For the eighth straight year, October is Dining Month on OnMilwaukee.com, presented by Locavore, the newest restaurant at Potawatomi Hotel & Casino. All month, we're stuffed with restaurant reviews, delectable features, chef profiles and unique articles on everything food, as well as the winners of our "Best of Dining 2014."
This month I wanted to get to at least a couple places I haven’t yet visited in the city, the first of which was Elsa’s on the Park and its wings.
Another was getting onto the Marquette University campus when something was happening, basketball-wise. I’ve seen the crowds as the BMO Harris Bradley Center covering games, but that’s not the same. Last Friday’s Marquette Madness provided an excellent opportunity – the alumni and student base was excited to see new head coach Steve Wojciechowski and his team for the first time, and there was a buzz hours before the doors opened at the Al McGuire Center.
I didn’t want to go to one of the national chains, so I stopped into the Sobelman's at Marquette, located at 1601 W. Wells St. The place was packed with students and alumni wearing blue and gold (and even a Golden Eagles player).
I just had a standard cheeseburger and fries, and it was excellent – Sobelman's has one of the best burgers in the city – and I was pleased that the quality held up to the standard the original Sobelman's on St. Paul Avenue has set.
To me, what made the lunch a greater experience on the whole was being surrounded by a fan base that was very excited to head down the street to cheer its basketball programs.
For dinner that night, I decided to re-visit an old favorite I hadn’t been to in quite some time (too long, actually) – Transfer Pizzeria and Café on 101 W. Mitchell St.
We had bruschetta to start, and I ordered a personal cheese and sausage pizza, along with a "Hot Toddy" – a whiskey cocktail made with ginger that was easy on a sore throat and a good combination for the food on the table. The pizza came out the perfect temperature, the crust was soft and I polished off the whole pie before heading out.
My schedule of sporting events at night usually precludes me from getting out and about too often, so this sort of "dead" period between seasons has allowed me to at least visit a few new places, and rediscover another.
Jim Owczarski is an award-winning sports journalist and comes to Milwaukee by way of the Chicago Sun-Times Media Network.
A three-year Wisconsin resident who has considered Milwaukee a second home for the better part of seven years, he brings to the market experience covering nearly all major and college sports.
To this point in his career, he has been awarded six national Associated Press Sports Editors awards for investigative reporting, feature writing, breaking news and projects. He is also a four-time nominee for the prestigious Peter J. Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism, presented by the Chicago Headline Club, and is a two-time winner for Best Sports Story. He has also won numerous other Illinois Press Association, Illinois Associated Press and Northern Illinois Newspaper Association awards.
Jim's career started in earnest as a North Central College (Naperville, Ill.) senior in 2002 when he received a Richter Fellowship to cover the Chicago White Sox in spring training. He was hired by the Naperville Sun in 2003 and moved on to the Aurora Beacon News in 2007 before joining OnMilwaukee.com.
In that time, he has covered the events, news and personalities that make up the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, NCAA football, baseball and men's and women's basketball as well as boxing, mixed martial arts and various U.S. Olympic teams.
Golf aficionados who venture into Illinois have also read Jim in GOLF Chicago Magazine as well as the Chicago District Golfer and Illinois Golfer magazines.
