Romanian Restaurant near Pabst Theater

I could use some help with a joke.

Mr. Pie and I ordered tickets for his dad to see Hugh Laurie at the Pabst Theater (144 East Wells Street in Milwaukee). In order for him to save the date but keep the reason secret, we told him we wanted to take him to the Romanian Heritage Festival in Niles (which would be long over, but he lives in Crystal Lake, so he didn't know). When we received our thank-you card, he wrote "maybe I'll eat some Romanian food while I'm there". So as a joke, I was going to send him a list of Romanian restaurants that are near the Pabst or on the way. Any recommendations? GoogleMaps is giving me Palermo's Pizza, Mid City Shopping Center, Golden Chicken, and Atlanta Bread Co.

HI,

I don't know about Romanian, there are a number of Serbian restaurants. You may want to edit the joke.

Regards,

I'll take Serbian too.

These should qualify:

Old Town Serbian Restaurant
http://www.onmilwaukee.com/dining/artic ... rbian.html

Three Brothers
http://www.yelp.com/biz/three-brothers-milwaukee-2

If Serbian will do in a pinch, and location isn't the most important consideration, I'd recommend Ilija's Place in Cudahy.

While Three Brothers has the best ambiance of almost any restaurant anywhere, and Old Town Serbian Gourmet House is located across the street from one of the coolest, most ornate old world Catholic churches you will ever see (built from bricks and stone salvaged from an old government building in Chicago, then transported up to Milwaukee), Ilija's Place, IMHO (and the opinion of most of my Milwaukee friends), has the best food of all of them.

Also, if location and Romanian specificity (my sources say there is "no Romanian, Bulgarian or Hungarian food in town period!") is not important, another eastern European possibility is Polish. Milwaukee doesn't have quite as many Polish places as does Chicago, but they do have a few choice offerings. Polonez and Crocus leap to mind. Of the two, I've only been to Polonez, and it was their Sunday brunch at that. Wonderful food and two for one Bloody Marys (not likely to find that deal in the evening).

Have a lovely evening!

Buddy

Ilija's Place
3701 E Squire Ave
Cudahy, WI 53110
(414) 727-5885

Polonez
4016 South Packard Avenue
St. Francis, WI 53235
(414) 482-0080

Crocus
3577 South 13th Street
Milwaukee, WI 53221
(414) 643-6383

Ask Binko. He'll know.

(Not that I don't trust Hammond's sources, of course! : )

We've done Old Town Serbian a few times and were always treated extremely well. Food's pretty well-executed, as well.

Geo

Milwaukee, somewhat like a smaller Cleveland, has its share of Eastern European ethnic groups. That includes Lithuanians, Czechs, Poles, Serbs, and Croats, but I'd be surprised to learn that there were very many Romanians there. (Way too much time on my hands, but a quick search of Bureau of the Census records for 1990--the most recent data available--lists about 23,000 folks reporting Romanian ancestry in the State of Illinois and about 2,600 in the State of Wisconsin. Not to mention 41 people in Idaho who reported Bolivian ancestry. I just love reading this things!)

Just got a glowing recommendation for a new place in Beer Town:

Moonshine Pub & Grill
3300 S 27th St.
Milwaukee, WI - 53215 – 5321 (27th & Ohio just across from Wal-Mart, parking in the rear)
(414) 231-9168

With this review:

We stopped in on the recommendation of a Croatian patient who said it was the best Serbian in town.
The bartender was a 40ish African-American woman who told us the dining room was in back; WKLH music played in the background.
5:30 on a Friday, there was only one other patron, who was waiting for his to-go food. Nothing distinctive about the décor.
A 70ish waitress appeared named Judy and along with a 50ish fella with a short grey pony tail. It turned out he was the cook and his name is Jimmy.
So far no one looked Serbian. We got a menu with the same old, same old bar food.
Flipping it over showed Serbian dishes.
Raznici, Pljeskavica, Serbian mixed platter, and bureks.
Everything was very reasonable.
No Serbian wines or beers, we had Beck which was my first in maybe 20 years and was delicious.
Told that the burek was from scratch and took 45 minutes, we ordered a spinach and cheese and a mixed grill and told them to bring that out first and we’d share that and the burek to follow.
Cheese and beef bureks were also offered.
The cevapcici, raznici and pljeskavica rocked and the feta cheese, tomato and cucumber salad and rice pilaf were just great along with a small crusty warm bread loaf along with ajvar, no kajmak.
The spinach and cheese burek equaled anyone’s in town.
Prices are cheap. Our bill with 4 Becks was exactly $40.
They have their grand opening July 21st.
The menu is way too small to have me proclaim it the best in Milwaukee but everything we had could be considered as good or better than anyone else's.
I say go, go often, as they desperately need the business as they have been open 3 months now.
A number of older folks trickled in but 8 folks on a Friday night won’t keep the doors open.

Just got the word from my Milwaukee connection: If you opt for Polish at Crocus, make sure to order the kluski (buttered noodles) as a side dish.

Buddy

Gypsy Boy wrote:Milwaukee, somewhat like a smaller Cleveland, has its share of Eastern European ethnic groups. That includes Lithuanians, Czechs, Poles, Serbs, and Croats, but I'd be surprised to learn that there were very many Romanians there. (Way too much time on my hands, but a quick search of Bureau of the Census records for 1990--the most recent data available--lists about 23,000 folks reporting Romanian ancestry in the State of Illinois and about 2,600 in the State of Wisconsin. Not to mention 41 people in Idaho who reported Bolivian ancestry. I just love reading this things!)

Except Milwaukee is bigger than Cleveland

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0763098.html

BuddyRoadhouse wrote:Just got the word from my Milwaukee connection: If you opt for Polish at Crocus, make sure to order the kluski (buttered noodles) as a side dish.

Buddy

While kluski can be found in noodle form, what your friend is talking about is more similar to the dumplings found in the classic American chicken and dumplings than to noodles.
They are a speciality of the Silesia region of southern Poland and probably my favorite thing in Polish cuisine. I'll have to get the family up to Crocus.

Vital Information wrote:

Gypsy Boy wrote:Milwaukee, somewhat like a smaller Cleveland, has its share of Eastern European ethnic groups. That includes Lithuanians, Czechs, Poles, Serbs, and Croats, but I'd be surprised to learn that there were very many Romanians there. (Way too much time on my hands, but a quick search of Bureau of the Census records for 1990--the most recent data available--lists about 23,000 folks reporting Romanian ancestry in the State of Illinois and about 2,600 in the State of Wisconsin. Not to mention 41 people in Idaho who reported Bolivian ancestry. I just love reading this things!)

Except Milwaukee is bigger than Cleveland

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0763098.html

Now, sure. But not when they were frozen in my mind bank: 1970s. Then, Cleveland was the 10th largest city in the US and Milwaukee no more than a village on Lake Michigan. (Okay, maybe a big village. But Cleveland was bigger. In the good ol' days.)