Everyone gives dining advice now and again, but for some it's practically a full-time job. Christine Hodgson, Chef Concierge at Hyatt Regency Milwaukee -- 333 W. Kilbourn Ave. -- is one of them.
Every day, in addition for sorting out requests for dry cleaners, doctors and all kinds of things that her guests need, Hodgson answers questions about where to eat in Milwaukee.
But, she says, don't expect her to be able to give you the name of her favorite restaurant. She can't and won't do it.
"Oh, don't ask me that, I don't have one," she says in that personable way that makes her so uniquely qualified to work as a concierge. "I have many according to whom I'm with and what kind of evening we want. It's just impossible, there are so many and they're all so different. It's like asking what's your favorite vegetable.
"Remember, this is the concierge that wrote a dining guide for guests that has 30 restaurants on the back because I can't make up my mind."
Hodgson, who has nearly two decades experience at the concierge desk and is a member of the Les Clefs d'Or international concierge organization, says that a lot of people stand before her and want to know where to eat. And, she says, they often want her to decide.
They're hungry and they want to eat, but they sometimes don't want to decide.
"When I meet my guests, I just read them and I see if they're a couple or a young casual group or if they're from New York City; things like that," says Hodgson. "And then I ask questions: what kind of food they want, do they want to walk, is it a special occasion."
That helps Hodgson and other respected Milwaukee concierges like The Pfister's Peter Mortensen hone in and get closer to "the one." Subtracting some choices helps, too, she admits.
"I always try to steer them away from the big chains. We have 30 or 40 great restaurants to choose from within a half-mile. But sometimes they need to do something familiar or they are not adventuresome."
When the pressure is off -- and you're not a ravenously hungry guest -- it's easy to get Hodgson to talk about some of her favorite places. Her enthusiasm for Milwaukee and for the diversity of restaurants here -- especially Downtown -- is obvious and infectious.
"For trendy but casual I like Water Buffalo, I like to sit out by the water," she says. "I like any place you can sit by the water. I like the Ale House, too. Saketumi does a delicious maki roll. And Cubanitas on Milwaukee Street I like a lot. Coast ... I love their view, I love their food, I love their staff.
"If I'm taking my mom out for something special, we'd go to Mo's or Karl Ratzsch's. My family, especially my sister, loves Ratzsch's. I love Mimma's. I've been going there for 15 years and they're so consistent. When I send people there they always come back and say how great it was."
Although she admits that because she is a concierge at a Downtown hotel and many of her guests don't have cars, she's most familiar with restaurants there, she lives inland and has a few suggestions there, too.
"I like Singha Thai on Hwy. 100," she notes, "and for good, simple Chinese food I like Lychee Garden on 76th and Layton. And then some plain vanilla at Kopp's."
After sizing up her guests and hearing their preferences, Hodgson has some other good recommendations.
"If it's a couple, I'll send them to Coast or up to Polaris. It's quiet and pretty up there. It's intimate and the view is so nice," she says. "If it's a casual group I'll suggest the Ale House.
"Lake Park Bistro is nice for anniversaries and things like that. I like to send them on a drive along the lake up there or to Jack Pandl's Whitefish Bay Inn, which is an old Milwaukee favorite. Then I tell them to stop on the way back and go for a walk along the lake or on the breakwater, if it's nice."
Hodgson says that most guests eagerly accept her advice in the end and she herself enjoys traveling, so she knows how hard it can be to get reliable advice in a city you don't know well.
"They really want the advice," she says. "They love that we have hundreds of menus for them behind the desk and walking cards with directions. Most really want me to pick just one, but I can do that. That's why I ask them questions and they ask me questions, too.
"But my least favorite question is to name just one because I can't do it."
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
