Sobleman's vs. AJ Bombers

[TomW1365]

Personally, I think you are off your nut.

I'm not taking a swing at Milwaukee food... it was alright.  But most cities are known for some food... does Milwaukee have a signature food?  Does beer count? 

[Hards Alumni]

Honestly, I'd say there are very few cities that I can think of off hand that are famous for one thing...

Philly cheesesteak
Chicago deep dish
New York Pizza and Bagels
Kansas City BBQ

uh.....

There is plenty of great food in Milwaukee... probably no signature dish, except Bratwurst probably.

[TomW1365]

Honestly, I'd say there are very few cities that I can think of off hand that are famous for one thing...

Philly cheesesteak
Chicago deep dish
New York Pizza and Bagels
Kansas City BBQ

uh.....

There is plenty of great food in Milwaukee... probably no signature dish, except Bratwurst probably.

I think we can give the state of Wisconsin Bratwurst and Cheese.  But when it comes to cities known for food, there's alot more cities that come to mind. 

Chicago- hot dogs, Italian Beef sandwiches, deep dish pizza
New York- Ray's pizza, Oysters, Jag bags, Bagels
Pittsburgh- Primanti"s sandwich
New Orleans poorboy, jumbalya/gumbo
Boston's clams chowder
San Francisco- Burrito's, sourdough bread, chinese food?
Cincinatti- Chili
St Louis- Imo's pizza, toasted ravioli
Indianapolis- hmmm.... maybe sweet corn?  Or breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches?
Los Angeles-  Dodger dog?  I don't know though on this one
Miami- Cuban cuisine

The list could go on and on... 







 

[MUfan12]

I think we can give the state of Wisconsin Bratwurst and Cheese.  But when it comes to cities known for food, there's alot more cities that come to mind. 

Chicago- hot dogs, Italian Beef sandwiches, deep dish pizza
New York- Ray's pizza, Oysters, Jag bags, Bagels
Pittsburgh- Primanti"s sandwich
New Orleans poorboy, jumbalya/gumbo
Boston's clams chowder
San Francisco- Burrito's, sourdough bread, chinese food?
Cincinatti- Chili
St Louis- Imo's pizza, toasted ravioli
Indianapolis- hmmm.... maybe sweet corn?  Or breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches?
Los Angeles-  Dodger dog?  I don't know though on this one
Miami- Cuban cuisine
Milwaukee- Real Chili

Fixed your list.

[Hards Alumni]

I think we can give the state of Wisconsin Bratwurst and Cheese.  But when it comes to cities known for food, there's alot more cities that come to mind. 

Chicago- hot dogs, Italian Beef sandwiches, deep dish pizza
New York- Ray's pizza, Oysters, Jag bags, Bagels
Pittsburgh- Primanti"s sandwich
New Orleans poorboy, jumbalya/gumbo
Boston's clams chowder
San Francisco- Burrito's, sourdough bread, chinese food?
Cincinatti- Chili
St Louis- Imo's pizza, toasted ravioli
Indianapolis- hmmm.... maybe sweet corn?  Or breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches?
Los Angeles-  Dodger dog?  I don't know though on this one
Miami- Cuban cuisine

The list could go on and on... 







 

'it could, but I view a lot of those as stretches.

namely:

Pittsburgh- Primanti"s sandwich
San Francisco- Burrito's, sourdough bread, chinese food?
Cincinatti- Chili
St Louis- Imo's pizza, toasted ravioli
Indianapolis- hmmm.... maybe sweet corn?  Or breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches?
Los Angeles-  Dodger dog?  I don't know though on this one

[TomW1365]

'it could, but I view a lot of those as stretches.

namely:

Pittsburgh- Primanti"s sandwich
San Francisco- Burrito's, sourdough bread, chinese food?
Cincinatti- Chili
St Louis- Imo's pizza, toasted ravioli
Indianapolis- hmmm.... maybe sweet corn?  Or breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches?
Los Angeles-  Dodger dog?  I don't know though on this one

Cincinatti style chili isn't a stretch...
Ask anyone in Pittsburgh where they need to eat when in town and they'll say Primanti's...
San Fran's sourdough is definitely not a stretch...
I was just typing stuff off the top of my head.  The reality is that any town you visit will have specialties.  It's good to see Milwaukee making it's mark and creating a niche w/ Cheeseburgers. 

