There's a new culinary direction at venues like MOVIDA, Yokohama, Jake's Delicatessen and Hotel Madrid's Bodegon and Vermuteria 600.
Stand Eat Drink Hospitality Group announced today that it has brought former Blue Jacket and Hinterland Executive Chef Matt Kerley into the fold. Kerley, whose background includes experience at numerous notable venues in Milwaukee, as well as Australia and San Francisco, joins an already strong team of chefs with whom he'll collaborate to build on the group's early successes and take them into the future.
In his new role, Kerley will oversee culinary operations across all of the hospitality group's venues. Initial goals will include a look at the offerings at the group's newest venue Yokohama, which opened this May. It's expected that a new menu for the restaurant will be rolled out by the end of November.
In the weeks following, Kerley will plan the one-year anniversary dinner for Hotel Madrid, which is slated to take place the first week of December.
"We’re very happy to have Matt on board," noted partner Andrei Mikhail in a press release. "He’s an incredible chef with a great vision of where we can go as a group and some amazing things we can do together here in Milwaukee, so be ready MKE."
As a passionate champion of the local dining scene, Lori has reimagined the restaurant critic's role into that of a trusted dining concierge, guiding food lovers to delightful culinary discoveries and memorable experiences.
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 every dish. Lori is the author of two books: the "Wisconsin Field to Fork" cookbook and "Milwaukee Food". Her work has garnered journalism awards from entities including the Milwaukee Press Club. In 2024, Lori was honored with a "Top 20 Women in Hospitality to Watch" award by the Wisconsin Restaurant Association.
When she’s not eating, photographing food, writing or planning for TV and radio spots, 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.
