Entrepreneur Brian Zarletti recently opened his third local restaurant. The first was Cafe Zarletti, located in South Milwaukee; the second arrived as the even simpler-named Zarletti, in downtown Milwaukee; and now Rustico has been added to the scene. All three restaurants offer Italian fare in casual settings, though...

Fortunately for local businesses, all the talk of a recession doesn’t seem to be hampering area restaurants. More and more chains continue to discover Milwaukee, the latest of which is Fratellos. The first Fratellos opened in Oshkosh, with subsequent locations in Green Bay and Appleton.

With the 105th anniversary of Harley-Davidson barreling down on Milwaukee this summer, plus the opening of the motor company’s museum, thirsty minds turn to thoughts of the best beverage for the season.

Whether you trace its roots to the opulent courts of the Sun King or the corseted interiors of Victorian England, there’s no doubt tea-drinking ought to be rated among mankind’s most pleasant pursuits. The tearoom that sits above George Watts & Son’s china and crystal shop, with its unhurried atmosphere...

For many decades the neighborhood around East North Avenue has been a destination for film lovers, thanks to the Oriental Theatre. With its proximity to UW- Milwaukee, the area became one of the city’s party lands, a zone of happy hours and half-price pitchers, of bars and youthful clubs...

The outdoor tables at the Hi Hat Lounge (1701 N. Arlington Place) are some of the East Side’s most coveted spots for casual dining. The lounge’s neighboring facility, The Garage, has now added a weekday lunch menu that will allow more time to sit in the sun or eat indoors.

The Mekong is one of the great rivers of Asia, originating in China and flowing through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam before finally reaching the sea. Bahn Phongsavat and her daughter Sichanh recently opened a cafe of the same name, with a menu that features the cuisines of Thailand, Laos and Vietnam.

The strongest coffee in town is one reason for stopping at Chez Jacques (1022 S. First Another is the wonderful croissants, flaky and made fresh each morning in a city where misshapen lumps of dough are routinely passed off as croissants. Jacques boasts series of rooms,...

It was sometime after World War II when the supper club became middle-class America’s choice for a night on the town. Supper clubs were neither four-star restaurants nor diners, but offered good food familiar to American tastes in a relaxed setting.

Construction workers have been busy building a new outdoor dining patio at Fiesta Garibaldi (5108 W. Bluemound Road). At the rear of the main dining room, they’ve also installed what is called a fajita bar, a Mexican version of the Mongolian barbecue. You assemble raw meats and vegetables in a bowl, choose from a wide variety of sauces and then present your pickings to a chef who will cook it on the spot.

Two years ago Brew City relocated from its Water Street location to a spot one block to the west. The new site offered three bars, outdoor dining and a fine collection of Milwaukee brewery memorabilia. Recently, however, owner R.C. Schmidt gave Brew City a new name and a very different look. Now it is called Trinity Three Irish Pubs. The three pubs are named Duffy’s, Gallagher’s and Foy’s, and each has its own character.

Many restaurants claim to serve Philly cheesesteaks, yet few prepare them as they should. The rules are simple. Begin with a soft roll, not a baguette. The beef is not sliced; it is chopped and heated on a grill. Onions and green peppers are optional, and the preferred cheese is Cheez Whiz...

The independent grocery store is nearly a thing of the past. One of the rare survivors is Koppa’s Farwell Foods (1940 N. Farwell Ave.). The centerpiece, located at the rear of the store, is the Fulbeli Deli. Order at the counter from a menu of standardized sandwiches with many names from the solar system.

Swig first opened on Water Street in the spring of 2005. Owners Joe and Angie Sorge developed a concept of “small plate” dining—basically an international version of tapas. Since then they have opened the wildly successful Water Buffalo in the Third Ward.

Last October, after 18 years in business, the Third Street Pier abruptly closed its doors. The large and once-popular eatery fell victim to changing customers and competition. The space, however, lives on, this time in the form of a growing national chain named Kincaid’s.

Cafe Zarletti (1021 N. Milwaukee St.) may be the best restaurant on the Milwaukee Street strip, that two-block stretch of renovated 19th- and 20th-century buildings. The decor is spare and contemporary, the food lighthearted Italian.

The recently opened Karma (600 E. Ogden Ave.), located in the former Vivo Urban Grill, has now had a few months to find its footing. The space offers a sports bar upstairs and a sultry lounge and second bar on the lower level.

A sign at the street corner simply proclaims, “Freddy’s back,” in reference to the Puerto Rican restaurant owned by Eliu and Julio Quinones. A decade ago, despite its dark and somewhat dreary interior, Freddy’s still attracted customers who appreciated authentic Puerto Rican food.

Over the last 50 years family farms have struggled to stay afloat in a market dominated by large-scale agribusinesses. According to the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, more than 4 million U.S. farms have been lost, at an average rate of 219 farms a day, since 1960. Farms that have been owned by families for generations are lost because corn, milk or cattle have dropped in value in an agricultural economy flooded with cheap produce, dairy and livestock harvested from corporate farms.

For many years Polonez was a charming anachronism, a restaurant housed in a warren of little rooms that gave dining there the feel of a casual get-together in someone’s timeworn South Side flat. After leaving its South Sixth Street home near St. Josaphat’s Basilica, Polonez moved to a more conventional venue at...

The fact that restaurant serving sizes have grown dramatically in the last few decades is no secret; it’s as plain to see as the nation’s expanding waistline. Yet despite the steady chastisement from doctors, dietitians and documentarians, the American public doesn’t seem quite ready to relinquish its grasp on the momentously overladen dining plate.

Summer in Wisconsin announces itself with warmer weather, longer days and the return of farmers’ markets. Shorts and sandals are pulled out of winter storage so that customers can stroll, pale legs and all, through outdoor aisles of fresh and locally grown produce.

Coffee: It’s a worthy reason to get out of bed in the morning, a midday pick-me-up and a lifesaver during an all-nighter. Without coffee, our work engines would seize and our creative muscles would atrophy. But before a cup of joe touches our lips, the coffee beans must be picked, dried, hulled,...

Pull up a search on the Internet for vegetarian restaurants in the Milwaukee area and you’ll find a growing list of places that offer vegetarian food—not just bread and french fries, but nutritionally balanced vegetarian meals. However, few of them commit to a 100% meatfree menu.

Snacking is an American pastime, a well-loved tradition that we manage to associate with whatever activity we can. There are those of us who can’t imagine a movie without popcorn, a baseball game without peanuts or a road trip without sweets. Finally, there are some nutritionists on our side!

Some people have it, some people don’t—the magic touch that marks a business with undeniable success. When Bruno Johnson and his wife, Adrienne Pierluissi, opened the Palm Tavern in 2003, the Bay View bar became nothing short of a mecca for beer aficionados and scotch connoisseurs alike.

Pulling off the perfect party is truly a form of art. It requires foresight, organization, diplomacy, creativity, style and stamina. There are those of us who can lay claim to three or four of these traits—enough to critique the host’s choice of centerpiece or color palette—but to be able to unfurl each one of these skills in the execution of an absolutely seamless event, you have to be kissed by Bacchus, the Prince of Parties, himself.

A chef without tools is no chef at all, but merely a cave man who discovered the advantage of cooking with fire. Yes, some chefs will tout their self-sufficiency and creativity and their utter lack of dependence on kitchen utensils, but throw a furry carcass at their feet and observe what mere hands can do.