Peter Mortensen
Chef Concierge
The Pfister Hotel
Milwaukee, WI,
What are three of the best ways for attendees to truly experience Milwaukee?
Chef Concierge
The Pfister Hotel
Milwaukee, WI,
What are three of the best ways for attendees to truly experience Milwaukee?
- Take a Tour: When it comes to discovering what makes a place tick, taking a tour would seem to be a no-brainer. But which tours and of what? Museums? Breweries? Motorcycle plants? Parks? Tour options abound. For a great overview of the city, you can’t beat Gold Dollar Bus Tours’ “Taste of Milwaukee” excursion. Historic Milwaukee’s neighborhood walking tours vividly bring the city’s rich history to life against a dramatic backdrop of historic and modern architecture, while Urban Anthropology Tours offers an in-depth look at specific cultural and ethnic communities and their contributions to the shaping of Milwaukee.
- Have a Bite: Nearly 200 years ago the legendary gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin asserted, “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are.” He might not have been quite so sure if he’d been to Milwaukee, where Serbian burek and chicken paprikash tempt the appetite cheek by jowl with Vietnamese pho, Mexican horchata and world-class “sliders.” (And that’s just the near South Side!) Milwaukee is a United Nations of tastes, a movable feast where a walk down the street can take your taste buds around the world. Come here ready to eat—from James Beard to corner bars, and from cutting-edge cuisine to traditional specialties so authentically prepared, you’ll half expect to hear mama shouting, “Eat! Eat! You look so thin!” from the kitchen.
- Go Native: Sometimes the best plan is no plan at all, what I like to call the “Zen Agenda,” which is letting go of the urge to “do” the city and embrace it as a place to just “be.” In a city of as many unique “hamlets” as Milwaukee, you can absorb a lot of information just by letting the neighborhood do the work. East Town, Brady Street, Bay View, The Third Ward, Old World Third Street—the list goes on. Each is a world to be explored, a place to call home, for however short a time, and take back with you. And knowing that rather than just passing through, you were really, truly “here”—well, that is the best souvenir of all.