Chris Otule Reviews Marquette Restaurants

[77ncaachamps]

Just remembered, it was called Louise D's

It wasn't his brother. I believe it was his business partner.

But someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Loved that dance floor.  

[keefe]

I can't imagine what it would look like to you.  I graduated in '04 just as some of the 'beautification' was starting, and the Denist school had just been finished.

Driving through there now is absolutely different.  The ugly white light globes on the light posts are gone; you can't run across Wisconsin Ave anymore, and there aren't anymore plastic MU obelisks.  Plus the old 1212 building is gone, there are two new parking ramps, and the AL was finished I think in '02.  No Hegs, 'blos (angelos), harp and shammy, glock... even the building that the 'lanche used to be in was dozed in '00.  So much changed while I was there, and since that I can not fathom how much has changed since you were last in Milwaukee.

It sounds completely different and likely better if in a gentrified way. My last visit to Milwaukee was in '99/00. The Wells-Kilbourn-State grid between 13th and 16th was still the tawdry, forlorn lady who was always one rent check behind in life and who had never found love but was certainly no stranger to the companionship of men. To think that she has finally been evicted from her rooms by the hour existence wounds the heart more than I care to acknowledge.

[dgies9156]

It sounds completely different and likely better if in a gentrified way. My last visit to Milwaukee was in '99/00. The Wells-Kilbourn-State grid between 13th and 16th was still the tawdry, forlorn lady who was always one rent check behind in life and who had never found love but was certainly no stranger to the companionship of men.

I don't know. I lived in a comparatively affluent suburb of Nashville most of my teen-aged years. There was something magical about grungy Milwaukee. It was life. We lived in an awful dorm (McCormick and then Tower), faced life in a way we had never seen it before and yet got an education, learned to live in a City and learned to be thoughtful of the folks who were not as well off as we. It was cold, the food was bad and yet we had memories that are lasting a lifetime.

What's missing from Marquette today is the grunge and the life lessons that come from having the real world all around us. Maybe the academics who live in their ivory towers would be a little more relevant if they had the Milwaukee of the 1970s around them. More importantly, I believe Marquette is not about green lawns and beautiful campuses, it's about getting prepared for life!

[warriorchick]

BTW, I was up in Milwaukee a couple weeks ago for Summerfest and saw that O'Hara Hall is being razed too.

Not O'Hara itself, I don't think; just the crappy "modern" law library they tacked onto the back.

[GGGG]

Not O'Hara itself, I don't think; just the crappy "modern" law library they tacked onto the back.

Isn't O'Hara the little building they used to house the top administrative offices prior to the opening of Zilber Hall?  I'm pretty sure that is what I saw getting knocked down.

[GGGG]

It sounds completely different and likely better if in a gentrified way. My last visit to Milwaukee was in '99/00. The Wells-Kilbourn-State grid between 13th and 16th was still the tawdry, forlorn lady who was always one rent check behind in life and who had never found love but was certainly no stranger to the companionship of men. To think that she has finally been evicted from her rooms by the hour existence wounds the heart more than I care to acknowledge.

I don't think it's really all that much different honestly.  A couple new buildings, but the neighborhood around campus is pretty much what it has been since I was there in the 80s.

Milwaukee was really pleasant though.  Even though I didn't spend a day of my childhood there, I really do call it one of my hometowns. 

[Hards Alumni]

Isn't O'Hara the little building they used to house the top administrative offices prior to the opening of Zilber Hall?  I'm pretty sure that is what I saw getting knocked down.

Yes.  I wish they would have moved the building, or used the stones somewhere.   It was a pretty neat looking ol' shanty.

[keefe]

I don't know. I lived in a comparatively affluent suburb of Nashville most of my teen-aged years. There was something magical about grungy Milwaukee. It was life. We lived in an awful dorm (McCormick and then Tower), faced life in a way we had never seen it before and yet got an education, learned to live in a City and learned to be thoughtful of the folks who were not as well off as we. It was cold, the food was bad and yet we had memories that are lasting a lifetime.

