carrots all chopped up). I liked it it was served hot on a nice french bread sub roll.

Salad: We all had some Caesar salad. I really enjoyed this. Some of the best Caesar I have had in a while. It was a nice dijon-garlic-Caesar dressing with shredded parm on top, and some fresh ground pepper. Good stuff.

Appetizer: Breaded Eggplant. If you like this dish you would like it here. Nice and lightly breaded served with marinara for dipping.

Overall I give tutto a good score. The food was good sized portions and fit the price well. It would be an awesome place to go to watch a game if you didnt want to eat traditional bar food. There are TVs in every booth on the wall. Which was great, but dont go with a girl cause which would you rather do: Listen to her talk about her day, or watch the sports at the end of the booth?..... easy question.

TPS6: McCormick and Shmick's

MilwaukeeMaestro — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 04:23:40 GMT

Hello out there in dining land. I want to talk about the new restaurant in the parking lot of the North Tower next to Mayfair Mall, McCormick and Schmick's. If any of you have been on Whacker Dr., or on the circular parking garage that you always see in commercials, in Chicago you have seen this restaurant already. It is a chain, but don't let that fool you.

The menu changes daily, although I'm sure not greatly. On the top of the menu they list all the different fish and seafood items that were shipped in that day, including where they were caught. Then the menu below shows how the chef uses the fresh catches. They print a new menu everyday, but I'm sure there are many regular items including the Clam Chowder ($3.95/cup or $4.95/bowl). I had a cup of the chowder and to be honest, which I am, I was a little disappointed. The chowder consisted of a standard white cream base, potato's, peas, and of course clam. It was good, but not great, and I think a seafood restaurant should pride itself on its chowder, but then again I am a chowder fiend. Because of this I was a little nervous about the rest of the meal but I was pleasantly surprised.

We ordered a Lump Crab Queso dip appetizer ($9.95). This is where a food critic would use a word like "delightful" or "Robust" or perhaps a phrase like, "rich with aromas of the farm and the sea". I never understood that. Frankly it makes me angry. Anyways before I go off let me tell you a little about the queso. It came in a hearty portion accompanied with chips that were clearly homemade. They were not tortilla chips but more like the shell of a taco salad bowl. A little thicker and more crumbly similar to Taco Bell's wondrous innovation the chalupa. Anyway, they were seasoned lightly and fantastic. The dip itself was a nice melted cheese I'm guessing a little mild white cheddar and chihuahua, but that is just a guess. Of course mixed in with the cheese was some lump crab. There was not a lot of crab, but it was enough to do the job. Either way it was great. Half the dip was then topped with chopped chunks of avocado, and the other half was topped with a pico-de-gallo style tomato salsa. I think avocado makes everything better.... everything.... mmmm... avocado.... This dish was great. So good I used the bread that came to the table, a quarter loaf of sourdough with butter, to sop up the remainder of the cheese. I thought about licking the plate, but the people at the table next to me were family friends so I nixed that.

Now to the Entrees. I will start with my dining companion we will call him Max Power. Max ordered the Sea Scallops (21.95, I think or $21.00). I love sea scallops. I put them right behind Lobster, Ahi Tuna, and Crab Cakes on my seafood hierarchy. These did not disappoint. They were freaking huge! A good sized sea scallop in my opinion is the size of silver dollar (approx). These were the size of silver Euros (if monetary value were the basis for coin size). There were four of them atop a bed of potato pancakes. Atop the scallops was a mainly decorative salad of shavings of assorted vegetables which Max ate too fast for me to get a look at. The sauce on, and all over the plate, was kind of a light thin hollandaise-type with a basil drizzle throughout. I give this dish a 10, although sea scallops that are an 11 exist at Lake Park Bistro, but at the Bistro they are an appetizer, and the preparation varies seasonally, but the Bistro's scallops one of the ten best "dishes" of any kind in the city.

My second companion, Dr. Farthing (Fake Name), had the Cajun Barbecue Shrimp ($19.00 I think, it was less than $20). This time the seafood was great, the prep. was good, but could have been better. There were eight jumbo shrimp battered in a pseudo tempura fashion. Tempura batter is made with cold water and wheat flower and occasionally egg white is mixed in. It is the cold water and the minimal mixing of the batter that creates the lumpy nature of the batter. The batter on the shrimp at M&S was smooth around the shrimp, heavily spiced, and definitely contained egg yolk; you could taste it. I liked this not loved it. I thought the spice was too heavy and it took away from the shrimp, but I enjoyed the cajun kick that came at the end. The shrimp were accompanied by some assorted vegetables including some fine asparagus spears. Also, on the plate was perhaps the most unnecessary accompaniment I have ever seen, a giant pile of white rice. My companion at none of the rice as it made no sense at all.

