Water Street in Milwaukee has been an interesting nightlife area for the last 15-plus years, with a lineup of bars that make up one of the busiest bar districts in the city -- intermixed with taverns like Bar Louie and Buffalo Wild Wings and locally owned watering holes like Rosie's Waterworks and Terrace Bar.
The age range of the clientele on Water Street usually skews a bit younger than what you will find in some of Milwaukee's other happening weekend haunts, and the taste of the clientele is simple: Miller Lite, vodka cranberry and peppermint schnapps. The area is flanked by the more chic Trocadero and Good Life on the north, and at the south has an interesting meld of social spots that do not seem to draw as much of a drinking crowd.
We recently visited Swank, a Posh Eatery, 628 N. Water St., at the corner of Water and Wisconsin, to see a bit of the lighter side of Water Street. Swank, which opened in the early '00s, is decidedly a destination spot, as it lies amid non-social commerce and its closest dining and drinking neighbors are John Hawks Pub, Joey Buona's and Sweeny's on Water.
The sleek eatery is only open Thursday through Saturday, and they promote themselves as specialists in gourmet seafood appetizers. Although we were not wowed by the seafood, Swank's menu has enough interesting items and extraordinarily reasonably priced selections that we would definitely add it to our short list for cocktails and a quick bite to eat.
Thursday nights at Swank feature a special of $5 martinis and $9 jumbo fried shrimp. The shrimp are plump and lightly breaded and fried, with a Swank cocktail sauce which is reminiscent of a tomato and horseradish chutney, and are served with an order of crisp French fries.
The same Swank sauce accompanied an order of fried calamari rings ($8), which were not homemade, but were fried light golden brown to perfection and quite good. The chicken wing platter ($6 for 8 wings, $12 for 18 wings) featured pre-breaded wings and drumsticks that were inedible in a teriyaki glaze because they were way too salty, but they are also offered in barbeque, honey mustard, or buffalo versions which would be better suited to the breading.
In addition to twelve predominantly seafood appetizer selections, Swank's menu features salads, sandwiches, pizza and entrees, all with very reasonable pricing, and entrees include a house salad. Shrimp and pasta ($13) was a generous serving of angel hair pasta in a lovely tomato basil cream sauce, which tasted little of tomato or basil, but instead reminded us of an excellent and richly seasoned gourmet macaroni and cheese, and was surrounded with grilled shrimp. Salmon steak ($17) on the other hand, was served with a pedestrian Thai pepper sauce and rice and what appeared to be a frozen vegetable medley.
A vegetarian pizza ($10) was very good, with pesto in lieu of tomato sauce, and spinach, kalamata olives, onions, and sundried tomatoes, which made for a wonderful combination over the crisp crust. As a general rule, we found that the things Swank did well, like the shrimp and the pizzas, they did very well; the items that were less pleasing, like the salmon, or an extraordinarily fishy smelling and tasting cornmeal crusted catfish ($13) would be better left off the menu.
In part due to their off-the-beaten path location, both visits to Swank were very slow; we were the only patrons for our entire visit the second time we dined there. But, food here is on par with other establishments in their price range, the atmosphere is contemporary and inviting, and the martinis and shrimp are definitely worth an after work visit on Thursdays. We found service at Swank to be friendly and prompt, and we left satisfied and with a very reasonable tab on both visits.
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.