Now that our office is Downtown, I'm checking out some new-to-me places for lunch and revisiting some old noon-hour friends, too. Today, I walked across the street to see if Waterfront Deli, 761 N. Water St., could satisfy my yen for a prosciutto panino.
I've long been a fan of Waterfront, though I haven't eaten there in a quite a while. The place, which by now seems to have been around forever, has a great selection of salads, sandwiches, pizzas and other lunch options. Plus, how can you resist the Wonka-style food delivery contraption?
This afternoon I was nursing a serious desire for the kind of prosciutto, tomato, basil, fresh mozzarella panino on a mini baguette that Whole Foods has lately been offering.
Could I find something similar at the well-stocked Waterfront?
There's a prosciutto sandwich on the menu but as I ordered I asked if it was grilled. Nope. Still, I gave it a whirl, knowing already it wasn't going to be exactly what the doctor ordered.
Now don't get me wrong, the Prosciutto di Parma ($8.50) sandwich at Waterfront Deli is good. It's got roasted eggplant, red onions, roasted tomatoes, Fontina, arugula and a balsamic sauce on rye. It's thick and tasty. But a little over-complicated for my tastes today.
I'll have to keep looking Downtown for a simple, fresh, delicious, Italian-style prosciutto panino. Some folks have suggested Rustico, Sven's and Green Kitchen at the Public Market. I'll check them out.
But, Waterfront Deli, I'll be back; the pizza sure looked tempting today. In the meantime, please keep offering the blood orange San Pellegrino.
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.
