My annual article, 52 Restaurants for your Bucket List, was originally created to provide readers with an easy way to explore the wealth of restaurants in the Milwaukee scene over the course of one year (52 weeks). Today, as we navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, it provides a fun and equally compelling guide for folks who’d like to bring variety to their weekly meals while providing vital support to some of our finest local restaurants.
Here's the featured restaurant of the day, plus five can’t miss dishes to try.
Damascus Gate
807 W. Historic Mitchell St., (414) 509-5975
damascusgatemilwaukee.com
[Read the compelling story of Damascus Gate]
There’s little more delightful than a trip to Damascus Gate, where Syrian fare is both showcased and celebrated. There’s vibrant, lemony hummus and hand-rolled stuffed grape leaves with tangy pomegranate molasses. And don’t miss the fatayer (handmade pies); the spinach is deliciously nuanced and the cheese pies are both tasty and beautiful, flecked with black sesame seeds. Foods are also presented as both individual dishes and platters, allowing you to sample your way through numerous dishes in a single trip.
5 dishes to try:
- Grape leaves stuffed with rice, tomato and lemon and drizzled with pomegranate molasses ($5.95)
- Spinach fatayer, petite pie filled with spinach ($2.45)
- Mixed grill platter with one kefta kebab and one chicken kebab, rice and grilled vegetables ($14.95)
- Kunafa, a sweet pastry soaked in syrup ($3.49)
- If it's your first time (and you have at least one dining companion or love leftovers), try the Damascus Tour, a sampler platter with hummus, baba ghanouj, falafel, mousaka, green beans with olive oil, grape leaves, mujadarra, fattoush, kebbeh, and two pies (fatayer) for $29.95
As a passionate champion of the local dining scene, Lori has reimagined the restaurant critic's role into that of a trusted dining concierge, guiding food lovers to delightful culinary discoveries and memorable experiences.
Lori is an avid cook whose accrual of condiments and spices is rivaled only by her cookbook collection. Her passion for the culinary industry was birthed while balancing A&W root beer mugs as a teenage carhop, fed by insatiable curiosity and fueled by the people whose stories entwine with every dish. Lori is the author of two books: the "Wisconsin Field to Fork" cookbook and "Milwaukee Food". Her work has garnered journalism awards from entities including the Milwaukee Press Club. In 2024, Lori was honored with a "Top 20 Women in Hospitality to Watch" award by the Wisconsin Restaurant Association.
When she’s not eating, photographing food, writing or planning for TV and radio spots, you’ll find Lori seeking out adventures with her husband Paul, traveling, cooking, reading, learning, snuggling with her cats and looking for ways to make a difference.
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