What's missing from Marquette today is the grunge and the life lessons that come from having the real world all around us. Maybe the academics who live in their ivory towers would be a little more relevant if they had the Milwaukee of the 1970s around them. More importantly, I believe Marquette is not about green lawns and beautiful campuses, it's about getting prepared for life!

No doubt. During my time at Marquette I was exposed to a world I would not have otherwise ever encountered. It was certainly Al McGuire's proverbial "the other part of my Jesuit education at Marquette." The key is how it shaped our weltanschauung and what we did with that perspective.

[Hards Alumni]

I don't think it's really all that much different honestly.  A couple new buildings, but the neighborhood around campus is pretty much what it has been since I was there in the 80s.

Milwaukee was really pleasant though.  Even though I didn't spend a day of my childhood there, I really do call it one of my hometowns.  

I totally disagree.  The campus looks incredibly different than it did even 10 years ago when I was in school.  Either way, its fun to take a virtual tour using Google's street view.  The pictures, obviously, aren't perfectly up to date, but you can get an idea of what it looks like.

On a side note, I wish they'd get rid of Holthusen Hall and the Varsity Theater.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

...faced life in a way we had never seen it before and yet got an education, learned to live in a City and learned to be thoughtful of the folks who were not as well off as we...

I think this is one of the most unappreciated aspects of MU.

Obviously it's hard to sell a parent on "Your kids will learn how to drink with 3rd shift guys at the local tavern!"... but seriously, there is something to be said for snot-nosed college kids (myself included) learning to get along with the masses who are busting their ass just to get by.

[GGGG]

I totally disagree.  The campus looks incredibly different than it did even 10 years ago when I was in school.  Either way, its fun to take a virtual tour using Google's street view.  The pictures, obviously, aren't perfectly up to date, but you can get an idea of what it looks like.

I stated this poorly...I meant the neighborhood around Marquette...not the campus itself.

[Hards Alumni]

I stated this poorly...I meant the neighborhood around Marquette...not the campus itself.

Oh, well then I agree, mostly.  Some of the junkier places have been torn down for new apartments, but by and large very little has changed.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

It wasn't his brother. I believe it was his business partner.

But someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Loved that dance floor.  

Wasn't the dance floor for Ziggymania (that what the b!tches call it when I walk into the room, BTW) or something like that?  Some kinda dance club/grease food place?

Louie D's had some killer cheese fries.

[ResidentBrown]

Let's not forget all of the amazing Mexican food around National, south of the Menominee River Valley. As part of one of my spanish classes (did anyone else ever discover the little cave beneath the bushes next to lalumiere hall - best spot to toke up on campus), I had to go do work in the barrio at some place that taught illegals how to take the citizenship exam once a week. On my way home, I'd always eat at a different taco/burrito joint and always be supremely satisfied.

[warriorchick]

Let's not forget all of the amazing Mexican food around National, south of the Menominee River Valley. As part of one of my spanish classes (did anyone else ever discover the little cave beneath the bushes next to lalumiere hall - best spot to toke up on campus), I had to go do work in the barrio at some place that taught illegals how to take the citizenship exam once a week. On my way home, I'd always eat at a different taco/burrito joint and always be supremely satisfied.

I went to a place out that way called Sabina's. The decor resembled a prison cafeteria, but the food was awesome and they had strolling mariachis.  I wish it was still there.

[4everwarriors]

I guess I didn't fit you guys' Marquette Girl stereotype.

Were you a TMSUB, though?

[keefe]

(did anyone else ever discover the little cave beneath the bushes

I think we all spent a lot of time trying to find that little cave beneath the bush during those years at Marquette...

[dgies9156]

I married a Marquette Girl!!

I married a Marquette woman!!!!!!!

Marquette women are tough, independent, tend to begrudgingly take "no" for an answer and hold their ground against all odds! They tend to be nice on the outside but don't cross them!

