Restaurant Review: The Wicked Hop

The Wicked Hop is in the Historic 3rd ward of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It's downtown on the corner of St. Paul and Broadway very close to the Milwaukee Public Market. We actually walked past it early in the day and I was fascinated by the sign and the great outdoor seating area. We met our other friends there just in time for Happy Hour or rather their Hoppy Hour and a good meal.

The staff was super friendly and the menu was reasonably priced. Plus everything was delicious. Their Hoppy Hour and specials drink menu was great and varies on a daily basis. And they have a long Happy Hour, Monday through Friday it goes from 11am to 7pm which is absolutely fantastic. While there I took advantage of their $5 margaritas and my friends really enjoyed the $3 Mexican beer.  Also, on Tuesdays they have $5 Bloody Marys (voted "Milwaukee's Best Bloody Mary" by Shepherd Express and On Milwaukee) and currently they have pints of Spotted Cow (I assume beer) for just $2.
In terms of food, their menu was a lot of fun. They had traditional burgers and wraps but also had some unique ingredients and dishes.  For example, I ordered the Bronzed Duck Quesadilla which had Maple Leaf Farms pulled duck breast, goat cheese, smoked mozzarella and fresh green chives stuffed in a 12 inch flour tortilla, grilled crispy. It was served with a beautiful cherry salsa and sour cream.  It was absolutely delicious and started my month long fascination with quesadillas. The duck was beautifully cooked and the quesadilla was crip with a great cheesiness on the inside. And the salsa... I really just wanted more of that delicious salsa. It was sweet and a little spicy which I augmented with a little hot sauce too. It was perfection.
Their appetizer listing included Bacon Jam Bruschetta which seemed really interesting but I didn't have the courage to try it right then. Toasted baguette with a "Tuscan bruschetta medley" served over fresh arugula and drizzled with a balsamic glaze. What made it unique was that it's served with a mason jar of house made bacon jam. The Cuban Missles also looked interesting, crispy wonton wrappers stuffed with smoked pulled pork, ham, baby swiss and bread & butter pickles served with avocado mustard lime aioli. Next time I get out there, I'm definitely going to have to try that one.
The sandwiches looked great as well and I got to try a bite of the BBQ Chicken Strip wrap (and my friend got fruit salad on the side instead of fries.

The chicken was cooked wonderfully and their original bbq sauce was quite delicious. I thought the Wailer also sounded quite good with caribbean jerk chicken and a champagne mango mint vinaigrette. Yeah, I want that. I was too full after my quesadilla to think of ordering something else, so I'll have to try it another time. Their entrees also looked great, if a little more costly. The Rue Bourbon Bayou Pasta definitely took my fancy. It's Creole-spiced chicken breast and andouille sausage sautéed with onions, peppers and celery served over cavatappi pasta in a Cajun crème. Mmmmm. My mouth watered just reading it. Sometimes I really wish that I had 3 stomaches.

All in all I really enjoyed this restaurant. The food was great and so was the helpful staff who were constantly on hand to refill our water glasses (we were super thirsty from wandering around all day) and to see if we needed anything else.  

4 Days of Food in Wisconsin and Chicago

Well, this post is long overdue...  I went to Wisconsin and Chicago at the end of June for a wedding. It was a fantastic weekend filled with friends, laughter, lots of entertainment and some absolutely fantastic food.

The various cheese curds found in Milwaukee Public Market

I had never been to Wisconsin or Illinois before so I was super excited to try some of the traditional delicacies of the area.  When I asked my niece, nephew and half brother what you eat in Wisconsin they all said that we needed to try cheese curds.  But specifically we needed to try good cheese curd, that squeaks when you chew. It sounded a little strange to me honestly, but I'm willing to try anything once.
I tried 4 different kinds of cheese curd over the course of 3 days.  The first night we got a bag of mozzarella and cheddar cheese curd from Walmart (I know, I know, classy...).  They were pretty darn good, but didn't quite squeak the way everyone said a really good cheese curd should. So we kept trying.
The next day, in Milwaukee proper, we went to the Milwaukee Public Market where I found amazing cheese curd in different flavors. Plus so much more.
I was fascinated by the Public Market because it reminded me of the food markets in Florence, right near San Lorenzo and also San Ambrosio. It was fantastic. The first floor had countless small vendors of different Midwest specialties. Everywhere I turned there was something different and interesting to try. There were coffee places, cheese vendors (sooo many cheese vendors!), wine vendors, sandwich shops, an olive oil vendor and plenty of seafood options (which I thought was a little funny considering Wisconsin is no where near the ocean but  they are on a lake.. so maybe they had a lot of freshwater options...).

Love the cows!

There were so many great things to see.  I loved the cheese formed into different shapes, like cows and footballs. I tried some different cheddars and mozzarellas and it was all delicious.  I really did like the cheese curds. They were surprisingly good.

