Comet Cafe - Milwaukee, WI

 

 

 

It had been a long time since I had been to Milwaukee, and it is pretty close so I decided to take a day trip.  There are a lot of Amtrak trains that run between Chicago and Milwaukee, so it was easy to arrange a trip that arrived in the morning and left in the evening that gave me enough time to see what I wanted to see. Milwaukee is much smaller than Chicago, so I could have walked to the different areas that I wanted to go, but there were some legs that would have been pretty long walks, so I decided to employ a shared bike a few times.  There are a lot of good off road bike paths that are able to get you where you want to go, so riding a bike was advantageous.  I was able to see some cool spots that I may want to visit in more depth, like the Milwaukee Art Museum and I was able to get where I wanted quickly and inexpensively.   Milwaukee has been known for beer forever and I was going to try some of that, but I figured that if I was going to do that, it would be smart to eat first.  It was recommended that I try out a place called The Comet Cafe, located in the Lower East Side.  It has been featured on both the Travel Channel and on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, so I expected that the food would be good and even a little offbeat.  The shared bike parking was a few blocks away, but it's a nice neighborhood with a lot of art on the walls and light traffic.  Walking up to the building, I was very happy to see a lot of bike parking which I will have to file for future reference for when I come back on another day trip.  Walking in, it retains its retro look.  The entrance is on the corner of the building and the dining area is L-shaped with a counter/bar on the inside of both sides of the L.  In front of the restaurant is patio dining.  There are tables in front of the window on the inside at the front  and booths behind the counter as you walk toward the back of the restaurant.  There is a Specials Board featuring both savory specials and what cupcakes and pies are on the menu for today.  There were several sweets that sounded good, but as I was already going to have a high calorie day, I decided to wave off and just get brunch.

For brunch, I was looking for something hearty and some fruit.  Luckily they had both.  I also had coffee and Orange Juice.  I was very happy with their Fruit Bowl which contained a lot of seasonal fruit, Strawberries, Blackberries, Raspberries, Blueberries, and Bananas.  I was especially happy to see that the fruit bowl contained no canteloupe.  What was there was fresh and goodand involved no picking through (because I really dislike canteloupe).  For the savory portion of my brunch, I had what they called a Commuter Sandwich.  I will guess that it was called that because it has everything that you might want in a good breakfast in sandwich form, which is good for a commuter.  The standard sandwich has eggs, either scrambled or fried, I went for Scrambled, and Cheddar Cheese , on Grilled Multi-Grain Bread.  You could also add Grilled Ham, Sausage, or Bacon, and I added bacon.  The sandwich was also served with Hashbrowns on the side.  This is a little bit of a fail in reference to the commuter, but I wasn't commuting anyway and they were crispy, buttery (actually everything was cooked in butter), and very good.  This was filling, a lot of fun to eat, very good, and I will definitely return, so I can try some of their pie.     

Revolution Brewpub

As most of my friends would say, I love going to brewpubs as well as any number of restaurants.  I like going to breweries to try the beers that they make.  If they also serve food, all the better.  Revolution Brewing, one of the veterans of the Chicago craft brewery scene (opened in 2010), has been a favorite for years.  I realized recently though that while I have been here many times, I had never had a regular meal.  I have gone to a few popups and special dinners at Revolution's Brewpub, but those generally do not reflect the menu.  There beer reputation is well established and I had read many good things about their pub menu (which puts a seasonal focus on relatively standard bar food), so I decided to actually try it out myself.  Located in a very hot section of Logan Square, it is located in a vintage building with some very nice lines.  For the first few years of its existence, it had pillars in front of the entrance that were topped with fists.  The fists are a big part of the visual imagery for the brewery and are still on cans and coasters, but I was a little disappointed when they removed them from the building.  Entering the building, there is a large bar in the center with seating on 3 sides.  There are booths on the walls as well as some table seating on the main floor and an elevated seating area to one side.  The kitchen is open and in the back of the dining room with a window next to it that shows the brewery.  The brewpub is very popular and there is frequently a wait for seating.  A stairway leads upstairs where there is a second bar as well as overflow seating or a space for private dining.  I sat at the bar on the main floor and started with the beer list.  The beer list at the brewpub features the brewery's flagship beers, as well as what they happen to brew there.  They also have a commercial brewery close by with a taproom that actually has a longer beer list, but does not serve food.  As I was at a brewery with a long list, I obviously had to go with a flight.  For my flight, I went with a variety of styles, none of which was a standard bearer that I  had had many times.  I started with Freedom of Speach Peach Sour, Sun Crusher Hoppy Wheat Ale, A Little Crazy Belgo-American Pale Ale, and Rise Hoppy American Stout (which won gold at the World Beer Cup in 2012).  All were very different and with the variation of hops used, even the hoppy ones had different flavors.  The Freedom of Speach was not exceptionally sour and the sour went well with the peach flavor.  Sun Crusher is a good and light summer beer even with the hop flavor.  A Little Crazy had the body of a Belgian Single with the flavor of a pilsener.  And Rise is a very good and hoppy stout with flavors of chocolate and coffee.  They were all good, but I think I liked Sun Crusher best.

