More Than A Meal: A Discussion of Food & Culture in Milwaukee
The south side of Milwaukee is one of my absolute favorite spots to explore for good food. I spent a good part of my life in the Walker’s Point area where I was introduced to many different restaurants and flavors. There are so many underrated restaurants with incredible cultural diversity, it was really a big inspiration to start Wisconsin Foodie. In my perspective, the origins of good food in Milwaukee really started on the south side with our immigrant populations.
When NEWaukee reached out to ask if I’d be interested in taking part in a panel discussion about the south side dining culture, I jumped.
The panel, “More Than A Meal: A Discussion of Food & Culture in Milwaukee,” was hosted by North Shore Bank and 88.9 Radio Milwaukee.It was an honor to sit with my good friend Tarik Moody from HYFIN/88.9 and I also met some new friends: Emerald Mills from Turning Tables, Julie Valcarcel from AsianRican Foods and Romon Orozco from Tres Hermanos Restaurant.
One of our more engaging topics of conversation was about how to get more people from suburban communities to visit the restaurants located on the south side. There is a stigma about that area of Milwaukee being too dangerous, which is wrong and hurts many of our businesses. I relayed a story of my own, about taking my mom from Brookfield to Walker’s Point to try La Merenda for the first time. After that first visit, she was hooked. At first she was trepidatious about going, but after she visited for the first time she knew there was nothing to be nervous about. She has been going to La Merenda religiously for the past decade and bringing friends from the suburbs that are also now hooked. Get out and explore! Help support locally owned businesses as their money gets recycled back into the community.
The turn out for the panel was great, but to make things better, there was an incredible buffet of food from many of the participating south side restaurants. What was most surprising to me was the involvement of North Shore Bank. When I asked who funded this event and promoted Southside Dining Week, the answer was North Shore Bank. It’s amazing when businesses like that step up to help promote the community, and this isn’t the first time North Shore Bank has gone above and beyond to promote small businesses in areas that desperately need the promotion.
More information on South Side Dining Week
Shout out to North Shore Bank!