5 Great Milwaukee Restaurants for Cheese Lovers
Ask a Milwaukeean what their city is known for, and you’ll probably get three responses: beer, sausage, and cheese. Nearly every restaurant in the city offers some combination of the three—or focuses on one completely. These five restaurants, though offering excellent food overall, have really stepped up their cheese game, offering either inventive cheese plates or creative cheese-focused dishes. Two of them, Bartolotta’s and Mader’s, are included in my new book, Classic Restaurants of Milwaukee,—check it out if you want to read more about the history of those spots and of other beloved restaurants throughout Milwaukee’s history.
1. Odd Duck
The Odd Duck staff’s cheese knowledge is a thing to covet. The menu is highly seasonal and changes regularly—and that includes the cheese. But if you go in and tell them even just the types of flavors you like in general, they’ll be able to pull together a beautiful platter. You can customize it too: with or without charcuterie, with one or more specific cheeses you want, with or without mustard, preserves, pickles, and nuts. Some recent favorite fromage are the apple-cider-washed-rind cow’s milk cheese, Jacobs & Brichford’s Everton farmstead cheese from the Midwest, and Schroeder Käse triple cream. For a sweeter option, there’s a regular rotating cheesecake selection to try.
2. Any Bartolotta’s Restaurant
Bacchus cheese selection photo credit: Bill Milne
From Bacchus to Lake Park Bistro to The Rumpus Room, nearly every Bartolotta restaurant has a cheese plate or dish worth stopping by for. The gastropub Rumpus Room has people from all over Milwaukee visit just to get the Rumpus Board charcuterie plate. Lake Park Bistro offers up to five cheeses on one plate (French or domestic French-inspired), plus a cheese-heavy lunch menu. Bacchus pulls it local, with a Wisconsin-cheese-only plate option. Local restaurateur Joe Bartolotta reached celebrity status in Milwaukee before his death in 2019; so did his brother, Chef Paul Bartolotta, who has won the James Beard award twice.
3. Lakefront Brewery
Any Wisconsinite can tell you that not more goes better with beer than cheese—just look at all the beer cheeses floating around the state. Lakefront Brewery opened in Milwaukee in 1987, and aside from having one of the most popular brewery tours in the country, it also has an outstanding cheese-focused menu in the beer hall. The cheese curds alone have won awards, and are so popular the brewery has a food truck dedicated to them, called the CurdWagon. Want something bigger to munch on? Try the grilled cheese (it has a combination of cheddar and gruyere), the build-your-own mac and cheese selections, or pretty much anything else smothered in the brat and beer cheese sauce.
4. Mader’s
The cheese and sausage board at historical Mader’s German restaurant pairs traditional German sausages like yachtwurst and landjaeger with truly Milwaukee-based cheese. It comes from Clock Shadow Creamery in the city, the state’s first urban creamery. On the board, you’ll get extra sharp white cheddar, havarti, and quark, which is a European-style mild spreadable cheese. And with that cheese board, you’ll be served up a slice of Milwaukee history, as well. Mader’s opened in 1902 and survived Prohibition, both World Wars, and the Great Depression to become the city’s oldest restaurant—and it’s still owned by the same family that originally founded it.
5. Brüdd Cafe
The location of Brüdd Cafe alone should give away that it’s a cheese-lover’s paradise—it’s attached to the Wisconsin Cheese Mart, the shop with the biggest selection of cheeses in Wisconsin. The Cheese Mart actually owns the cafe, where cheese is the main course. Every beer has a suggested cheese pairing, and you can order grilled cheese sandwiches or pre-determined cheese plates to go with your drink. Try the Wisconsin Award Winners plate, which has four cheeses: the Marieke Gouda (a U.S. Grand Cheese Champion), Grand Cru® (an award winner in 2012-2014, 2017, and 2018), the Pleasant Ridge Reserve alpine style cheese (also the cheese with the most awards in U.S. history), and Roth’s Prairie Sunset® (the American Cheese Society’s 2018 third place winner). If that doesn’t catch your interest, you can also try one of the other boards. There’s one just for cheddars, one just for beer cheese, one of Wisconsin local cheeses, one of the staff’s favorite cheese, and a custom plate with seven options.