Braise, Milwaukee, WI

Braise is both a cooking school and a restaurant, located in a warehouse transition neighborhood in Milwaukee.   Almost my entire family came to Milwaukee in early August to enjoy a meal with my brother and his wife.  They were in town for their second triathalon in a week's time, and we were taking the opportunity to see them relatively close to our home in Iowa--they reside in the far north state of Alaska, and so we need to grab every chance we can get to see them and they picked out this dining establishment for our time together.  The first thing to be said is that the bread is remarkable.  We had three different kinds and eeach and every one of them was terrific.

There are some very enticing vegetarian options on the menu, but no vegan ones--no worries, the chef made something for the vegan in the crowd, and the three vegetarians were happy with the choices presented.  The highlights for those who partake of meat were the risotto with ham--which sounds like it might not be all that special, but the ham itself was fantastic, and the risotto was perferctly cooked--moreover the combination was better than the sum of it's parts.  The other dish that was a surprise favorite was the roast chicken--it was moist and flavorful, and everything that chicken whould be but so often is not.  The appetizer favorite was called pork buns, but these were nothing like the steamed Chinese bao that I was thinking of--these were more like small pancakes with a wonderful vegetable and pork filling that was bright and flavorful and delicious.