Season's eatings! The weather may be getting colder, but Dining Month on OnMilwaukee is just cooking up, dishing out your winning picks in this year's Best of Dining poll. Dining Month is brought to you by Fein Brothers, your premier food service equipment and supply dealer in Wisconsin since 1929. Congratulations to all of the winners, and happy eating for all those who voted! See all the winners for the month so far here.
Beans & Barley
There was little question when it came to deciphering the winner of this category. Beans & Barley, a perennial favorite among our OnMilwaukee readers, easily took the lead in the "best vegetarian" category and ran away with it, taking the top spot for the past nine years.
That's a huge accomplishment. But, it's well deserved. This East Side favorite, which helped to blaze a trail for vegetarian dining in Milwaukee, has served up a consistently delicious array of veggie-based favorites for more than three decades. From its signature burritos – which can also be made dairy-free – to sandwiches like the tempeh reuben and year-round bowls of chili, there are plenty of vegetarian choices for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Long-term Milwaukeeans might remember the original structure on the site was destroyed by fire in 1993, or even the old Murray Avenue location. But the current Beans & Barley building has been around for two decades – long enough to make it an East Side landmark.
Runners up:
2. Odd Duck OnMilwaukee editors' pick: Hello Falafel
Lori Fredrich's pick: Wolf Peach
3. Comet Cafe
4. Wolf Peach
5. Casablanca
Although I'm not a vegetarian, one of my chief criteria in judging the chops of any chef is their treatment of vegetables. Are their vegetarian or vegan dishes just as good as the meat entrees? Are they thoughtful? Well prepared? Just as interesting as the meat-laden courses? They should be. And such is the case at Wolf Peach, a place that offers a bevy of great vegetable dishes, including pizzas, pastas and side dishes that are both artful and generous.
