Waukesha Farmers Market

EatWisconsin post on Waukesha Farmers’ Market

Taylor’s Peoples Park Review

Check out a review of Taylor’s over at EatWisconsin.com

Farmers Market

It’s getting to be that time of year. It’s rained for the past few days, my lawn is bright green, Lowes and Home Depot are rolling out their spring commercials en force, and the Waukesha Farmers Market is about to open. For those of you who have never been to a farmers market you are missing out. Fresh produce abounds and often times you can find a gem or two that will strike your fancy. I’ve been to a few markets that have cheese makers or fine meat purveyors. Those are a treat. Our very own Waukesha market has a lot of great vendors. I encourage you to mark your calendars for the opening of the market. It is scheduled to open on Saturday May 9 at 7am. I will be there perusing and maybe doing a little grazing. I hope, in the future, to put up some recipes made with ingredients found only, or mainly, at the market so that you, our readers, can see how easy and enjoyable it is to support your local Waukesha Farmers Market.

Another Waukesha Restaurant Review – Generations at 5 Points

Congrats to Generations at 5 Points who received three stars in todays review in the Milwaukee Journal.  Seems like they are really hitting their stride.   Oh and if you though the place was popular before, I imagine this review is going to make it even more so.

Read the review here

Two Waukesha Projects Receive Real Estate Rewards

Congratulations to Alan Huelsman/Clysmic Properties and to Bethesda II Development/Andy Ruggeri for their recent Milwaukee Business Journal Real Estate awards. 

Clysmic’s Pioneer Hall dorms for Carroll University placed second for their excellent redevelopment of a blighted eyesore at College & Hinman.  The project placed second in the Best New Development or Renovation – Residential category. 

Ruggeri’s Clarke Hotel and Black Trumpet Restaurant placed second in Best New Development – Hotel category.  Any other year it probably would have won first, but it was up against some pretty impressive competition in the Iron Horse Hotel in Milwaukee, which looks amazing inside.

Click here for a video recap of the awards

Support the Nice Ash!

After reading Darryl Enriquez’s blog posting today, I’d like to encourage everyone to contact Jim Doyle and your state legislators to tell them that any proposed smoking ban should have an exemption for Cigar bars, like Waukesha’s own Nice Ash Cigar Bar.

As much as I hate smoky bars, people should have a choice. The market is already forcing bars to become smoke free, which is the way it should be. Downtown Waukesha should be used as an example. There are more non-smoking bars in Waukesha than I ever thought possible but it was done by the bar owners by choice. They all realized that the majority of their customers do not smoke, so why alienate them by filling your bar with smoke? The House of Guinness, which used to allow smoking saw how much people liked Smoke Free Saturdays and are now smoke-free every night. Taylor’s, Generations at 5 Points, The Clarke Hotel Bar, Rays on South, and Sprizzo are all smoke free and great places to hang out.

The state ban appears to be inevitable and in some ways it could maybe help businesses by leveling the playing field so all bars are on equal footing. However, cigar bars are different and should be treated as such. Their business isn’t just selling liquor, beer, and wine, like most bars. They are deriving a decent portion of their revenue from cigar and cigar accessory sales. They are selling a particular atmosphere and that atmosphere is one where people are gathering around drinking and smoking cigars or hookahs.

If you walk into a place that says Cigar Bar on the sign outside you should be smart enough to realize you are walking into a place that will be filled with cigar smoke. If you apply for a job at a cigar bar, you should realize that you will be working at a bar with cigars being smoked in it. Nobody is forcing you to come in or to apply for a job. Heck, why not just ban cigarette smoking in Cigar bars. As dumb as it seems, at least they can say that they are banning cigarettes, which is what the new state law is really targeting.

Wondering what else you can do, check out this site, and the Cigar Store Alliance site for more information

 

Downtown Facebook Group meets tonight.

Tonight is the first meeting of the Renaissance of Downtown Waukesha Facebook group.   The informal meeting (everyone is invited) is at Generations at Five Points located at 294 W. Main Street from 7:30pm – 8:30pm.

