They don’t call it “America’s Dairyland” for nothing.
There are more than 1 million cows in Wisconsin and 90% of their milk is made into cheese, accounting for more than 2.8 billion pounds of cheese per year, according to Travel Wisconsin. America’s Dairyland produces 600 varieties of cheese, which is more than double the amount the runner-up state, California, has to offer.
But there is so much more to Wisconsin’s food scene than delicious dairy—and it’s beyond brats, beer and supper clubs, too!
Bravo’s reality television series Top Chef gave the world a taste of just how impressive Wisconsin’s F&B offerings truly are through its 14-episode 21st season, which aired earlier this year and was the series’ first return to the Midwest since Top Chef: Chicago in 2008.
Stars and “cheftestants” traveled to the Badger State to film Top Chef: Wisconsin in Milwaukee and Madison, but the series showcased culinary excellence border-to-border and featured 20 Wisconsin-based eateries, from top-rated supper clubs to farm-to-table restaurants, as well as a handful of Wisconsin chefs raising the bar.
The season finale premiered in mid-June, but Top Chef: Wisconsin’s ripple effect has only just begun.
“We’re still trying to measure what Top Chef has done, and we are working with a data company to actually track and see how it moved the needle on travel to Milwaukee and Wisconsin in the short term,” said Claire Koenig, vice president of communications and advocacy, VISIT Milwaukee. “We’ve heard from businesses featured on the show that they saw an increase in orders, and we’re hoping to see more positive results for years to come.”
Top Chef: Wisconsin has already left its mark on America’s Dairyland in more ways than one. We talked to two of Wisconsin’s biggest cities about how they’re feeling the impact—and how groups can feel it, too.
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Milwaukee
While Wisconsin is known for cheese, Milwaukee is mainly known for beer—at least for now.
“Previous perceptions, especially about Milwaukee, had been established through shows like Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley, and that’s kind of where the beer and cheese came from, and some of those shows are still airing in other countries, so the perceptions are continuing,” Koenig said. “Those are great shows, and if beer and cheese is what gets you here, we don’t care. That’s great. But our job is to show you that the food scene, the culinary scene, is way beyond that, and that was our No. 1 reason for doing Top Chef.”
Throughout the season, everything from grocery stores in neighborhoods around the city to Milwaukee’s classic German restaurants got their moment in the spotlight, and while the world travels to experience it for themselves, those who call Milwaukee home have already embraced it with pride.
“There’s definitely been a push locally. Just anecdotally, I’ve heard from people that the show did bring this kind of pride in our city and in our restaurants, and they’re loving how it’s all so chef-driven,” Koenig said. “Once you get someone’s personal story in there and you see them pour themselves into that, you want to go support someone who’s putting their everything into a business and making really wonderful food.”
Positive feedback is coming from all directions, including meeting planners and business travelers who’ve shared with VISIT Milwaukee that they didn’t realize how surprisingly expansive the city’s food scene could be.
“They’re all just blown away, and that’s something we hear from meetings groups a lot,” Koenig said. “Hopefully with Top Chef, as it continues to live out there in the world, it’s not so surprising anymore.”
Group Dining in Milwaukee
A character introduced in the beginning of many Milwaukee chef stories is chef Paul Bartolotta, owner and co-founder of The Bartolotta Restaurants (which opened a brand-new restaurant, The Commodore, on Nagawicka Lake in Lake County earlier this summer).
“Paul’s focus on hospitality that’s at the start and the end of any of his restaurants is so remarkable,” Koenig said. “And I do think that has blended into a lot of other restaurant experiences, in part because so many of these chefs around town started in a Bartolotta kitchen.”
Many of them went on to continue their culinary adventures by opening restaurants of their own in Milwaukee, and their impressive menus include group offerings.
- Harbor House is a bright, spacious New England-style seafood restaurant under the Bartolotta umbrella that specializes in oysters and sells more than 10,000 of them each month. The lakefront property features a three-sided bar, a raw bar, an open kitchen and a private dining room with 360-degree views of Lake Michigan.
- Bartolotta’s Lake Park Bistro is set in a park pavilion overlooking Lake Michigan and has been a staple in Milwaukee’s F&B scene since 1995. “They have a private dining room with a kitchen, so that’s where groups could do an interactive cooking class or demo,” Koenig said. “It’s a fantastic Mediterranean dining experience.”
- EsterEv is helmed by “the Dan’s,” as Koenig likes to call them. Chef Dan Jacobs—a Top Chef: Wisconsin runner-up—and chef Dan Van Rite opened this restaurant together in honor of their grandmothers, Ester and Evelyn, fondly remembered by their grandsons as “women who had a spark of joy about them and a passion for cooking for their loved ones.”
- DanDan is another restaurant co-owned by “the Dan’s,” offering American-Chinese cuisine with a “Midwestern sensibility.” (Fun fact: “dandan” is also a noodle dish with origins in Chinese Sichuan cuisine, according to the restaurant’s website!) Groups of 12 or more can work with DanDan to customize a preset menu.
