A day break

I woke up this past Saturday around 6 in the morning. After downing a handful of green grapes and drinking a liter of water, I was out the door for my two-hour drive to Milwaukee. The drive was pretty smooth all the way up, although it is interesting that I every time I make the drive, there are 4 lanes open on 94 in Illinois. Once I cross the Wisconsin border, it goes down to two lanes and there are bulldozers just sitting in a construction zone. How many years can it take to add a lane to a highway. Then again, when you only have good weather for three months a year...

My first stop was McKinley Park, which is right on Lake Michigan. I walked five miles down the coast to the Art Museum and back. I crossed over Lincoln Memorial Highway (basically Milwaukee's Lake Shore Drive) on the Brady Street Bridge and walked down Brady Street. I like this section of downtown Milwaukee because it is filled with trendy shops, local cafes, and cool taverns. Each place just seems to have its own unique personality and I enjoy visiting neighborhoods like that. Little did I know there was a street festival going on that day. The signs advertised food, four stages of music, as well as a drag show and pro wrestling. Now I have no problem admitting that I enjoy pro wrestling, but at a street fair? Pass.

I headed straight to Glorioso's Italian Deli, which has been featured on the Travel Channel as one of the 101 best places in America to chow down. I went with the Chicago combo sandwich: Italian sausage, marinara, Italian beef, and giardineira (I opted for mild, sorry). the sandwich isn't appropriately named for one simple reason: I have never seen a sandwich like this anywhere in the Windy City. The Italian roll was soft and seeded. There was just enough marinara to flavor the sandwich, yet not enough to overpower it. The beef was juicy and the giardiniera was well balanced and tasted very fresh. For six bucks! This sandwich is a steal. the cannoli was fine, but the shell fell apart a little faster than it normally should. A good cannoli shell crunches and this one didn't crunch the way I like. But I was impressed with their selection of Italian kitchen items from Genova tuna to pizza dough. I bought home a loaf of Italian bread and put on some marinara, parmesan, and fresh basil for an awesome snack. The staff was happy to help and treated me well despite me wearing my Mets gear too! I will definitely return on my next visit.

I walked back down Brady and over the bridge to my car and I headed a few minutes south to the Fifth Ward to buy a tour ticket for the Milwaukee Brewing Company. Now it was only 12 noon at this point. For the third time that day, I ran into the same two Mets fans. Two college-aged guys. I first saw them on my walk by the museum, then I saw them on Brady St, and now here they were again. We got tickets for the 2 pm tour. Until then, I drove on Water St across the Milwaukee River to the Historic Third Ward, which is well known for its businesses, condos, specialty shops, and is also the spot for the Summerfest. All I wanted was a parking spot for 90 minutes. I didn't want to pay five bucks to enter a garage; I just wanted a spot on the street. It took about 15 minutes, but I did get a spot. The cool part was even though there was a two-hour time limit, I didn’t have to pay the meter. So first, I walked through the Milwaukee Public Market, which is similar to Quincy Market in Boston with a lot of little food stands. I wasn;t going to get anything, but I did give in at a bakery. I got a large Wisconsin cookie, which is a little larger than a hockey puck. It had oatmeal, raisins, walnuts, and maple syrup. I decided to save it up. Guess I was waiting for some milk.

I walked north on Water St and took pictures of the Chase Tower, the Pabst Theater, and the Fonz statue on the riverwalk. I hadn’t been outside an extensive amount, but I felt the skin of the back of my neck feeling really tender. Turns out I was already burned up. I knew I’d be spraying on some Solarcaine as soon as I got home. I had a little extra time to kill before the tour began so I stopped in the Milwaukee Ale House. I didn’t even realize that I had parked right in front of a bar that I had visited three or four times over the years. I stopped in and had a Marco-rona which is a locally made Mexican draft lager. The guy dropped a couple of lime wheels in it. For five bucks, it was a really good refreshing beer. I think I had four glasses of water; I was just so thirsty after walking seven or eight miles by that point.

I drove back to the Milwaukee Brewing Company for the tour. For ten bucks, I got a very nice pint tasting glass, a ticket for a high-alcohol beer, one full glass of any draft I wanted, plus all the half glasses I wanted up until 3:30 pm. Oh and I also got a token for a free beer at one of 15 pubs. I knew I would have to do most of my drinking since I still had a ten minute drive to Miller Park afterwards.

For the fourth time, I ran into Brett and Chris, the Mets fans, and we got our glasses and our first pints. I chose the Louie’s Demise, which is their flagship beer. The medium bodied amber ale was smooth, malty, and not too hoppy. I really enjoyed this and I would happily drink it again. I also had a half pint of their summer ale, which didn’t have a fruity flavor like a lot of summer beers do. It was just a light-tasting brew. Then I had the Booyah, which is their farmhouse ale. It had a very earthy taste, with hints of rye and oats. It was a good one, but not my favorite. Finally, for my high-alcohol beer, I chose the O-gii, which is a wheat beer with 9% ABV. Usually, with a beer so strong, I’d expect a stout or an IPA. But this was amazingly drinkable, which may be a scary combination! It’s made with chamomile tea with hints of orange and ginger. This is scary good. Our tour guide was Tim and he was really zany and entertaining. At one point, he tried doing a New Jersey accent, but it came out sounding more like Brooklyn. Of course, I buried my head in my hands when he started. But it was fun nonetheless. By the way, I did not use my token for the extra beer. It actually looks like a pretty cool poker chip, so I think I’ll keep it as a souvenir.

After chilling out for a little while, I drove over to Miller Park. I wanted to be there right at 4:30 when the gates opened. I stormed over to the right field corner where I cheered for Mets rookie phenom pitcher, Jacob deGrom. We gave each other a fist pump and I have to say that was pretty awesome! For my second meal of the day, I went to the smoked meats station where carvers stood behind carving boards with brisket, turkey, beer can chicken, and pork. I opted for the Italian roasted pork sandwich with garlic aioli, mayo-free cole slaw, and shaved parmesan. It came with some macaroni salad and a pickle spear. For $10.50, that was a solid deal. I sat in Section 422, right behind home plate, and in the first row. For $22, that was an awesome seat. The game was great for the first half. The Mets took a 2-0 lead, capped by a Curtis Granderson home run in the top of the fifth inning. Unfortunately, some poor Mets defense in the bottom half of the fifth led to three Milwaukee runs an early exit for pitcher Jon Niese. The Mets lost 5-2. The only other things to mention about that are the chorizo edged out the Italian in the sausage race, some girl puked in the aisle near my seat, and my GPS got me lost going home. I needed to just got on 94 East and it had me getting on 43 North towards Green Bay. I might be taking that road soon, but if I do, it isn’t happening until September when the Jets go to Lambeau Field to play the Packers.