Fall Tour in Milwaukee, Saturday, October 20, 2012

Had lunch at Benji's in Milwaukee this afternoon. Matzo ball soup, corned beef sandwich, and chocolate phosphate were all outstanding. I could see a corned beef throw down between Jake's, Benji's, and McBob's. This one could be close!

My first stop of the day was at Riviera Maya, which features this mural on one of the walls.

 
But I was not alone.  MilwFoodLovers, AlyceInRoadfoodland, X1, and Abe_Froeman were among those perusing the menus.

 
Drinks came first and horchata was a popular choice at the south end of the table.

 
Most orders were for tapas and the leader here was the aforementioned mole sampler.  Going from memory, L-R is chocolate, pumpkin/pepita, sesame, almond, and peanut, and my favorites were the pumpkin (the spiciest) and the peanut.

 
I'm not sure what the red sauce accompanying the guacamole was.  It had a sharper, somewhat spicy flavor with a slightly bitter aftertaste.

 
Cocteles de camarones in different glasses, or 2 different things?
   
 
The JRPfeffs were across from me and they ordered the steak with pipian rojo sauce.

 
Shrimp in pipian verde, which Stricken Detective and myself thought was the pumpkin mole from the sampler tray.

 
I remember the fonduta had melted cheese and chorizo but the other ingredients escape me, probably because they were vegetable in nature.

 
What remained of the flan by the time it got down to our end.

 
Eventually we ("we" being PfeffPip Eric, Ann Peeples, JRPfeff, Pie Diva, PfeffPip Martin, Stricken_Detective, Mr. Maki, Buddy Roadhouse, and MilwFoodLovers) gathered like a flock of confused sheep in advance of the trip northward to Glendale and Dr. Dawg.

Great pics, Screaming!!

ChiTownDiner

BuddyRoadhouse


Which will never be seen by Roadfood eyes.

Buddy

But the Facebook world has been made witness!

Bloody hell!
 
Buddy

Aimee's shirt might have had something to do with it, Saturday was such a prideful day.  Towards the end of the tour ScreamingChicken and I admitted some long secret feelings to each other.  We finally confessed our desire for brussels sprouts.  Forget that you heard it.  Its our little secret.

I would have posted here earlier today, but I didn't get back from my all-night drive home ( 360-plus miles ) until about 7:30AM, at which time I hit the bed face first and didn't come to until late afternoon; I think I'm getting too old for stunts like this. Anyway, it was good to see everyone again, along with getting to meet AlyceinRoadfoodland, and I was especially happy to learn that Ann Peeples is not a figment of the Contingent's collective imagination. Since I had other commitments that evening, I only had time to have one meal with the gang, but it was a goodie. Dr. Dawg does an Italian beef n' sausage combo that's as good if not better than many beef stands in the Chicago area. Thanks so much, Aimee ( oh, that shirt! ) and Ann, for putting together a great event.

AlyceinRoadfoodland


Thanks to Ann and Amy for all the planning.

Yes, many thanks to Saturday's Dynamic Duo for a job well done!  Although next time matching shirts are in order....
 
And thumbs down to me for not expressing my gratitude in a more timely manner.

Thanks to Ann and Amy for all the wonderful planning!
Loved Bayview-what a fun neighborhood!
Best hidden gem was the fun and amazing art at Maya Rivera.
I will try to post some pix when the craziness that is work lets up-
 
Another wonderful Contingent get-together
Great Friends + Great Food = Best Fun of all 

Glad to hear you made it back to Southern Indiana in one piece, Carolina Bob!!!
 
Thank you also to X1 for bringing 2 kinds of beer--cherry & raspberry from Groppi's to Honeypie to share with the group. Yes. This is Wisconsin. We had beer with our breakfast.

Awesome pics Brad, thanks for those.
Glad to hear it was another successful Contingent get together. 
Wish I could have been there since it's my current stomping grounds but I'll be at the next one.
I had a great time at Lambeau south cheering the Packers to victory along with thousands of other Packers fans who made the trip to St. Louis. 

Yeah, thanks, X1. I was pleasantly surprised by those beers, especially the cherry. Very tasty.
 
Q
 

stricken_detective


Glad to hear you made it back to Southern Indiana in one piece, Carolina Bob!!!

