Dining

Zak's Cafe is located at 231 S. Second St. in Milwaukee. – Photo: Courtesy

Zak's Cafe is new and a bit off the beaten track, but I predict that it won't be long before it's hard to get a table there.

Following a day of shopping, we showed up in early evening at this bistro-style eatery, located in a newly renovated Walker's Point building. I opted for a pair of appetizers instead of an entrée. The mix and match "slider" flight offered me a choice of three mini-sandwiches. The burger featured lean ground beef topped with apple-wood smoked bacon and rich cheddar cheese. Pulled BBQ pork was topped with cheddar cheese as well as crispy fried onions. The standout was the seared ahi tuna with arugula, caper remoulade and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Not bad for $9!

A ribbon of berries is collected by a mechanical raking machine. – Photo: Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association

As America's foremost gustatory holiday, Thanksgiving brings with it expectations of special celebratory foods. Topping the list is – or should be – the lowly cranberry. Even if we grew up staring with morbid curiosity as our parents plopped those quivering, blood red, gelatinous cylinders from cans onto plates, we've gradually learned to appreciate this strange fruit.

In Wisconsin, the cranberry holds special stature. In fact, it's the state's top fruit crop. We Badgers produce nearly 60 percent of all the cranberries grown in the United States, surpassing the output from runners-up Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington combined.

In 2004, the cranberry was named the state fruit, and the 2011 yield is expected to surpass 430 million pounds, or 26 cranberries for every man, woman and child on the planet, according to the Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association, based in Wisconsin Rapids.

"Wisconsin has an abundance of the right combination of conditions you need to grow cranberries," says Tom Lochner, WSCGA's executive director. "We have plentiful water, the right soil and weather conditions and a tradition of growing and cultivating cranberries."

In Guy Rehorst's world, "pumpkin spirit" can be quite intoxicating.

Pumpkin Seasonal Spirit is the name of the annual autumn libation from Great Lakes Distillery, the craft distillery Rehorst founded in 2004 that's currently located in Milwaukee's Walker's Point neighborhood at 616 W. Virginia St. This year's batch, distilled each fall from the Pumpkin Lager produced by Milwaukee's Lakefront Brewery, is the best one yet, the distiller says.

The idea came to Rehorst and Lakefront owner Russ Klisch four years ago, when a group of brewery and distillery employees were sitting around the brewery's tasting room, located in a former city waterworks pumping station on the Milwaukee River. Rehorst expressed interest in distilling one of Lakefront's beers and, since it was fall at the time, Pumpkin Lager came to mind.

Café Centraal is located in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood at 2306 S. Kinnickinnic. Phone 414-755-0378.

We’ve all sung the song at summer camp, or a long drive: “One hundred bottles of beer on the wall, 100 bottles of beer. At Café Centraal you could act out that song twice and still barely put a dent in the 16-page menu of beers, ales, lagers and other assorted brews. Even by Milwaukee standards the list is impressive, and these folks know their product.

Ah, but man (and woman) does not live by beer alone, and this place has got the food to go with the drink. From simple snacks to full-blown meals, the menu is designed to pair with beer, but the dishes stand on their own. You’ll find the expected – jumbo pretzels, burgers, meat loaf, chili and any variety of fried stuff. However, you’ll find some unexpectedly sophisticated dishes as well. Elegant entrée salads include roasted beet salad with goat cheese and candied walnuts, as well as a Caesar topped with slices of blackened flat iron steak.

From spring through fall, fresh produce is easy to find on Capitol Square. – Photo: Courtesy

The Dane County Farmer’s Market, which rings Madison’s Capitol Square, begins selling the state’s freshest produce, sweetest bakery and creamiest cheese at 6 a.m. each Saturday from mid-April through early November. A visit to Madison would be incomplete without starting the day early amid the towers of sweet corn, bushels of vine-ripened tomatoes and bunches of wild flowers available from the market’s 150 stalls.

In fact, it’s possible do an entire Capital City culinary tour in microcosm without leaving the square or its environs. Madison has one of the highest restaurant-per-capita ratios in North America, and the dining diversity is endless. Within the past decade the square has again captured the city’s heartbeat, and some of the finest dining – breakfast, lunch and dinner – is within easy reach of the Capitol.

Those not content to stroll the square with hot coffee, fresh fruit or Amish bakery in hand can stop in at the Marigold Kitchen, 118 S. Pinckney St. Whether your tastes run to the chile-poached eggs with French rosemary toast, prosciutto ham and manchego cheese ($6), or French toast brioche drizzled with pastry cream, seasonal berries and pure maple syrup, Marigold’s breakfast will awaken your taste buds with delightful sensations.

The interior of Margaux. – Photo: Courtesy

Sheboygan’s culinary legacy has always been the bratwurst, but over time the city has reached beyond the bun. Today the former industrial community, barely 58 miles north of Milwaukee as the seagull flies along Lake Michigan’s shore, is home to an unexpected number of fine dining restaurants. City leaders hope these culinary outposts will help drive the resurgence of a dormant downtown.

Sheboygan is legally known as America’s Bratwurst Capital, an honor of which it is proud and one that it celebrates the first weekend of each August. And the mammoth Miesfeld’s Meat Market, a staple since 1941, still sells 1.8 million brats each year.