Olive oil galore

I also really enjoyed the Olive oil place, but I'll do a whole separate post on that as well.  I wish we had been there even longer because there were so many things I would have like to try, but I guess they'll have to wait till next time.
After the market we wandered around Milwuakee and the music festival before we headed over to meet our friends at a fantastic restaurant near the public market.  It was caled the Wicked Hop and I liked it so much that I did a separate blog just for it!  If you're curious, read my Review here.
We were pretty stuffed from the Wicked Hop so dinner was more cheese curd on bread with some tomatoes (basically snacks that we'd gotten for the road trip).



The next day was the wedding. It was outdoors and bbq style. The food was delicious and fresh: I loved that they chose to grill for some homey goodness. They had all sorts of fresh vegetables like squash and asparagus and the meats were grilled to perfection as well.

But by far my favorite thing at the wedding were the cupcakes!  They were delicious in several different flavors.  There were red velvet (my absolute favorite), carrot cake, caramel apple and a regular vanilla cake. I tried all of them except for the carrot cake (by the time I wanted one, there were none left!). The cake was moist and delicious and the fillings were sweet but not generally overpowering. I loved the red velvet and the plain vanilla but the caramel apple was a little too sweet for me.  Next time I'm in Wisconsin I need to find out where they got them because they were quite delicious.

Me enjoying my red velvet!!

The next morning we went off to Chicago where we got to experience even more great food.  I can't wait to go back to try even more since we were there for just the one and a half meals.  Some of the big specialties in Chicago are Chicago style hotdogs and deep dish pizza. I didn't get to try a hot dog but I did get to try my first ever deep dish pizza.  I love pizza and I really enjoyed the deep dish.  From what my Chicago friend told me, there is even better deep dish pizza than what I ate. I got my deep dish at a slightly fast food-esque place down at the pier so it certainly wasn't 5 star quality. But I liked it a lot and I'll definitely try it again. I wish I had taken a picture (and I could have sworn that I had, but I can't find it). My pizza had jalapenos, cheese, bacon, peppers and spinach on it and I loved it!
Later on in the evening, we found a great little brewery while we were waiting for the train. We missed one by ten minutes and therefore had an hour to wait. We found the Haymarket Pub & Brewery which was a ten minute walk from the station.  It was a great spot with a lot of great drink options so wrote a Review about it.


So that was our Adventure in the mid-west.  There wasn't quite as much food as I would have liked but it was a fun trip with some new flavors.  I can't wait to get back to that region to try even more good stuff.

Recipe: Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes with Fresh Raspberry Whipped Cream

More Cupcakes!!
I know! I need to start sharing recipes for other things, but I happen to do cupcakes really well. Plus, I get a lot of cupcake requests so I keep making them. :D I will, however, try to post up other recipes soon.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup chocolate almond milk
1-2 tsp vanilla extract
6 tbs butter, room temperature
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 package fresh raspberries, halved
1/4 cup freh raspberry puree
3 tbs cocoa powder
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Delicious! They had a really nice almost brownie-like richness!

Preheat oven to 350 °. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together. In a separate bowl, when the butter is room temperature, beat it and the sugar until pale and fluffy. Continue mixing and beat in 1 egg at a time followed by the vanilla. Then slowly add in the flour alternating with the chocolate milk and then the raspberry puree. Then carefully stir in the raspberries.
Line a muffin tin and drop in about 3 tablespoons of batter.  Top each cupcake with chocolate chips. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in tin.

Served with fresh Raspberry whipped cream

It only made 12 cupcakes so I think for next time I'll double the recipe. They came out rich and not too dense and the whipped cream was utterly perfect.

Whipped Cream
1 cup heavy cream
3 tbs brown sugar
10-15 fresh raspberries, pureed or 2 tbs raspberry jam

Whenever I make whipped cream, I freeze a metal bowl for about ten minutes. It really helps the cream get to stiff peaks quickly.
First, whip the cream and sugar together. Then as your cream comes to soft peaks slowly begin to pour in the pureed raspberries. If you find that your raspberries are a little sour, add in tsp or so of regular sugar. If you don't have fresh raspberries, you can also use jam and then you can cut out most of the sugar.