Thank you also to X1 for bringing 2 kinds of beer--cherry & raspberry from Groppi's to Honeypie to share with the group. Yes. This is Wisconsin. We had beer with our breakfast.

This is a fun group of people, and when I learned to roll with the punches,  I totally relaxed and had a wonderful time....cant wait to do it again.....

Actually, I need to point out that I bought the beer at Honeypie, not Groppi's. 
We did a taste test because the pips insisted Cherry was better, and I insisted Raspberry was, so we had ourselves a little taste-off with the group.
 
Cherry won.

Sooo glad we kept to the original plan of Riviera Maya and steered clear of Guanajuato Mexican.  Jim and I ate there on our way to the airport and neither of us can think of ever having a worse Mexican meal than here. Thank you, thank you, thank you for not listening to the waitress at Honeypie's!

Wow, really? Good to know, I guess. Thanks for being the guinea pigs....

Gyp
Wish I could have been there since it's my current stomping grounds ...

We all stopped in to visit your brand new luxury apartment in the sky while we were in the neighborhood.  Hope nothing was out of place when we left.
 
Buddy

Gyp


Awesome pics Brad, thanks for those.
Glad to hear it was another successful Contingent get together. 
Wish I could have been there since it's my current stomping grounds but I'll be at the next one.
I had a great time at Lambeau south cheering the Packers to victory along with thousands of other Packers fans who made the trip to St. Louis. 

Did you go to Ted Drewes?

Pie Diva


Sooo glad we kept to the original plan of Riviera Maya and steered clear of Guanajuato Mexican.  Jim and I ate there on our way to the airport and neither of us can think of ever having a worse Mexican meal than here. Thank you, thank you, thank you for not listening to the waitress at Honeypie's!

I agree-- Guanajuato, no bueno.

GTO- I had to fly with that load of lard in my belly.  Aye carumba.

Yikes. I think we did pretty good. I had a feeling when we were planning it that Ginger & Babe's would get kicked off.
 
But.
 
Now that you guys know how cool Bay View is, we can do another tour down there, or call Gyp & X1 to tell them we want to have breakfast with them.

After Riviera Maya we headed north to Glendale to meet Carolina Bob at Dr. Dawg.  An early arrival meant we had time for more socializing (Buddy Roadhouse, both MilwFoodLovers, and Ann Peeples).

 
Dr. Dawg (aka David Ross) was on hand to greet us (X1, Dr. Dawg, Ann Peeples, Mr. Maki, the Chicagostyledogs, and AlyceinRoadfoodland's left hand).

 
Carolina Bob showed up a couple of minutes before 2:30 and then we went inside to place our orders.


 
As has been mentioned, the Niman Ranch burgers are very good.

 
But beef and beef & sausage combos were also quite popular.

 
As were the very fragrant garlic-rosemary fries.

 
Dessert was a pumpkin kringle from O & H in Racine, courtesy of Chicagostyledog.


 
Then it was time to walk/stagger to our respective vehicles for the return trip to Bay View.

The next (and my final) meal stop was at Palomino Bar, and right across the street is a historical marker so that bar visits can qualify as educational experiences.

 
Fortunately there were 2 large tables available.

 
Quijote and I split an order of chicken and waffles, although shouldn't it be chicken and waffle?  The chicken was hot with a great crispy crust, and the broccoli was pan-roasted instead of being boiled or steamed and served as an afterthought.

 
Also arriving at our table was a catfish po' boy with beans and tots, which are available in regular and sweet potato versions.

 
Meet the Velvet Elvis: peanut butter, banana, and Nueske's bacon on toasted white bread, with some fried okra to keep it company.  I'll bet it can be ordered with a nice big dollop of mayo, too.

 
Unfortunately I had to head for home about this time and was unable to finish the rest of the tour, but it was definitely a great way to kill 5+ hours of a Saturday and we had the added benefit of some pretty cooperative weather, too.

Likin the Velvet Elvis and the pumpkin kringle...beautiful stuff!

For those of you who get WPT stations, tonight at 6 the Wisconsin Channel is showing the Bay View episode of Around The Corner.

Jeez, what point was I making at Dr. Dawgs? LOL!