2 Bartolotta's Restaurants In One Week!

If Milwaukee has a premier restaurant family, it is the Bartolottas. They have 4 places in the Milwaukee area. Bartolotta's Ristorante - a high-end Italian place in the Wauwatosa Village, Lake Park Bistro - a French restaurant on the East Side, Mr B's - a steakhouse in Brookfield, and Bacchus - a wine centered place downtown.

It was the latter two that I visited this week, both spur of the moment things.

First, Mr. B's. Nice place, good food. We had calamari as an appetizer. The squid came with a light crispy batter that didn't overpower the meat. Also it was cooked to perfection, no easy task as squid can get rubbery in a hurry. Your steak comes with a choice of potato and sauce. I had mashed and a borolo mushroom sauce. Everything came out good, but... not great. The borolo sauce wasn't distinguishable from any brown mushroom sauce I have had and my steak, although well seasoned and tasty, was a little overcooked. I ordered medium-rare and it came out medium. My friend's steak which was also supposed to be medium rare, came out well past medium. Service was friendly and attentive, not hovery.

All things considered this place was good, but for the price $30-$40 per entree, I would rather go to Jackson Grill or the Chophouse.

2.5 stars out of 4


Bacchus

This place is basically a menu built around a wine list. Bacchus, for those of you mythology enthusiasts, was the Roman god of wine. The menu at this place is 2 pages. The wine list is roughly 40 pages. That should give you a pretty good idea of what this place is all about.

We started with an appetizer called Crispy Gulf Shrimp which was a shrimp and basil leaf, wrapped in a sheet of “feuille de brick” (a thin pastry sheet like fillo), deep fried, and served with agro dolce (an Italian version of sweet and sour sauce). The shrimp were crispy and well seasoned, and the sauce was delicious.

For my entree, I had the Glazed Duck Breast which game seared to a perfect medium-rare (plenty of pink in the middle), sliced and served on a bed of Napa cabbage, snap peas, and shitake mushrooms. Accompanying this was something called Jasmine rice patty, which was crispy on the outside and creamy in the middle. It was savory and delicious. The vegetables were perfectly cooked (not mushy) and paired well with the duck.

Service was immaculate. There was a team of 3 people waiting on our table. When I tried to refill my own wine glass, a waitress materialized out of thin air to pour. The sommelier spent a good amount of time with us, even though I told her up front that our price range was on the lower end.

Prices are totally reasonable, especially considering the level of service. Also I should point out that the executive chef here is Adam Siegel, the 2008 James Beard Award winner for Best Chef Midwest.

I may become a regular at this place.

4 stars out of 4