By Lori Fredrich Senior Food Writer, Dining Editor, Podcast Host Published Nov 06, 2015 at 11:06 AM

For the ninth straight year, October is Dining Month on OnMilwaukee, presented by the restaurants of Potawatomi Hotel & Casino. All month, we're stuffed with restaurant reviews, dining guides, delectable features, chef profiles and unique articles on everything food, as well as voting for your "Best of Dining 2015."

Rocket Baby launched a brand new lunch menu this week that focuses on seasonal comfort food options with creative twists.

The woman behind the new menu is Chef Andrea Murdoch, who started at the bakery in August and has taken on oversight of the bakery’s breakfast, lunch and dinner menus, as well as special events.

Murdoch, who has lived in Milwaukee since 2012, was most recently the bakery manager at Outpost Natural Foods Cooperative. Originally from Venezuela, she grew up in Ohio and completed her associate’s degree in baking and pastry arts as well as her bachelor’s degree in cafe operations and management at Hyde Park’s Culinary Institute of America. Her experience includes work in a commissary in Boston and a small county hospital in Georgia. She also served as pastry chef for a country club in Florida and worked on the line at a farm-to-table in Kirksville, Missouri.

"I was always very interested in food," Murdoch says. "My mom was the daughter of a potato farmer, so she brought the farm memories. And my dad gave me the food experiences. I’d hang out with him on a kitchen chair while he brewed his own beer. We’d make ravioli together."

Murdoch’s new menu features a variety of new sandwiches, as well as the launch of two rotating soups and two salads, which will change with the seasons.

Current soup selections include a tomato soup made with San Marzano tomatoes, garnished with basil and croutons, and beer cheddar soup made with Riverwest Stein and one-year aged Carr Valley cheddar. Future options will include a loaded baked potato, broccoli cheddar, chili and a curried butternut squash soup.

The Beetnik, a roasted beet salad featuring orange and red beets, orange sections, Greek yogurt dressing and watercress is also featured, and can be ordered as a side salad or main dish.

New sandwich offerings include Stout Beef made with thin slices of Whole Hog Espresso stout braised beef and gravy served on a fresh Rocket Baby potato hoagie roll with a side of roasted root vegetables.

Meanwhile, The Raquel (a play on the Reuben) features corned and roasted turkey, sauteed pickled cabbage and cranberry ginger aioli on freshly sliced Rocket Baby rye bread.

The Cider Boys Pork sandwich features pulled pork cooked in Stevens Point Cider Boys hard cider, with a molasses barbecue sauce on a Rocket Baby potato bun.

The croque madame will remain on the menu, as will the hummus and tabouli sandwich (though vegetables will be swapped out to make it more seasonal). And, although it hasn’t rolled out quite yet, a build-your-own grilled cheese option is on its way.

Thanks to the acquisition of a liquor license, bottled beer is also available for purchase at the bakery, including selections like Riverwest Stein, Whole Hog Espresso Stout, Ciderboys, Bell’s Two Hearted Ale and Not Your Father’s Rootbeer.

Rocket Baby Bakery is open Tuesday through Saturday from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Sundays from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Lori Fredrich Senior Food Writer, Dining Editor, Podcast Host

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 each and every dish. She’s had the privilege of chronicling these tales via numerous media, including OnMilwaukee and in her book “Milwaukee Food.” Her work has garnered journalism awards from entities including the Milwaukee Press Club. 

When she’s not eating, photographing food, writing or recording the FoodCrush podcast, 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.