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

Cincinatti style chili isn't a stretch...
Ask anyone in Pittsburgh where they need to eat when in town and they'll say Primanti's...
San Fran's sourdough is definitely not a stretch...
I was just typing stuff off the top of my head.  The reality is that any town you visit will have specialties.  It's good to see Milwaukee making it's mark and creating a niche w/ Cheeseburgers.  

I think you guys really have 2 categories here:

- Local favorites
- National reputation

Skyline Chili is certainly a Cinci favorite, but I don't think anybody would really say Cinci is known for their Chili like NYC is known for their pizza. (local favorite vs national rep)

Shows like Man vs Food and Diners Drive-ins and Dives are bringing more of the local favorites onto the national scene, but "Primanti's sandwich" still can't be in the same category as Memphis or KC BBQ.

Those cities have nationally and internationally recognized reputations for good BBQ. I don't think Pittsburgh has a national rep for "sandwiches".

Every city has some local favorites, but that doesn't mean that city has a national rep. for that particular food.

Ask somebody from Brooklyn if they have heard of St. Louis being known for toasted ravioli. The odds aren't good, even though "toasted rav" is a local favorite in STL.

[Hards Alumni]

I think you guys really have 2 categories here:

- Local favorites
- National reputation

Skyline Chili is certainly a Cinci favorite, but I don't think anybody would really say Cinci is known for their Chili like NYC is known for their pizza. (local favorite vs national rep)

Shows like Man vs Food and Diners Drive-ins and Dives are bringing more of the local favorites onto the national scene, but "Primanti's sandwich" still can't be in the same category as Memphis or KC BBQ.

Those cities have nationally and internationally recognized reputations for good BBQ. I don't think Pittsburgh has a national rep for "sandwiches".

Every city has some local favorites, but that doesn't mean that city has a national rep. for that particular food.

Ask somebody from Brooklyn if they have heard of St. Louis being known for toasted ravioli. The odds aren't good, even though "toasted rav" is a local favorite in STL.

This is what I was getting at.

[Spotcheck Billy]

while I love the Sobelman and even admit to enjoying the AJ burger with the stuffed portabella, I think I had the best restaurant burger I've ever tasted last night. It may not be a fair comparison, well it's still a burger so I guess it's all fair, the Kobe burger at Chili Lili's had incredible flavor and the aged cheddar they use really tops it off

of course using kobe beef comes at a price, I believe it was $11 but once in awhile I'm worth it, cool place, check it out at the corner of Jackson & Menomonee 

[mu-rara]

Let it be known, that Mr. Ari Gold is running around Madison tonight wearing red and white, declaring allegiance to the Badgers.

I suggest a lifetime ban.

I was too!  If you grew up in WI, It's easy to distinguish Badger football from BoBoball

[MUfan12]

I was too!  If you grew up in WI, It's easy to distinguish Badger football from BoBoball

I grew up here. Used to root for them, until I realized just how much I hated their fans. Now I hope they lose in everything.

Lifetime ban for you as well. 

[bma725]

I was too!  If you grew up in WI, It's easy to distinguish Badger football from BoBoball

Not if you went to Marquette and have a soul.

[Ari Gold]

I grew up here. Used to root for them, until I realized just how much I hated their fans. Now I hope they lose in everything.

Lifetime ban for you as well.  

I'll turn in my sweater vest. I've caught a lot of flack from people outside the scoop community.
In reality I'm not a badgers "fan." how ever it was an entertaining atmosphere and a great game to watch.(something I wish we had at MU )  I'd never pass up an opportunity to watch two ranked teams go head to head (ND, USC w/e I'll enjoy the game). Plus there were personal implications for cheering for the badgers actually

I'm not jumping off the MU wagon any time soon so dont worry.

oh and in this case. The OSU fans were much more intolerable. They took offense to the allegations that Terrell Pryor can't read. Then we found out they were from Cincinnati so we accused them of spending time, or having a family member who spent time in prison. It was all good fun since these douchebags were bi-polar fans. Pryor could have a good run and they'd be praising him, he gets sacked and he's the worst QB in the league. They deserved it

[Chili]

I was too!  If you grew up in WI, It's easy to distinguish Badger football from BoBoball

no its not. you will burn hell. fact.

