SURG Restaurant group has snared three-time James Beard Award nominee Justin Carlisle for the kitchen at Umami Moto, according to SURG's Omar Shaikh.
Earlier this year, Carlisle – who is from Sparta in Monroe County – left Madison's 43 North to take a post at The Bristol in Chicago's Bucktown neighborhood.
According to its website, "The Bristol offers a locally-sourced and seasonal menu with Mediterranean roots. The diverse menu includes bar snacks, daily specials, a rotating chalkboard menu featuring nose-to-tail cooking, charcuterie and 5th Quarter offerings focusing on sustainable foodstuffs."
Carlisle, who attended culinary school at Madison Area Technical College, has also worked or has been a partner at a number of Madison restaurants, including Harvest, Muramoto and Haze, as well as at Chicago's Tru and The Greenbriar Resort in West Virginia.
His most recent Beard Award nomination arrived this past February when he was named in the "Best Chef: Midwest" category alongside Sanford's Justin Aprahamian, Hinterland's Dan Van Rite and Tory Miller of Madison's L'Etoile.
Shaikh calls Carlisle an "awesome chef. He's a really good guy, too! I can't wait for him to get here. (He) got national attention at Harvest. I always liked (his work at) Muramoto, too.
"Great guy, great vision and great attitude. He'll be a great addition."
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.
