The scene: In a city built on beer, there are lots of classic watering holes, but Sobelman’s is near the top of the heap. This truly classic bar and grill dates back to the day when individual taverns were affiliated with breweries; in this case, it was a dispensary for what was once the best-selling beer in America, Schlitz, “The Beer that Made Milwaukee Famous.” The historic tavern was bought by David Sobelman and renamed a decade ago but feels like it has been this way forever. They still serve plenty of beer, but ironically, the place is now iconic and a destination choice for a completely different adult beverage, the Bloody Mary.
Located in the Menomonee Valley neighborhood just south of Downtown, Sobelman’s occupies a castle-like stone building on a corner with a small parking lot next to it and a few outdoor tables in front. Entering the front door immediately puts you in a very traditional neighborhood bar, with high-top tables, barstools and lots of mirrored beer signage and memorabilia. There is one mid-sized back dining room with conventional tables where they pack customers in, as Sobelman’s is very popular, especially at lunch, brunch and after work, with everyone from out-of-towners to families coming from Little League to the mayor. When I arrived at 11:30 a.m., we were the only table — and by 11:45 there was a wait to be seated. Sobelman’s recently started a push to franchise, and there are two satellite locations, one in Mequon, north of the city, and one at Milwaukee’s Marquette University.
Reason to visit: Burgers, especially The Sobelman or Loser, Bloody Marys, and cheese curds
The food: Milwaukee is a meat-and-potatoes kind of town with a serious cheese adoration, and Sobelman’s hits these key points well while keeping it simple. It has a litany of specialty burgers, often voted the best in the city by local publications. The signature is The Sobelman, with three kinds of cheese — American, cheddar and Swiss — as well as bacon from Nueske’s, a Wisconsin smokehouse prized nationally by foodies, plus fried onions and diced jalapeños. It’s an eclectic but well-put together combo, with just the right amount of cheesy ooziness, porky bacon-ness and a warm but not too hot bite. For heartier appetites, there is also a Double Sobelman with two 1/3-pound patties.
Given its track record, Sobelman’s was selected as one of the top burger representatives of Milwaukee to compete for the city’s best title on the Travel Channel show Food Wars. In the final round it ended up coming in second, but being good sports, the owners renamed their entry “The Loser” and even sell T-shirts boasting of their loss (or near-win). The Loser comes topped with Wisconsin Colby cheese, Nueske’s bacon, and “butter onions,” essentially onions fried in so much butter they are glazed yellow.
All burgers are a generous 1/3 of a pound of freshly ground angus served on a standout buttery country-style domed roll with fries, which are crispy, fresh and above average. The only weak link is that they don’t ask how you want them and cook them well, which makes the patties a bit dry, but the cheese helps. There are many other house burgers with toppings ranging from mushrooms to fried eggs to guacamole to chili, but every single one has at least one kind of cheese — this is Wisconsin after all — ranging from bleu to nacho. In this vein, one of the most popular appetizers is another classic Milwaukee staple, fried breaded cheese curds, except that Sobelman’s more tavern-style take coats them in a pretzel crumb and beer breading. Like most curds in these parts, they are served with ranch dressing for dipping. The breading is great, they are very fresh, addictively tasty, and better than most in town.
While the burgers are excellent, the real reason to go out of your way to visit Sobelman’s is for the Bloody Marys, which have become a huge thing in Milwaukee, despite its beer town history. This may be the most Bloody Mary-obsessed city in America and restaurants compete to serve the most outlandishly garnished Bloodys, with so much food stuck in them they can be meals in themselves. Even in this over-the-top arms race for things stuck in or on the drinks, Sobelman’s stands out for excess.
The Bloody Mary menu has eight signature concoctions, all of which start with lots of included basic skewers like cheese, shrimp and smoked sausage, and then add from there, like the Baconado, with an extra skewer of bacon-wrapped jalapeno cheese balls to the Bourbonado, studded with skewers of bacon-wrapped bourbon chicken. Then there are 13 garnish options to customize and augment the “regular” selections, most impressively the not-so-mini cheeseburger sliders. When I added this to my Baconado I ended up with celery, mushrooms, tomato, olives, asparagus, the bacon-wrapped cheeseballs, shrimp and a skewer of pepperoni and cheese cubes. The Beast is the catchall Bloody that includes all of the possible garnishes on the regular menu. As if all this was not enough, every drink is served with a small plastic cup of draft beer on the side, another odd Milwaukee tradition that adds more guilt to pre-noon drinking, and is known locally as a “Schnitt.”
But nothing at Sobelman’s — or pretty much anyplace else — is as over-the-top impressive as the Bloody Beast, which sits an entire fried chicken atop a pitcher-sized portion of Bloody Mary, with all the other condiments. This is for sharing and must be ordered in advance, and since you never otherwise actually see a whole, breaded fried chicken — it’s always pieces — this is shockingly awesome to behold, and reason in itself to make the trip.
Pilgrimage-worthy?: Yes — the most elaborately memorable Bloody Marys imaginable, plus standout burgers.
Rating: Yum! (Scale: Blah, OK, Mmmm, Yum!, OMG!)
Price: $-$$ ($ cheap, $$ moderate, $$$ expensive)
Details: Original, 1900 West St. Paul, Ave., Milwaukee; 414-931-1919; sobelmanspubandgrill.com
Larry Olmsted has been writing about food and travel for more than 15 years. An avid eater and cook, he has attended cooking classes in Italy, judged a barbecue contest and once dined with Julia Child. Follow him on Twitter, @TravelFoodGuy, and if there's a unique American eatery you think he should visit, send him an email at travel@usatoday.com. Some of the venues reviewed by this column provided complimentary services.
