My Culinary Adventures: Milwaukee Day 1: Coquette Cafe

Monday, November 06, 2006

Milwaukee Day 1: Coquette Cafe

Below, a glass of the refreshingly smooth beer "Rendezvous." This beer is specially brewed for Coquette Cafe by Lakefront Brewery in Wisconsin (no wonder the alcohol content is so high!)

Several years ago Gourmet magazine named Coquette Cafe one of America's top restaurants. I didn't get to indulge in this French style bistro the last time that I was in Milwaukee so this time I made sure that I went within an hour of landing despite my demonic GPS system (how can one go West on a North/South street?)

I was all set for some onion soup (good cheese in Wisconsin) and some steak frites but they had a special 3 course Alsatian menu that night that I couldn't pass up (plus it was already a given that we were going to come back on Sunday night.)

Below, the first course of my Alsatian menu: Flammekueche (in other words an Alsatian cheese and bacon crisp). This was quite good, what made it was the fabulous bacon dotting the top. Note to my LA fans: if this looks good to you get thee over to Mimosa where they have an excellent Flammekueche. The bacon's not as good but the cheese is better.

Below, mumsy's white bean and vegetable soup with some more of that excellent bacon. This was so friggin' good! I could eat this forever; add some cheese toast and white wine (or a cold beer) and you have yourself a fabulous meal.

Below, my main course: wild salmon with sauerkraut (with more bacon!), spatzle, and a whole grain mustard sauce. This probably would have tasted better with a piece of smoked pork but I still liked it.

Below, the salmon is cooked just right and you can see the delicious sauerkraut (I think it was so good because it had obviously been soaked long enough and had gobs of fat in it - the fat gives it a creamy texture - plus some more of that bacon).