Between the beer and the bar food that I would be eating, I thought I should at least try to have something a little healthy, so I started out with some Brussels Sprouts.  I will grant that they were Pan-fried, but at least I tried a little.  The Brussels Sprouts came with Roasted Cauliflower, Butternut Squash, Maple-Chipotle Sauce, and Toasted Pepitas.  This was really good.  The Brussels Sprouts and Squash were crispy, and the Maple-Chipotle sauce added a sweet and spicy flavor.  The toasted pepitas added a finishing crunch.  While it wasn't necessarily the most healthy way to eat brussels sprouts, they were good and at least better than the bacon fat popcorn that was also on the menu.

The healthiness went out the window for my main course.  I had a burger.  This burger, the Galaxy Burger was topped with Chipotle Cheddar, Pimento Cheese, Pickled Pineapple, Cucumber, Red Onions, and Bottom Up Wit Aioli.  As with most places, my burger was served with a large serving of fries.  Galaxy hops have a flavor profile with a lot of fruit, and Bottom Up Wit, has a lot of fruit flavor as well.  I imagine that the fruit was used to pair with the aioli.  It was all very good and filling.

 

When I go out, I order dessert, so I looked at the dessert menu and saw a S'Mores Pie.  Local pie masters, Bang Bang Pie and Biscuits, have a S'Mores Pie on their menu and their main shop is located very close to Revolution's brewpub, so I thought that the pie came from Bang Bang.  I have no issue with a bar outsourcing their dessert if it brings in something  this good.  When I found that Revolution made their own S'More's Pie, I had to order it to compare, if for nothing else.  The pie was very good, but I could tell immediately that it was not a Bang Bang pie.  The flavor was very good.  The chocolate was rich, the Marshmallow Cream Topping had a nice brulee to it, but the crust was a little tough.  While it wasn't perfect, it was still very good and a nice ending to my dinner here.  I will undoubtedly return, I know know that the food is of a high standard to match with their beers.

Bang Bang Pie Shop

I have a tradition every year that's based on a bad pun.  March 14th is Pi Day because March 14 is 3/14 and Pi is 3.14.  Because Pi sounds like Pie, I have to go for pie on Pi Day.  This year, I went to a pie shop that opened in my neighborhood in the last year.  Bang Bang Pie Shop started out as a food truck run by a husband wife team, Megan and Dave.  Megan baked throughout Chicago and Portland and her Great-great-grandparents owned a Pie shop near Springfield, IL and she has inherited many of their recipes.  Her husband Dave is the coffee expert, formerly owning Ipsento, and working at Star Lounge/Dark Matter Coffee.  The Bang Bang Pie Truck was very popular so they were able to open their own shop last year.  The shop is on an angled corner, so the building that they are located in is pie shaped.  The front wall is glass and the irregularly shaped dining area will seat about 20.  The order counter is directly in front of the door and the menu consists of a rotating selection of at least one fruit, cream, and chocolate pie and one pot pie (in addition to coffee and biscuits).  The sweet pies are sold by the slice or whole pies.  The pot pies are smaller than the sweet pies and are sold as whole pies.  On Pi day, they were serving about 5 sweet pies and a pot pie.  I decided to go with a slice of sweet pie and a pot pie.  For my sweet pie, I had a slice of Key Lime Pie which wasn't actually sweet, it was actually very tart, but that's how a key lime pie is supposed to be.  It was topped with a dollop of whipped cream to tone down the tartness and add a little sweetness.  The crust was a graham cracker crust which was crumbly and slightly sweet, and the pie was smooth and tart as a key lime pie should be.  While it was good, it wasn't spectacular and I have had key lime pies elsewhere that were as good.

The Pot Pie on the other hand was spectacular.  The pot pie that was being sold on the day that I went was a corned beef pot pie.  While I do like corned beef, I wasn't sure about the idea of a corned beef pot pie.  What I didn't consider was the fact that it was close to St. Patrick's Day and Corned Beef and Cabbage is a traditional St. Patrick's Day dish.  When I speared into the pie, the first thing I tasted was sauerkraut.  I was surprised but then considered the corned beef and cabbage.  Besides the corned beef which was shredded, and the sour cabbage, the filling included potatoes, carrots, and pepper.  It was dryer than I would have expected of corned beef and cabbage but it was moist enough.  The crust was also very good.  It was flaky and slightly chewy and had a good amount of black pepper so it was pretty peppery.  This tasted very good and I really enjoyed it.

Bang Bang Pie Shop makes some very goods pies and I will certainly return for more.  As it is in my neighborhood, it doesn't take a long trip so it won't take a special day like Pi Day to return.