Milwaukee Summerfest Finale

I had a full schedule for my final day in Milwaukee and had a new friend to share it with.

It turned out Roberta, who I had met the previous day, and I had a lot in common, including our desire to check out some of the highlights of Milwaukee for the first time.

Roberta picked me up at the Hilton Milwaukee and we took a scenic drive to Lake Park Bistro. It was a quaint restaurant with a view and we both new immediately we’d love the French brunch.

We started with the pastry assortment. It was tough not to finish the Croissants, Banana Chocolate Chip Bread, and Blueberry Scones, but I wanted to save room for the rest of the food.

We shared a wonderful beet salad, which had feta cheese, fennel, and pistachios in a red wine vinaigrette.

For a main course, Roberta loved the Crab Eggs Benedict and I was satisfied with my Vegetarian Omelet, though I couldn’t understand why a vegetarian omelet was topped with two thick slices of bacon.

Both dishes at the Lake Park Bistro were served with Dauphinoise Potatoes. They were excellent, but too rich to eat a lot of.

We were too full to order dessert. The waitress still brought us some refreshing fresh fruit sherbets to finish our meal with.

After brunch we went to the Pabst Mansion for a tour. The former home of Captain Frederick Pabst, founder of Pabst Brewing, and his family is a must-see in Milwaukee.

The mansion has been preserved and restored by a local historic preservation group, who took it over in 1975 after it had been sold to the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and used as a home for their priests.

The tour is quite complete and includes history of the items as well as the family who originally built it. It’s also safe to say it’s the only historical mansion you can buy a PBR cap in!

When the tour was over, we were off to the Harley-Davidson Museum. 

I confess that I am not a huge motorcycle fan and expected to be in and out quickly, but we found it very interesting with tons to see.

I had never been on a motorcycle in my life. A family friend had been severely injured when I was a kid and I just never had the desire, but it was kind of fun sitting on one that I knew wasn’t going anywhere.

Roberta also enjoyed trying out a few bikes before finding one that was just right.

We ended up spending a few hours learning about the history of yet another Milwaukee family who had become known throughout the world, the Davidsons.

I took some time to head back to my room at the Hilton a bit before Roberta picked me up and dropped me at Summerfest. We said goodbye, knowing we would meet again.

Before I even got inside, there were vendors with food, drinks, and other items. 

I stopped to sample some Cupcake Vineyards wine. I liked their Riesling and Pinot Grigio.

When I was at Summerfest on Friday night, my friend Lisa and I arrived just before the Doobie Brothers concert so I didn’t have a lot of time to explore. We had also just eaten a big meal so food was not on my mind.

This all changed when I arrived on Sunday evening with $40 in food gift certificates from the Milwaukee Convention & Visitors Bureau and an appetite.

I had mixed feelings on the Solo Pizza Cone. Thanks to gravity, the sauce had dropped to the bottom and it was a bit dry on top.  

I heard great things about their Mac & Cheese cone, though.

I enjoyed the King and I Thai Egg Roll, a bargain at $1.75, as were the Potato Chips on a Stick.

The Chicken in a Waffle Cone with maple and cole slaw was delicious, as was the

I finished my food tasting with an amazing dish of Brownie Cascade from Wisconsin’s Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream. It was chocolate ice cream with pieces of brownies, caramel cups, and fudge.

Despite the fact that I didn’t finish anything I ate, I was stuffed and the only thing I wanted next was an iced tea (I always get half sweet, half unsweetened), but there were plenty of other eating and drinking options at Summerfest.

Lots of Wisconsin beers had tents selling their products, including Water Street Brewery and Lakefront Brewery.

I also walked around and checked out some of the different stages at Summerfest between food venues. There were 11 stages, each with a different band. It was so wonderfully put together that you didn’t hear any of the music interfering with anything else that was on.

The bands ranged from country to rock, without a little pop and hip hop thrown in.

It was nice to see all the families enjoying the activities, or just picnics along the lake.

I met up with friend and fellow travel writer, KristineHansen and her husband. We had a glass of Yellow Tail Pinot Grigio – it was, after all, mostly a beer festival -- to celebrate the reunion.

