For the fifth straight year, October is Dining Month on OnMilwaukee.com, presented by Concordia University. 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 2011."
Recently, I heard that Door County's Stones Throw Winery is planning a wine bar on Cathedral Square.
So, I asked winery owner Russell Turco.
"Opening summer of 2012," he said this weekend in an e-mail. "(It's an) Italian wine bar similar to our Vino!Vino! Wine Bar here at the winery."
Turco was referring to Vino! Vino!, a Venetian-style "bacaro" (BAH-ca-roh) wine bar that serves wine and cicchetti – the term for the extremely diverse small plates typically available in Venice bars during lunch and happy hour.
Turco was not forthcoming on an exact location yet, but stay tuned. Watch this space, too, as Turco – who knows we share a Piemontese heritage and a love for spicy Grignolino – told me there's some exciting stuff in the cantina at the moment.
"We have Grionolino, Nebbiolo, and Barbera in tank/barrel right now – very excited," he said. "All three tasting great!"
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
