This Bites

We find ourselves in the midst of navigating the highs and lows of Milwaukee’s food scene, and unfortunately this episode starts down a valley with the recent announcement that Mother’s has permanently closed. The Bay View spot hadn’t even been open for a full year, but it was quite an almost-12-months considering owner Vanessa Rose was named a James Beard Award semifinalist in the category of Eme...

This episode starts at the tail end of Halal Restaurant Week, which runs for a couple more days as it helps bring awareness to the options around Milwaukee that meet Islamic dietary guidelines while also inviting non-Muslim customers to try halal dining and encouraging restaurants to have halal choices on their menus year-round. What makes this a unique cultural food event is how it cuts across cu...

A little char on certain foods can add some nice flavor complexity to a dish. On this episode, we’ve got the podcast version of that, with two char-related news items right at the top. Because we like to start with the positive, our first chat is about Uncle Wolfie’s next pop-up dining event happening this Saturday: Chard Soul , a Southern soul food and barbecue experience from the mind of chef Tr...

Resilience is a non-negotiable in the restaurant business. If you’re not ready to rebound from a setback — even a literally devastating one — you probably won’t last long. We’ve got two examples of that bounceback-ability in this episode, starting with a new home that rose from the ashes of disaster.

One of the ways you can tell a city’s food scene is worth its (ahem) salt is how easily you can order a dish that takes you someplace far away. Milwaukee has grown into a hallmark for culturally diverse cuisine, evidence of which is all over this episode. It starts with a chat about the return of Milwaukee Asian Restaurant Week and continues with exciting news about the city's first Nigerian resta...

On this episode, Tarik and Ann dive deep into the rich culinary landscape of Milwaukee, and the biggest dive of all is fueled by the Italian-themed takeover of Milwaukee Magazine . Ann gives us a glimpse of what’s in the pages of the April 2026 issue by sharing the fascinating history of Italian immigration in the Third Ward and Brady Street, explaining how food in those areas evolved from "red sa...

On this episode, our food-loving duo kicks things off with the return of Tables Across Borders , a heartwarming dinner series at Amilinda and Tricklebee Cafe that highlights the talents of refugee and immigrant chefs from communities such as Ethiopia, Eritrea, Syria and Burma. Next, they dive into the newly debuted chef counter at EsterEv , offering an intimate six-seat tasting menu that brings ba...

Milwaukee lands five James Beard Award finalists, MKE Wine Weekend returns, Nite Owl fires up for season 78, Rare Steakhouse closes and Eagle Park acquires SoulBoxer.

James Beard Finalists, MKE Wine Weekend, Steak House news & more....

We talk about good food on the podcast pretty much every week, but every once in a while we get the chance to combine that with a good cause — as in the case of our first bit of chit-chat for this episode. For the seventh time, Dan Jacobs and Dan Van Rite of EsterEv/DanDan fame will throw their Dim Sum Give Sum event, which raises money for the Kennedy’s Disease Association. Jacobs was diagnosed w...

On this week’s delicious deep dive, Tarik and Ann start at Agency’s theatrical Filipino pop-up Sinta, which has become a permanent part of the James Beard-nominated bar’s offerings at 817 N. Marshall St. Chefs Zach and Katrina Panoski are serving up a creative collection of small plates and snacks ranging from "celestial" eggplant dip to crab lumpia topped with Pop Rocks. Then, Ann shares her guid...

Ready for an episode you’re sure to love? Because it’s Valentine’s Day? Get it? Hallmark holiday jokes aside, we do think you’re going to enjoy this one because it starts with something just about all of us can get behind: chocolate. More specifically, we’re talking about Indulgence Chocolatiers (one of Radio Milwaukee’s neighbors in Walker’s Point) and its Valentine-inspired truffle collection ....

A diverse food scene is an interesting food scene. Without it, we’d all be stuck in some dystopian future where every restaurant is a Taco Bell . Luckily, Milwaukee is worlds away from that scenario because of how global our city’s flavors are. In this episode, we touch on two recent examples that bring tastes from two distinctly different regions to Milwaukee. First up is a name familiar to the a...