Finally to my dish. As I mentioned I am a sucker for Ahi Tuna. As anyone who loves the Ahi knows it is most often pan-seared and served extremely raw, as it was here. I liked where the people at M&S were going here, but I just thought the missed the target. The Ahi was cut up into rectangles about as thick as an Ipod maybe a little thinner (like a new generation Ipod), and not quite as big as a business card. There were about ten of these, which was enough to fill the average eater. The pan searing had crusted a cajun-style spice on the outside which did not match this dish at all. The rest of the dish was japanese in nature, as I will explain, and I think a sesame seed coating or even panko crust would have been more fitting. Perhaps they did not coat the tuna with sesame seed because of the sesame-seaweed-cucumber salad garnish. This was good, but only a few bites in size. Next were three California roll inspired makis (rolls). They were nothing special, but a nice touch. Also with the dish was some Soy Sauce, wasabi and ginger like you would find on a sushi plate. As I always do I added a little wasabi to the soy, and dunked everything. The problem was that the cajun spice of the Ahi did not match the rest of the Japanese flavor as I said before. It was a strange dish in that sense, but the Tuna was good, and I'm a sucker for Ahi. I would say if you absolutely love ahi go ahead and get this. If you are neutral on ahi, or even kind of like it do not order this.

Dessert: I don't do dessert. I am a busy man and do not have time.

The final bill with tip, tax, drinks (Two Iced-teas no liquor) was $103 so unless you are Burt Reynolds you probably can't eat here often, but I would recommend it, because at a non-chain the meal would have been $10-$15 more in my estimate, and the food was good. If you like something like the queso dip it was great, and if you like food the scallops were great. The cajun shrimp and the Ahi Tuna were so-so. If you want to check it out I would say go for lunch the menu is much more affordable, but the food is still fresh. Overall I would say a great place for seafood. The price fit the meal, the proportions were big, and the food was fresh.

TPS 5: Omaha Wrap-Up

MilwaukeeMaestro — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:52:09 GMT

OK, so the Badgers are headed to the sweet sixteen. I could not be happier. How terrible would it be to have been in Omaha only to have the badgers lose to stupid K-State. However, the Badgers proved they were just a far superior team. The crowd was heavily K-State, but the badgers jumped on the wildcats early and often keeping the crowd subdued. The Badger fans made as much noise as they could considering most of them got discount flights thanks to AARP, but they cheered even if they didn't know where they were.

Two things:

1. If you have a wedding or some event to go to in Omaha, NE, Do it. It is a pretty cool city.

2. The Badgers are primed and ready for a run at the final four thanks to the best coach in Division 1 basketball, and don't even try to tell me its Tom Crean.

I can only post one picture at a time, so I'll post the picture of the badgers congratulating K-State on an early trip home

The Prodigal Son 4: Session 2 Omaha (Badgers)

MilwaukeeMaestro — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 16:40:31 GMT

Note: ("Picture" means I have a picture of the person, but I can not post them until sunday because I forgot my usb connection cord and so I cant post them till I get home.... (Insert string of profanity))

Game one of session two was possibly the most nationally anticipate match-up of the week. It certainly was for an NBA general managers and that is why the Miami Heat's Pat Riley was in attendance (Picture). The reason, of course, was the presence of the two lottery picks: Oj Mayo (Picture) (USC) and Michael Beasley (Picture) (Kansas State). Also, on K-State, future lottery pick Bill walker a high school teammate of Mayo's. The game however did not live up to expectations. Constant whistles made it impossible for the game to have any rythm, and Beasley was in foul trouble for most of the game. In the end K-State prevailed in, what was the theme of the Omaha games, a boring blowout.

Game Two BADGERS: It was an ok performance. A win is a win and a cover is a cover, but not the best from Bucky. They shot poorly, turned the ball over and were softer than expected. However, besides a 30+ point performance from Cal-State Fullerton junior star guard it was a case of the better team just being too good to contain. (Pictures of this Game)

More On sunday including pictures and a game two re-cap for the two of you reading this LegallyBlonde and My Girlfriend