Celtic Bake-Off, SAVOUR food and art, Sprecher root beer and more Milwaukee food and drink news
Wisconsin Highland Games baking showdown
Home bakers are invited to be part of the Wisconsin Highland Games and submit their best baking creations for judging on Sept. 4.
The Celtic Bake-Off Contest is for amateurs only and will be judged in two categories by age, students age 12 to 21, and adults ages 22 and up. Contestants may submit two entries, but can win only one prize from these entry types: pie/tart, cake, cookies/bars/shortbreads, bread/biscuits/scones, cheesecake/mousse/trifle, or the Clan Challenge for 2022, which is a Scottish Dundee cake. All entries must be home baked without mixes. There is no entry fee to participate.
The Wisconsin Highland Games will be held Sept. 2-4 at the Waukesha Expo Center. For more information and to register for the bake-off, visit www.wisconsinscottish.org/bake-off
Pairing food and art in Racine
Tickets are available for the Racine Art Museum’s SAVOUR 2022, to be held Sept. 24 at the Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, 2519 Northwestern Ave. in Racine.
Attendees will sample a variety of food prepared by local chefs and pop-up vendors, with unlimited craft beer, wine and signature cocktails. The event pairs the culinary arts with the visual arts to benefit the museum’s educational programs, the local artists and restaurants participating in the event. Chat one-on-one with artists and chefs about their culinary creations.
The Early Bird ticket is $100 through Sept. 16, and $125 beginning Sept. 17. New this year is an option to bundle a discounted RAM membership with a SAVOUR ticket purchase. Visit www.ramart.org
Corley Family Vineyards dinner
The Union House will host a four course dinner paired with wines from the Corley Family Vineyards in Napa Valley on Aug. 31.
Meet Chris Corley from the Corley Family Vineyards and wine merchant Stephen David at a 6 p.m. reception, followed by dinner and a peaches and cream flan for dessert. The first course is South African lobster tail thermidor paired with chardonnay, followed by duck breast paired with merlot, an heirloom ratatouille paired with a Corley Proprietary Red Blend, and a grilled bison strip loin paired with a Cabernet Sauvignon. The cost is $150 per person, plus tax and gratuity.
The Union House is at S42 W31320 Highway 83 in Genesee Depot. For reservations call (262) 968-4281.
Glorioso's culinary center expands classes with Sage Harvest
Glorioso’s Appetito culinary center and chef Michael Solovey’s online cooking school Sage Harvest will combine their efforts to bring additional culinary cooking experiences to the Milwaukee market.
Sage Harvest offers multi-ethnic food classes, vegan and vegetarian courses, and in-home private dining experiences with an attention to culinary science and cooking mindfully, and its addition to Appetito’s series of hands-on Italian cooking classes and demonstrations will increase the selection of food and beverage courses available.
Appetito and Sage Harvest will offer their new combined culinary experience in September. For more information about Sage Harvest, visit sageharvestcookingschool.com/ or visit Glorioso’s at gloriosos.com/appetito/
Sprecher root beer ranked best in U.S.
The food and drink website Tasting Table has ranked the 19 Best Root Beer Brands, and Glendale’s Sprecher Root Beer is the best in the nation.
The publication used the main characteristics of root beer, such as bite, flavor (creaminess, spiciness, sweetness), and texture (head and fizziness) to determine the winner. Sprecher topped the list of popular brands, beating out names that included Mug, A&W, Dang!, Hank's, Virgil's and Bulldog.
The original Sprecher Root Beer made with raw Wisconsin honey in fire-brewed kettles is available in 16-ounce bottles, but additional varieties of Sprecher Root Beer are available in cans, and in low-calorie, caffeinated and maple varieties. Visit tastingtable.com
Milk-based sports drink coming to Milwaukee
GoodSport, a sports drink with the electrolytes and carbohydrates found in milk, is now available at Milwaukee area retailers. The Illinois-based brand was largely developed at the Center for Dairy Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. GoodSport receives its main ingredient from dairy processors who ultrafilter milk. When dairy companies ultrafilter milk to capture its protein for use in products like protein powders, GoodSport upcycles the wasted ultrafiltered deproteinized milk (or milk permeate) to create a clear beverage with milk’s vitamins and carbohydrates in a hydrating sports drink.