The Renaissance of Downtown Waukesha group was started by Jeff Scrima, a Waukesha broker and developer, as way to get people talking about the good and bad downtown. The group has discussed things like homelessness, promotion and marketing, regional transportation, and just about everything else regarding downtown.  It has grown to a point where members decided to meet in person to talk about some of the issues facing downtown.  In fact the group has garnered so much local interest that the Freeeman ran a front page story about the group last week.

The Facebook group has over 200 members now so turnout should be great. I won’t be there but I am eager to hear how it goes.

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Darryl Enriquez reports that The Decider (the local entertainment section of the Onion) reports on downtown Waukehsa.  I wish they had written more on the new bars and restaurants and maybe talked about all these smoke free places too. 

Here it is…the Black Trumpet review from the Journal

http://www.jsonline.com/features/dining/41858052.html

Seems like Carol Depotella really liked the food, but had some issues with the service and the bathroom. Those are things that can easily be fixed (like by the time service starts tonight). I am glad to see they got a nice review and am glad Depotella said “once it takes care of some essential details, this restaurant could be a powerhouse on the dining scene.”

Growing Seasons Exhibit & Cooking Classes at Waukesha Museum

The Waukesha County Historical Society and Musem announced their newest Feature Exhibit: An American Farm Family at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century. According to their website “the Growing Seasons temporary exhibit is a slice of American history, depicting a rural farm family’s relationship with the seasons at the turn of the 20th century in northern Illinois. The exhibit is based on an award-winning nonfiction children’s book written by Elsie Lee Splear about her childhood remembrances with the paintings created by Ken Stark that were used in the book and many objects the Lee family used at the time. The museum will also be telling the story of the many changes in agricultural life in the turn of the century Waukesha County.”

Also they will have series of four live “Seasonal Cooking” demonstrations, including recipe sampling, by Dean Schmitz, Executive Chef of The Black Trumpet and The Clark Hotel.

Class 1: ‘Early Spring Challenges’
Thursday, March 26 (6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.)
Class 2: ‘Sprouts and Other Early Offerings’
Thursday, April 23 (6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.)
Class 3: ‘First Harvest Cooking’
Thursday, May 28 (6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.)
Class 4: ‘Summer Bounty Bonanza’
Thursday, June 25 (6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.)

Cost: $10 per class or $30 for the series

Museum members receive a half-price discount – just $5 per class or $15 for the series. Limited space available. To register, please call the Waukesha County Museum (262) 521-2859, Ext. 226

http://www.waukeshacountymuseum.org/

Dining Notes

I lamented that some of the new restaurants (namely Sakura and Generations) didn’t have a web presence, well it turns out that Generations at 5 Points, the excellent new tapas bar, does have one now. The website is at:

http://www.gen-five.com/

Also they are now serving lunch and will soon be serving breakfast.  They were also on the Morning Blend demonstrating heart healthy recipes.  Check out the video of that appearance here.  The cooking demois a little more than halfway through the video.

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The Black Trumpet was reviewed by Milwaukee Magazine’s Ann Christenson. She appeared to like it ok but the review was really strange. She talked about dishes and the downtown renaissance, but didn’t elaborate much on the flavors of what she was eating. As someone who reads tons of restaurant reviews (including Frank Bruni in the NY Times every week) I just think something was missing from her review. Did she like the dishes and just not elaborate on them too much? Did she dislike them but didn’t want to slam a new restaurant? I think the real test will be whenever Carol Depotella of the Journal reviews them. As the most powerful critic in the state (by virtue of their circulation) a good review will be great for the restaurant and Downtown Waukesha as a whole. Pick up a copy of this month’s issue and judge the review for yourself. Or better yet, head to the restaurant and judge the food on your own. I have eaten there twice and have left extremely satisfied both times. Their brunch is absolutely spectacular.

Andy Ruggeri and Chef Dean Schmitz were also on Channel 4 last week.  They appeared on the Saturday Morning Brunch Segment.  For video and recipes, click here.