[Spaniel with a Short Tail]

Whatever happened to Pieces of Eight (food wasn't special but the lake view was nice) and the Public Natatorium (I think that was what it was called)? Also, wish I could take my kids to the Blue Canary.

[keefe]

Whatever happened to Pieces of Eight (food wasn't special but the lake view was nice) and the Public Natatorium (I think that was what it was called)? Also, wish I could take my kids to the Blue Canary.

Wow. I ate at all 3. The food sucked at all 3 too. The Natatorium had dolphins while the Canary was an all you can eat hole in the wall. Not surprised none of them survived.

The best fish fry in Milwaukee was Cliffords. I had an NCO in my squadron from Hales Corners. His parents brought two fish fry dinners with them when they visited. I was afraid to eat it actually but did out of courtesy and did not get sick.

[Jim Sawdust]

O'Hara Hall has been gone for a couple of years, demolished after the senior administration moved to Zilber; its site is now paved for parking. The embankment along the road into the new Law School has a panel of bricks from O'Hara, with a plaque explaining some of the building's history. This summer has seen the demolition of the unlovely and unlamented Legal Research Center, from which the metal has been carted off; the concrete bits have been pulverized this week into two tall gravel hills. Workmen are cleaning the ivy off the front of Sensenbrenner, which will house the humanities departments now in Coughlin.

I know they were fake, but the rippled pork patties posing as barbecued ribs, from the hole-in-the-wall edition of Wales, were terrific.

Please don't mention Sabina's in the bride's hearing. In her heart, it was the paragon of Mexican restaurants. The fire that gutted its Fifth Street building brought her to tears that the peppery stuff never did. She misses it still, but grants that Lala's in Cudahy is a worthy successor.

Can't forget Super China on Wells, that we called Adequate China. The food was OK and easy on what passed for a budget, but not super. When the place changed hands to become China Garden, the letters E, N, and A from the Super China sign got reused, so the new sign always had several faded characters: CHINA GARDEN. Sweeney's Books has taken the space, which is to eventually be replaced by an apartment block with first-floor stores.

Where the Natatorium stood a few doors north of South Fourth and Lapham, just east of the freeway, there's now a basketball court in a small park.

[dgies9156]

OK, if we're going to talk restaurants (since we have talked about everything else in here), I'll plug Suburpia. The subs were terrible but the grease filled you up.

And, anyone who can cop Joe Cocker's "You are so Beautiful" and turn it into a commercial for submarine sandwiches has my vote

"You are so beautiful... to me!
Can't you see, you're everything I hoped for, you"re everything I need
You are so beautiful... submarine!!!!!!!!!

Suburpia, submarine sandwich
Suburpia Submarine Sandwich...

[keefe]

OK, if we're going to talk restaurants (since we have talked about everything else in here), I'll plug Suburpia. The subs were terrible but the grease filled you up.

And, anyone who can cop Joe Cocker's "You are so Beautiful" and turn it into a commercial for submarine sandwiches has my vote

"You are so beautiful... to me!
Can't you see, you're everything I hoped for, you"re everything I need
You are so beautiful... submarine!!!!!!!!!

Suburpia, submarine sandwich
Suburpia Submarine Sandwich...

Suburpia was terrible but I can still hear that jingle, 30 years later. You're right about the oil on their sandwiches. Problem was that it wasn't EVO but corn oil. Cousins was far better as far as subs go.

I remember seeing Joe Cocker at the Arena. Guy was a maniac. One of the most energetic stage presences ever.

[KenoshaWarrior]

Suburpia is still around.

One is located on BlueMound and HWY 100
the other is near the Airport on Howell and Layton

I think the subs are pretty good

[Newsdreams]

Suburpia was terrible but I can still hear that jingle, 30 years later. You're right about the oil on their sandwiches. Problem was that it wasn't EVO but corn oil. Cousins was far better as far as subs go.

I remember seeing Joe Cocker at the Arena. Guy was a maniac. One of the most energetic stage presences ever.

Suburpia had a special with a sub and a beer no drinking at Cousins. Suburpia > Cousins