- Places like Sherman Phoenix Marketplace and 3rd St. Market Hall are a great way for groups to experience Milwaukee’s “next generation of restaurants,” Koenig said. “They’ve truly served their incubator purpose, and these restaurants outgrow them into brick-and-mortar spots.” The markets are perfect for “massive groups,” Koenig said, as they can do buyouts of the public markets, which also offer event spaces.
- Glorioso’s Italian Market is another strong group recommendation from Koenig. “This is a 140-something-year-old Italian grocery that has a great deli, too, and they have a separate space with kitchens where you can take classes.”
- Troquet, located in nearby Wauwatosa, is another event venue offering group cooking classes in trades such as pastry, chocolate, culinary, cheese making and more. “This would be perfect for a small teambuilding activity,” Koenig said.
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Madison
Wisconsin’s capital city is home to the largest producers-only farmers market in the country, said Ellie Westman Chin, CEO of Destination Madison, “which leads to what I think we are really known for.
“The farm-to-table trends became a huge thing 10 or 15 years ago,” Westman Chin said. “It didn’t really trend here because that’s how we’ve always done things in Madison.”
If you find yourself perusing the Saturday Dane County Farmers’ Market, you’ll find the season’s best produce from approximately 220 vendors throughout the year, and you’ll likely cross paths with some of Madison’s local chefs, who often shop at the market for the ingredients they’re going to put on the plate that night.
“That’s always been very organic to what we do here, day in and day out,” Westman Chin said. “We were so excited to host Top Chef here in Madison and Milwaukee, and across Wisconsin. It was really just the perfect opportunity for us to showcase the variety and abundance of high-quality food, restaurants and chefs we have in our area.”
Like its nearby neighbor Milwaukee, Madison has long been known for beer and cheese, but after Top Chef: Wisconsin, people have started to notice the city has more to offer.
“After watching the show, what we’re hearing is, ‘I had no idea the really incredible culinary scene you all have in Madison,’” Westman Chin said. “Top Chef did a great job of incorporating so many of our chefs into the episodes, and people could see that passion that not only our chefs have for the food scene in our state and in our city specifically, but really our residents as well.
“There’s so much enthusiasm around this,” Westman Chin continued. “All of that together, and then taking really traditional Midwestern foods and applying really cool, modern techniques and ingredients to that food scene was so unique, and people got a better understanding of just how we’re going to do it when you come and visit.”
Group Dining in Madison
Groups often call Madison’s Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center home when traveling to the city for meetings and events, and it’s within walking distance of many of the restaurants featured on Top Chef: Wisconsin, including The Harvey House, which brought back to life Madison’s old Baggage Claim House tucked away behind the Historic Train Depot.
Chef Joe Papach of The Harvey House is working hard to offer something special to diners from all over who come to experience his take on Wisconsin’s iconic supper clubs, and guests and groups can be part of the action.
“I just did this the other day and it’s really fun,” Westman Chin said. “At The Harvey House, they have a counter that you can sit at that overlooks the kitchen, and you can interact with the chef. That’s a fun way to just see the work being put into creating a unique dining experience for everyone.”
Groups meeting in Madison can find these unique dining experiences at restaurants around the city.
- The Harvey House, featured on Top Chef: Wisconsin, offers multiple private dining options for groups, including Upstairs at Harvey, a second-floor space with a private bar and dining room that can accommodate 45 seated or 55 standing. The Train Car is perhaps The Harvey House’s most unique space, complete with a vintage bar and seats for up to 35 guests.
- Fromagination is a premier artisan cheese shop in the Midwest founded in 2007 by owner and Creative Director Ken Monteleone. The shop has carried hundreds of cheeses from Wisconsin, the greater U.S. and around the world and offers private cheese classes for groups, often within the Park Hotel in downtown Madison.
- The Deliciouser is a modern spice shop and kitchen studio in Madison that produces a full line of chef-curated, small-batch spice blends. The Deliciouser Kitchen Studio opened in 2023 and features a brick-and-mortar shop offering cooking demonstrations, classes and chef-curated dinners in a communal dining atmosphere. “They cook theater-style with a bunch of different spice blends,” Westman Chin said. “They’re really engaged in the whole science of cooking and why certain blends work well with certain foods.”
- Tornado Steak House, or The Tornado Room, is an old-school steakhouse with a rustic supper club vibe offering an authentic Wisconsin dining experience. “When you walk into The Tornado Room, you are walking back in time,” Westman Chin said. “The food is delicious, the atmosphere is just amazing and you’re guaranteed to have a memorable experience. And I highly recommend for anybody who maybe likes to have a cocktail, we’re really well-known for our brandy old fashioned here.”
- L’Etoile Restaurant is a fine dining restaurant offering upscale farm-to-table, French-inspired American fare helmed by chef Tory Miller, who appeared on Top Chef: Wisconsin. Groups can work with the restaurant to book a private dining experience with a six-course tasting menu.
- The Dane County Farmers’ Market may not be the typical group dining opportunity that comes to mind, but it’s something groups should certainly experience. “The beautiful thing about the farmers market is not only can you come as a group to experience it, but because it’s around the capitol, you can then lay out blankets and have your lunch on the capitol grounds while you’re munching on the stuff that you just bought around the farmers market,” Westman Chin said. “So, we absolutely provide that service to groups if that’s something that they would like to do.”