GoodSport is lactose free and available in four flavors: lemon lime, fruit punch, wild berry, and citrus. Look for the beverage at all Cermak Fresh Market locations, and at Festival Foods and Sendik’s in the next few weeks. Visit goodsport.com/
Birch drops brunch, adds Tuesday hours
Birch, the open-hearth restaurant at 459 E. Pleasant St., has put its Sunday brunch on hiatus so it can resume Tuesday dinner service. It also started offering themed pop-ups at its chef's counter and has other special events in the works.
One of the pop-ups will be an oyster and Champagne bar, with chilled and wood-roasted seafood, including baked clams and roasted oysters.
The restaurant will have monthly wine dinners that revolve around the staff's favorite wines and wine regions, and it will be unveiling the Birch Wine Club, according to Meghan Knall. She is co-owner of Birch with her husband, Kyle Knall, the chef.
The restaurant will post event updates on Instagram, at @birchonpleasant. For reservations: birchonpleasant.com or (414) 323-7372.
Amano Pan bakery pop-up at Zocalo
Amano Pan, baker of sourdough bread and Nicaraguan and other pastries, is popping up weekly at Zócalo Food Truck Park on Friday afternoons.
It’s selling only pastries at Zócalo until the bakery again has access to a bread oven. Amano Pan recently left 3rd Street Market Hall.
Advance orders for Zócalo, 636 S. Sixth St., should be placed by 8 p.m. Thursdays at cashdrop.biz/amanopan for pickup from 4 to 6 p.m. Fridays, but some extras will be on hand for drop-in customers.
Pastries include Nicaraguan pico with sweetened cheese filling and fried buñuelos, and buckwheat chocolate chip cookies.
Jing’s restaurant in Third Ward to pause
Jing’s, the Chinese restaurant at 207 E. Buffalo St. in the Third Ward, will close temporarily, for about three months, while the owners travel to China.
There’s time to order your favorites — the restaurant won’t go on hiatus until Aug. 27. Jing’s serves American Chinese dishes but also traditional Chinese plates, including some from Shanghai, where owner Jing Wang is from.
She and her husband, Jack Xu, plan to spend time seeing family, now that China is again more widely open to visitors.
The restaurant, which is now open only for carryout and delivery because of the pandemic, will reopen sometime in November. The exact date will be announced later.
Hours until Aug. 27 are 3:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday; (414) 271-7788 to place takeout and delivery orders. The menu is at jingsmke.com.
Riverwest Filling Station, too
Riverwest Filling Station, the craft beer bar and restaurant at 701 E. Keefe Ave., said on Facebook in July that it would be closed the rest of the summer. No reason was given.
Brunch served, patio open at Lupi and Iris restaurant
Lupi and Iris, the French-Italian restaurant downtown, now serves Sunday brunch and has opened its patio for dining.
The patio is on the plaza in front of the restaurant, 777 N. Van Buren St.
The brunch menu lists egg dishes ($18 to $21) such as Spanish tortilla and eggs in purgatory (spicy tomato sauce). Other main dishes include French toast with house preserves, berries and whipped cream ($19), zucchini and eggplant panino ($19) and grilled lamb chops ($37).
Brunch is 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays. To contact: (414) 293-9090 or lupiandiris.com.
Ardent restaurant has residency in Door County
Ardent, the tasting-menu restaurant on the east side, again has a Door County residency this summer.
It’s at Hidden Acres Farm in Sister Bay for three weekends: Aug. 11 to 13, Aug. 18 to 20 and Aug. 25 to 27.
The eight-course dinner, which uses the organic farm’s produce, is $200 a person; optional beverage pairings are $150 each. Reservations are at exploretock.com/ardent.
The restaurant, 1751 N. Farwell Ave., will remain open during the residency.
Carol Deptolla of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this article.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee and Wisconsin food and drink events include baking contest