This week’s flavorful updates start with some exciting Puerto Rican news: the Bad Piggy food truck is officially moving into a brick-and-mortar location on South Howell Avenue late this February!  Known for staples like mofongo and the “La Combi Completa” — a massive platter featuring roasted pork, garlic tostones, and sweet plantains — the previously food-truck-only establishment will be able to...

Our weekly round up food news includes the usual “good news, bad news” of openings and closings, but let's start with something that’ll warm the heart (and the stomach) during these chilly times. Soup is a classic example of a dish that can satisfy a lot of different purposes and flavor profiles. It can be savory, spicy, sweet, hot, cold, spoon-fed, sipped, slurped — it’s versatile, is the point....

It's a "good news, bad news" kind of episode, and we start by ripping off the Band-Aid to talk about the difficult spot Milwaukee restaurants are in currently.  Within just a few days, city institutions Beans & Barley and The National both announced plans to close, and several others have publicly pleaded for support as the traditionally slower winter months loom. We do our small part in the p...

Amid the recent sad news about one East Side institution , we’re starting this episode on a much happier note from right up the street, as Von Trier continues its steady pace on the corner of Farwell and North avenues. As Ann pointed out in her Milwaukee Magazine  tidbit , we didn’t have much to worry about when the nearly 50-year-old establishment changed hands earlier this year — primarily becau...

This episode kicks off with big news about the legendary Red Light Ramen, which returns for a special one-night-only pop-up on Nov. 28. Find out what's on the menu, including Tonkatsu ramen, Japanese curry and those famous boozy slushies. Next, we celebrate TrueMan McGee of Funky Fresh Spring Rolls! After pausing a national roll-out, McGee pivoted to the Funky Fresh Virtual Kitchen, now offering w...

We pride ourselves on our ability to cover a lot of ground within the confines of this podcast, and this episode might have pushed those skills to new heights as we went from Thanksgiving to food assistance to more secrets from Milwaukee’s dining scene and beyond. The Journal Sentinel ’s excellent dining critic Rachel Bernhard thoughtfully gathered information about restaurants offering free assis...

This week, we reveal some of the secrets of our culinary adventures around Milwaukee. And by that we mean we're sharing a few of the city's fantastic secret menu items , including the hush-hush "Carolina" Negroni and off-menu Cacio E Pepe at Calenzo. We also reveal the location of delicious pork tacos at Cloud Red and the rotating "secret handshake menu" at Braise Restaurant. Find those and a few...

Everyone loves a good list, and that’s especially true for food people. We love identifying and then arguing over the best … whatever — burgers, beverages or, in the case of this episode, donuts. Our sweet discussion gets a seasonal spin as we focus on apple cider donuts and nine local (and local-ish) places churning out the orchard-friendly bakery item. Up front, it’s important to note that we ha...

We're slicing off another savory section of Milwaukee's culinary scene on this episode, starting with Ann's recent Milwaukee Magazine  story about Burmese cuisine that sees her dip into traditional dishes from places like Ni Burmese, Khan Aseya and Taste Amir's Roti. From there, we take a quick trip to another part of the magazine for Ann's take on Purslane , the new chef-owned restaurant speciali...

This week's food news is coming at us from all sides, so let's dig in. First, you'll get the scoop on Nakama , a brand-new omakase restaurant coming to the East Side from the minds behind Screaming Tuna. We're talking an intimate, 11-seat sushi bar experience with fish sourced directly from Tokyo's world-famous Toyosu Market. We also celebrate a thrilling new addition to Odd Duck , as Bryce Steven...

Since we're coming up on the last day of summer, it seems as good a time as any for ... a Wisconsin-made frozen pizza taste-off! The staff at Milwaukee Magazine took on that delicious task recently, so we start our episode with Ann sharing the surprising (and kinda disappointing???) results. She also keeps us in magazine land for her recent review of Las Gardenias, a new(ish) spot with homemade to...

Tarik and Ann start this week's tour of Milwaukee food news with a trip to the Caribbean ... sort of.  The tropically minded cuisine will get a soul-food twist at new restaurant Jerkin' Me Crazy , which is set to open on Center Street this October. The concept from restaurateur Darryl Simmons will offer baked mac and cheese, chicken done three ways (jerk, curry, stew) and Caribbean-inspired cockta...