With a new sign emblazoned on the Downtown skyline, Kincaid's, 1110 N. Old World 3rd St., opened its doors in a space that for many years harbored Third Street Pier.
Milwaukee is the newest locale for the Restaurants Unlimited Group's Kincaid's, which also serves Bloomington, and St. Paul, Minn.; Burlingame, Carmel, Oakland and Redondo Beach, Calif., Honolulu; Phoenix; and Norfolk, Va.
Kincaid's, like so many other chain fish, chop and steakhouses, features an interior laden with wood and a menu with myriad options for seafood and meat lovers alike. What Kincaid's offers that is different is a lovely view of the Milwaukee River, and an outdoor patio abutting the riverfront.
In addition to standard fare -- a seafood platter which serves multiple diners, shared sides to complement their chops and seafood, and several monstrous cuts of beef -- Kincaid's menu is peppered with some more adventurous items including a seafood deviled egg trio ($8) which pairs the deviled classics with hot sauce and three tiny shrimp, Dungeness lump crab meat and smoked salmon, and a bacon wrapped kobe meatloaf ($17).
Pricing for dinner entrées starts in the teens for entrée salads like a maple chicken ($15) with pears, toasted pecans, Maytag blue cheese and a maple vinaigrette, or a prime rib French dip ($15) accompanied with bacon mac 'n' cheese, and run into the mid-to-high 30s for daily seafood specials and Bering Sea red king crab legs ($34) with grilled asparagus.
For lunches, diners can pair a combination of soup and salad ($11.50) or soup and half sandwich ($12.50), or choose from salads, sandwiches, or specialties which run the gamut from crispy fish tacos ($10) to roasted garlic prawns ($16) to chicken fettuccine with asparagus and prosciutto ($14).
Sandwiches come with homemade potato chips or French fries and range from $8 to $11, with an additional $1 charge for sweet potato fries. All dinner steaks are also available during lunch for the more famished in the lunch crowd.
Kincaid's is non-smoking and offers a children's menu for a family-friendly dining experience, assuming, of course, you can find parking in this busy strip of Old World 3rd Street. Valet parking or self-service parking runs a crisp $8 here, but at least if you have to take a short walk, you're on one of the prettier strips of Downtown.
Amy L. Schubert is a 15-year veteran of the hospitality industry and has worked in every aspect of bar and restaurant operations. A graduate of Marquette University (B.A.-Writing Intensive English, 1997) and UW-Milwaukee (M.A.-Rhetoric, Composition, and Professional Writing, 2001), Amy still occasionally moonlights as a guest bartender and she mixes a mean martini.
The restaurant business seems to be in Amy’s blood, and she prides herself in researching and experimenting with culinary combinations and cooking techniques in her own kitchen as well as in friends’ restaurants. Both she and her husband, Scott, are avid cooks and “wine heads,” and love to entertain friends, family and neighbors as frequently as possible.
Amy and Scott live with their boys, Alex and Nick, in Bay View, where they are all very active in the community. Amy finds great pleasure in sharing her knowledge and passions for food and writing in her contributions to OnMilwaukee.com.