[mu-rara]

I was too!  If you grew up in WI, It's easy to distinguish Badger football from BoBoball

no its not. you will burn hell. fact.

So I should root for ??? in college football?  Notre Dame?

[bma725]

So I should root for ??? in college football?  Notre Dame?

Nobody.  That's the price you pay for going to Marquette.  If you go to grad school somewhere else, rooting for them would be okay, but outside of that you've got to be an impartial observer who just appreciates the sport.

[SaintPaulWarrior]

I have not been to either place yet but here is a food blog about the show.

http://eatwisconsin.wordpress.com/

Now that the Food Wars hoopla is over I just wanted to offer up a couple of thoughts o the whole thing.  I think Milwaukee was well-represented in the show.  Going to Karl Ratzch’s was a nice touch, same with the Milwaukee Public Market.   I do hate how they use the same shots over and over (Sobleman on the 2nd story balcony, the google maps pan from restaurant to restaurant, etc.) and think they could have gotten some different clips instead of that filler.  It does seem as if Camille Ford seems to really enjoy her job.  I could see someone else in her position just doing the show for exposure, hoping to get out as soon as possible but she really seems to do her homework and brings a great deal of energy and passion to the show.

I will admit that I knew the winner weeks ago but that didn’t take anything away from my enjoyment of the show.  I think Joe Sorge and Dave Sobleman did a great job and I really liked the camera shots as he and Camille made their way through Sobleman’s crowd.   When the winner was announced, I really felt bad for Dave Sobleman, you could tell he was completely blindsided by the loss.  He should hold his head up high though, he still serves some of the best burgers in the state.  As I mentioned on Twitter, I love both of these places but there are a lot of other great burgers in the Milwaukee area including Stack’d, Mazo’s, Wicked Hop, Trinity 3, Taylor’s People’s Park (Waukesha), Fuzzys on Main (also Waukesha), Bunkers (West Allis), and Elsa’s on the Park.

Before they came to Milwaukee one of their people contacted me asking for advice on who they should have as judges.   Here is what I sent to them:

“Two people come to mind for the panelists, one is Kyle Cherek, host of Wisconsin Foodie http://wisconsinfoodie.com/, an incredible show about pretty much anything that has to do with Wisconsin food and drink. Watch some of the episodes on the web and you’ll see that he would probably be a great judge.  Another person would be Tom Graber from Milwaukee’s Best Burgers website.  I don’t know him personally but if you look at his website http://bestburgersinmilwaukee.com/ you can tell he’s pretty much all about promoting great Milwaukee area burgers without bias.  Even though he doesn’t live here, George Motz (Hamburger America) has made several visits to Milwaukee and could be a nice addition to the panel of judges.”

I’d like to say I was one of the reasons Kyle was picked but they were actually already talking to him at that point.  I think he did a great job and is becoming the face of a thriving Wisconsin food scene.   To hear about Kyle’s take on the whole thing, check this out.  Lucky bastard even got to hang out with Camille Ford afterwards!  I am a huge Josh Ozersky fan so it was awesome seeing him on the show.

So far this year we have had Anthony Bourdain, Andrew Zimmern, and Camille Ford in town.  Who is next? Adam Richman perhaps?

[Spotcheck Billy]

^ thanks for those links I found them very interesting and will be trying some new to me places (Port of Call and Biggs Roadhouse in particular)


the owner of Chili Lili had told us about working with Lagniappe Cafe when creating his menu and their burgers sound like they are identical and the bestburgersinmilwaukee site rated Lagniappe's as his favorite, that 9YO cheddar really does top off the wagyu patty well <drool>
http://bestburgersinmilwaukee.com/lagniappe/