Mini Cupcakes and My Students

Well, I can happily report that my students really liked their cupcakes.  My sixth graders ate 3 each and would have happily eaten more. Even my high schoolers really enjoyed their share. I brougt the cupcakes to my lessons because it was the last day for some of my students... However, I also brought them to get some opinions on my recipe.
I very often wind up feeding my friends and family, but I wanted to get some outside opinions.  Goodness knows children are great at giving honest opinions.. They have no filters. :)
Well, the kids loved the cupcakes. They love the chocolate pear and the vanilla peach as well.  I was surprised at how much they liked the chocolate pear. I thought that the pear wouldn't sit as well with them but I was wrong. They liked the combination, although a few of them said they couldn't taste the pear. I think that next time I'll add purreed pear to the batter so the pear flavor is more pervasive. I might add purreed peach to the peach cupcakes as well for a little more fruity sweetness as well.
Even though I'm going to tweak my recipes a little, I have to say that I loved the cupcakes.  I was on a sugar high for the majority of my lessons yesterday since I'd been popping them into my mouth all day long.  I was being just a tad ridiculous but the cupcake are bite sized and far too easy to eat. They came out moist because of the fresh fruit and the freshly whipped cream helps too).
I'll definitely be baking these again, especially as mini cupcakes. They are refreshing and go a long way. They serve a lot of people in healthier portions.
Cupcakes will also be one of those sometimes treats. You shouldn't eat them every day, but these mini cupcakes with all their fruity goodness are a little bit healthier. And since they're in a smaller format you don't have to feel nearly as guilty about going in for seconds.

Recipe: Mini Chocolate Pear Cupcakes

So, I haven't written a blog in ages and I miss it!  I miss writing about food, taking pictures of food, cooking new and unique things.
Earlier today a couple of my high school students (for anyone who doesn't know, I tutor kids English) started asking if we could have a party for their last day of summer school with me... Now, I have no intention of letting them party when we have to talk about the last chapters of Huckleberry Finn, however, I did allow them to convince me to bring them party food.  As a result I've been baking happily for a few hours.  I decided to make Mini Peach Cupcakes adapting my Nectarine Raspberry Cupcake Recipe as a base.
I also decided to please the chocoholic in me by creating a new chocolate cupcake also using the same recipe base since I like the consistency. Ever since Italy I have been fascinated with the combination of chocolate and pear so I decided to try the combination myself.
I went for the mini cupcake so I can feed more of my students but this recipe should absolutely work with regular sized cupcakes as well.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup milk (preferably whole milk)
1-2 tsp vanilla extract
6 tbs butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 medium pear, peeled, deseeded and finely chopped
3 tbs cocoa powder
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350°. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together. In a separate bowl beat the butter and sugar until it is pale and fluffy. Make sure the butter is room temperature! It makes this step so much easier. Continue mixing and beat in 1 egg at a time followed by the vanilla. The slowly add in the flour alternating with the milk. I actually decided to add another 1/4 cup of milk because it was feeling a little too dry since it's so hot outside.  Stir in the pear and chocolate chips gently.
Line a mini muffin tin (or regular muffin tin). Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick will come out clean.  Let cool in tin.

Pizza Pizza

I've had some great pizza over the years, both in Italy and in the states. I've learned that no two pies are exactly alike. Florence has some of the best thin crusted pizzas but they're not the same as pizzas from Naples. Naples has the original, the absolute best pizza that I've ever had in my life. You can not beat the thin crust with homemade sauce and fresh bufala mozzarella with oregano... Simple yet delicious. My mouth is watering at the thought. The ingredients in all Italian pizzas are fresh and very often organic. The vegetable toppings pack a lot of flavor even before additional seasonings.
But that's not to say that I haven't found some wonderful pizza here in the U.S.A. Pizza here, however, is enormously different. The pies themselves are larger and the flavor and ingredient combinations are drastically different too. I think that American pizza, whether fast food, homemade or 5 star restaurant quality  is generally more adventurous in its flavor pairings than most anything you'll find abroad. No Italian would dream of pputting pineapple or chicken or barbeque sauce onto a pizza.
Italians, I find, don't use their imaginations as much when it comes to food. They are so richly steeped in tradition that they don't often have to think outside of the box to get fantastic flavors and dishes. Here in the U.S.S we don't have the same kind of tried and true traditional mentality. We are a melting pot, a stew of traditions and cultures. As a result, our food tradition (at least on the east cost) we are often willing to play with our food, to combine one tradition with another.  Pizza is delicious, so is BBQ, so let's combine them together and make a BBQ Chicken Pizza. Like Thai food? There are many places that will put Thai spicing and traditional ingredients onto a pizza. One tradition is not enough. We can combine and play and experiment until we have something new and delicious.
The original, the traditional will always be respected and will always have a place in our diets but it is fun to try the new and untested.  In places like NYC, the unique and new is a challenge, it is something to be tried and enjoyed.
When my family makes pizza at home, we use the traditions that Grams shared with us but we also like to play around with sasonings with the sauce and vegetables that with use.  Grams showed us the typical margherita and marinara pizzas. But after her long exposure to the United States, she came to appreciate stranger combinations and was willing to try some new things.
Pizza is probably one of my favorite foods and part of that is because it is such a versatile food. You can stick with the traditional or you can experiment with outlandish ingredients that somehow when combined and baked together, no longer seem so outlandish.  There is literally nothing to love about pizza.