We had fun catching up, but they had tickets to the Neil Young concert in the Amphitheater and had to head there.

I had planned on sticking around to see Kansas and Smash Mouth, but decided to head back to the Hilton instead. It had been a long, but wonderful, first trip to Milwaukee – a place I definitely plan on returning to. 

Tasting Through Milwaukee

I had never been to Milwaukee before. I didn’t make it there during my traveling years and I hadn’t been there in the seven years I’ve been living in the Midwest. When I received an invitation to cover one of the biggest music festivals in the world that happened to be in Milwaukee, it didn’t take me long to say, “Yes!”

My friend Lisa, who was living in Green Bay at the time, met me in Milwaukee for a girls’ weekend.

Margaret Casey of Visit Milwaukee picked us up at the Hilton for our first day of tasting and touring.

Our first stop was at Indulgence Chocolatiers. I wish we had a place like this in Champaign.

Julie, the owner of Indulgence, fell in love with the chocolate shops in Europe and decided to open one in Milwaukee. She creates a selection of chocolate truffles, barks, and bars. Then, she pairs them with your choice of white wine, red wine, beer, whiskey, or cheese.

Everything sounded scrumptious and we finally settled on sharing chocolate & cheese and a chocolate and red wine pairings.

It was a great choice and I loved the pairings Julie had come up with. Our favorites were: Petit Nuage cheese with a Citrus Basil Honey Truffle; Riverbend Goat’s Milk cheese with Vanilla Malt Truffle; The Chook Sparkling Shiraz from McLaren Vale, Australia with Raspberry Chipotle Pecan Bar; and a 2012 High Valley Vineyards Cabernet from Lake County with Smoked Cherry and Pine Nut Bark.

We had more than satisfied our sweet tooth when we left Indulgence, but Margaret felt we should at least make a quick stop at PurpleDoor Ice Cream next door, where we fell for their Blackberry Quark and Ginger.

After the ice cream, Margaret drove us around Milwaukee a bit, pointing out some of the hot spots, including the LGBT clubs, historic buildings and Miller, the only major brewery left in a town once known for being a large beer producing area.

We next stopped at Great Lakes Distillery. I had sampled a few of their products before, but I had never been to their distillery to sample everything and I was excited to have the opportunity.

They have a full bar set up with their spirits for both tasting and mixing into cocktails. The spirits did not disappoint. I especially liked the Rehorst Citrus & Honey Vodka, the Rehorst Premium Milwaukee Gin, and Roaring Dan’s Rum.

All of the liqueurs here are made from Wisconsin products in small batches. The Pear Brandy was quite good.

Before we left Great Lakes we met with Founder Guy Rehorst, who gave us a quick tour of the distillery.

Lisa and I went back to the Hilton, where we found a gift basket of all things Milwaukee waiting for us from the tourist board.  

We changed for the evening and Margaret picked us up a little while later.

We headed up to Wolf Peach for dinner. It was on top of a hill with a great view of Milwaukee.

Wolf Peach is all about fresh and locally sourced ingredients and proudly display their vendors on their menu. Because of this, the menu will change with what’s in season and available. While some of the menu items we had may not always be available, we did try to taste some things that appear to be standards on their menu.  

Everything sounded delicious so we each picked a dish or two and decided to share it all.

The Roasted Mushroom Bruschetta was one of my favorites. The mushrooms were meaty and flavorful.              

By the time the pizza – which in itself was a meal – came out we knew we had ordered too much, but it was worth it to at least taste, with goat cheese and fresh peas and mushrooms.

We really didn’t plan on getting dessert, but when the chocolate parfait and lavender ice cream came out we couldn’t help but sample.

We also enjoyed the Crispy Cauliflower, with chickpeas in a paprika seasoning.

After dinner, Lisa and I headed to Summerfest for the first time. We got to hear the Doobie Brothers while sipping drinks on the Harley-Davidson VIP Deck. There were fireworks in the background and it was a pretty great setting to complete the first day in Milwaukee.