Oh my, oh my, where do I even begin? Maybe I should state that I have gained 5lbs for the last 3 days and now I’m bleeding cheese and brats?😂 

We go on this baseball/food trip every year. The destination this year was Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

When we got to the airport (MKE), we found this amazing thing: exclusive Uber pick-up zone! DCA (or taxi drivers in the DMV area?) seem to kind of mind people using Uber. However, MKE has designated a spot near Baggage Claim 1 for Uber pick-ups. No more calling the driver trying to explain where the heck you are!

Our Airbnb place was located right off Brady Street, which has fun bars, coffee shops, restaurants, etc. Everything was open late even though it was a Thursday night. 

We got to our place quite late but decided to try this Japanese ramen place, Red Light Ramen, that night. No one wants to be around hangry family! 

The most interesting thing on the menu was this “Whipped Spam”. Yes, spam. It is served with thin sheets of seaweed, aka nori, pickles and spicy mayo. We had to try it because no one had ever seen anything like this before. You gotta. Verdict? Not bad. It was a little salty (to me), but it tasted much better than we anticipated. I know even the word, Spam, itself gives some people cringes. To be honest, I do not mind it at all; I actually like it! Pan-fried spam and a piece of kimchi over hot white rice? Mmmmm. Anyway, that was our first night!

The food tour. On our annual  baseball/food trips, we seem to do this pretty much everywhere we go. With our limited time and lack of knowledge, it makes sense. We get to go to several different restaurants and try many kinds of food in a short period time.

Our first stop was Zaffiro’s Pizza. It was the original location, which was established in 1954. You can totally tell that it has been there forever: the signs, decor, etc. Now they have multiple locations including the one at Miller Park!

The pizza, though…! It definitely wasn’t my go-to, greasy NY style pizza. When they said “thin crust pizza”, I thought of Ledo pizza. It was something completely different! They cook their SUPER thin dough first and flip it. Then, they put their toppings on the dough. The dough is thinner than saltine crackers! The crunchiness and delicious toppings make it my new favorite style pizza now!

Second stop was La Masa, an empanada bar. We tried Argentine beef, pork and cheese/spinach. All of them were good but personal favorite was pork. 

More importantly, their coleslaw was a hit! It was quite different from the traditional coleslaw we get at a supermarket. Jicama adds a very unique taste and texture!

Our next stop was Peter Sciortino Bakery. We actually happen to go there before the food tour that morning to get pastries. We ended up getting way more than what we were planning on getting for breakfast but that’s what happens when you go to a good bakery, right? In fact, this bakery makes breads pretty much for the whole town. Their kitchen was up and running around midnight!

On the food tour, we got to taste their cannolis. I hate it when the shell is all soggy from sitting there too long. These were just perfect. Who says we can’t have desserts between meals, by the way! 😉

Next, we went to Glorioso’s Supermarket. It is a family-owned Intalian store with all kinds of goodies, which makes it a very dangerous for foodies! We had a nice spread of olives, hams, cheese, bread, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. 

Next stop, which was our last food spot, was Red Lion Pub. This pot pie definitely filled us up! This place has a nice deck upstairs. The best feature was this “pool table” where you play pool with a soccer ball!⚽️ How fun!! Apprently, this place is a hot spot for local people to watch soccer matches. I would live at this restaurant if I lived in Milwaukee. 

Our LAST last stop was Wolski’s Tavern. You would never guess that a bar is located in this quite residential neighborhood. No frills, but just great atmosphere, good local beers on tap, some games to play and a pretty backyard where you can sit outside and enjoy your drinks. 

Walking out of the bar later, we noticed that these “I closed Wolski’s” stickers were EVERYWHERE. Apparently, everyone in this town has closed this bar once or twice. 😉

This food tour company seems to offer a lot of food tour options. I even saw their own tour buses. There are other parts of town you can walk around and taste delicious food as well. I would have been definitely interested in doing their German food tour but the only option we had for our schedule was this Brady Street food tour. Brady Street is such a fun, lively neighborhood so it can’t go wrong. Food was good, but also, it is great to walk around the town and hear fun stories and find out about hidden history from a local tour guide. We asked our awesome tour guide, Mary Jo, what happens if it rains. She said, “you gotta bring your own sunshine”☀️😎 Love that!

After the food tour, we walked to Lakefront Brewery. Didn’t get to do too much there but we did get a beer and sat by the water. 

Later that afternoon, we went to Jack’s American Pub for fish fry and fried cheese curds. Of course, we didn’t forget to get Bloody Mary’s. Yes, with beef jerky stick and cheese strings!
I still can’t get over how much fun Milwaukeeans have! Jack’s American Pub offers free rides to/from Brewers games to their customers. You can drink on the shuttle too! How cool is that? Why aren’t bars in DC/NOVA doing this already? Who’s in charge? Hello?⚾️🚌🍺

At the Brewers game, which happened to be against the Nats (GO, NATS!), even though we were so full from all the food we ate at Jack’s, we had to eat the brats. Don’t forget to try the secret sauce! By the way, it is a beautiful ball park. The fans are so much fun too. Our ride back to Brady Street was quite interesting. Party must go on.

Next morning, before we left Milwaukee, we wanted to check out Milwaukee Public Market. Markets never disappoint. Delicious breakfast sandwiches, so many cheeses, LOTS OF brats, fun t-shirts. Too bad we didn’t get to see the ourtdoor part of it, for we had to go up north to see family. One more day would have been perfect but, oh well, this way, we have a reason to go back.

Even with family in Northern Wisconsin, we ate VERY WELL. This picture has three kinds of brats: Bloody Mary, beer & cheddar and garlic & onion. Yummy!

​​On our way back to the airport, we got to party HAM in the car thanks to our Lyft driver, Glowstick Tom, who provided us with glow sticks, a disco ball, a fog machine and hand-picked music videos! Never experienced anything like this before and I don’t think we will in the near future. 😂👍

I love where I live right now, but people in Wisconsin definitely seem friendlier and more fun, in a sense. We will pick another city for our baseball/food trip next year, but I would love to go back to Milwaukee and further experience what it has to offer. 

Now, I can enjoy this small piece of Wisconsin I brought from the market.

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend!