When you think of hotel properties with a longstanding record of impeccable service, The Pfister Hotel quickly comes to mind. This Four Diamond Award property offers more than 24,000 square feet of meeting space. Guests will be impressed with the elegantly styled space that features antique chandeliers, rich draperies and marble accents. There are 307 guests rooms and 82 lavishly appointed suites. It’s located just steps from Milwaukee’s famed River Walk.

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Original Article for OthePlacesWeGo.com

As our family travels more, we’ve learned a few tricks of the trade. For one, when it comes to lodging it’s all about location, location, location! Our Milwaukee winter getaway was no exception. Since we were going to be out and about exploring the city, we wanted a place close to all the action. The Hilton Milwaukee City Center was exactly what we were looking for. With As the name implies, the Hilton Milwaukee City Center is situated right in the center of downtown close to all major attractions. Not only did the Hilton Milwaukee have the perfect location, but with a waterpark on the premises, and  a pet-friendly vibe,  I don’t think we could have found a better hotel perfect for our winter getaway.

Nitty Gritty:

Website: http://www.hiltonmilwaukee.com

AAA 4 Diamond Hotel

Location: Hotel is located right in downtown

Parking: Self-parking garage connected via skywalk for one price with in and out privileges (nice change of pace from the overpriced Chicago parking rates!)

Hotel Highlights:

• You can dine in or order room service. There are 3 different restaurants to choose from.
• Coffee lovers rejoice – Starbucks is located on the premises.
• Hotel is listed on the National Historic Register.
• Pets are welcome! We were happy to bring our other family member (an additional cleaning surcharge fee)
• There’s a waterpark connected to the hotel. (See below)

Room highlights:

• Spacious rooms with nice sitting area with sleeper sofa (depending on room type)
• Extra large walk-in closet (King Superior Room) with a laptop sized safe

Paradise Landing Waterpark highlights:

• I thought the waterpark was just their right – not too big and not too small. The slides weren’t scary at all for my two and a half year old.
• Huge sauna/jacuzzi
• Place to eat and order food (though we didn’t get a chance to try it out)
• Note: Waterpark is only only on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays
• Fun Fact: The Hilton Milwaukee City Center is one of the first hotels to have a indoor urban waterpark.
• **Update: Just heard that the Hilton will no longer have the waterpark starting in March. Get there before its gone. So sad to see it go!**

Kid-friendly/Pet-friendly amenities:

• Cribs available when requested
• Pet beds available

We wish…

• ..there was free wi-fi in the room.
• ..waterpark was open all the time instead of just the weekends.

Bottom Line:
With an ideal location in downtown close by to all the indoor activities, and a waterpark perfect for young kids, we couldn’t have imagined our stay in Milwaukee anywhere else. We would recommend to any families needing a little winter escape. We loved it here!

Original article by: Kristine M. Kierzek for Milwaukee Journal Sentinel


Brian Frakes can still remember the Milwaukee Brewers’ starting lineup back in 1982. He was just 12, but that pivotal year stands out.

He moved to Florida, and his Brewers went to the World Series.

Choosing chicken wings over construction, at 15 he got his first job in a restaurant. Cooking meant extra cash in college, too. Not until he’d nearly completed his psychology degree at Florida State did he consider cooking as a career.

Honing his skills at Florida’s Boca Raton Resort, he then cooked for A-listers at the Bel Age Hotel in Los Angeles. Yet the Brookfield native always felt the tug of his Wisconsin roots and returned in 2006.

Today, he’s executive chef at the venerable Pfister Hotel and oversees all food and beverage operations. If you’ve had anything to eat or drink at the upscale hotel, you know his work. He travels around the country recruiting for his culinary team, but he relishes homegrown talent.

While he can throw down with the best of them at wine dinners and galas, on lazy Sundays you’ll find him enjoying pancakes at Ma Fischer’s with his wife, Gina, and their daughters, Tiana, 5, and McRae, 4.

Part of the Marcus Celebrated Chefs series of classes, which run through Feb. 16, Frakes presents “Finger Foods Frenzy” from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Feb. 9 at the Mason Street Grill Chef’s Counter. Cost is $29 per person, $49 per couple. For reservations, call (414) 935-5950 or go to www.marcuschefs.com.

Q. You attended Florida State and got a degree in psychology. So how did you end up in the restaurant industry?

A. When I was 15, my dad got me a job as a laborer on a construction site. My friend had a job making 25 cents more as a dishwasher in a chicken wing restaurant and there was free soda. It was a no-brainer.

That culture, the endorphins and rush that go with feeding a lot of people fast, the whole culture of cooks, within a year I was the “head” wing man, the alpha position in my midteens. . . .

Right around a year before I got my degree, I started realizing there was a much bigger world of cooking, bigger than hat on backward and slinging cheeseburgers. I found the nicest place I could and said I’d learn. Really, that was my culinary school. It’s in your gut or it’s not. It’s in mine.

Q. The Pfister is known for drawing in celebrities, sports teams and big names. Any good stories?

A. Our catch phrase is “We respect all of our guests’ privacy.” If in the elevator I’m asked if someone is here, I say that. Meanwhile, you see the buses outside. It does come up. I got Keith Urban tickets from Keith Urban. You do get to rub elbows. You name the celebrity, and they’ve been here. It makes my job fun.

Q. Where might we find you around town?

A. If I get a Sunday, I take the wife and kids to Ma Fischer’s for “pannycakes” and chocolate milk. Some of the best dining experiences I’ve had are over “pannycakes.”

Q. Memorable meals?

A. Best steak I ever had, hands-down, was at Carnevor, when I was courting my wife. They had this true Japanese Kobe (beef). When they say you could eat this with a spoon, you really could. I upgraded to lobster – surf and turf – to impress her.

Q. Who does the cooking at home?

A. I’m the second best cook in my home. My wife is amazing. We’re learning to share space in the kitchen, but it is her kitchen. If you ask her, she’d like me to cook a little bit more. We’ll get the girls rolling meatballs. We’re working on their knife skills with Play-Doh.

Q. Who are your mentors?

A. From Boca Raton Resort, Claude Loudec. He’s from France, started in a professional kitchen when he was 9, worked at the White House. A culinary god, basically. Boca Raton is kind of like the Pfister, but 10 times the size. Lots of young talent and we all wanted to move up. My story is it took two years for him to even speak to me. . . . I really appreciated the time I got with him.

Q. Define your kitchen style.

A. It’s personal. As a young chef, some of the chefs who I came up under, I tried emulating them. I had an image of the chef I’m supposed to be screaming for no good reason at all times. Quickly realized that wasn’t me. . . . I appreciated the time that chefs took with me, even the screaming ones.

I’m about treating people with dignity. I’m proud to mentor cooks. I’m proud of the fact that no less than 10 of my former cooks are executive chefs.

Q. Do you have a signature dish, something you want to be known for?

A. No. I have my favorite things to eat, which change often. That translates to what I like to cook. I’ll put those on specialty menus.

The maturity thing means I don’t want to outsmart the demographic of our outlet. Our Café, the breakfast and lunch dining room, this has been the restaurant for 120 years in the city. It’s a place to see and be seen. . . .

I’m sitting in the office that was the opening chef’s 120 years ago. So much has happened here before me. I need to always remind myself to be true to that.

Q. What do you like about teaching the Celebrated Chef classes?

A. The intimacy is nice. You could reach out and touch all 22 people. . . . I now have several email friends (from previous classes) who reach out for little tips, reservations. It’s a good thing.

Q. Valentine’s Day is the inspiration for your class. What romantic twists can people pull off at home?

A. It’s not very Pfister, but it’s very sexy. Just eliminate the silverware, make it finger foods. If you want to lick each other’s fingers, that’s great.

It doesn’t hurt to do a little Googling of aphrodisiacs. Whether it is a placebo or not, if the word aphrodisiac is in there, and it’s a little bit sexy, it sets the mood.

A nice glass of wine or chilled champagne, berries, papaya and local honey, dim the lights and get rid of the silverware. I don’t see how that could possibly go bad. And a little bit of chocolate is always great.

Q. Was cooking a big thing when you were a kid?

A. I’d love to lie on my mom’s behalf, but she was never that good of a cook. When asked the question of the best dish of all time, it’s my mom’s pot roast or her rice casserole, which I couldn’t begin to describe, but it’s mom and food. That’s bigger than anything that I’m doing because it has to do with family.

Q. You have a Green Bay Packers tattoo. Any food-related tattoos?

A. I don’t, although I’m feeling the pressure to get them. . . . I’m proud of coming from the old school, French, tall chef hat, more crisp. I don’t want to say sterile, but a little more respect for the trade. But I do know a lot of great cooks with full arm tattoos. I’m not trashing them, but it is not really me.

I have sketched what that tattoo would be. I’ve played with the idea.

Brewers' slugger Ryan Braun stopped by the Pfister Hotel on Saturday to see his favorite artist, Wauwatosa's own Pamela Anderson. Braun bought four of Anderson's large-format paintings last year to decorate his California home. Credit Pamela Anderson

A Wauwatosa artist whose work has been gaining attention for a couple of years now has one really big-league admirer – Milwaukee Brewers slugger Ryan Braun.

Last year, Braun bought four large-format paintings from Anderson to decorate his California home.

On Saturday, he and girlfriend Larisa Fraser stopped in at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee to pay a visit to his favorite painter as she worked with artist in residence Timothy Westbrook in the hotel’s art studio.

Braun and Fraser even cast their votes for Anderson to be the next full-time artist in residence at the Pfister.

Anderson’s bold style of abstract painting features riots of color on large canvases. She also paints at the Plaid Tuba art studio in Milwaukee’s Third Ward.

Anderson said her introduction to Braun, and his to her, began when she was contacted by the interior design firm decorating Braun’s original restaurant downtown. They wanted her to curate displays of original artwork for the restaurant, which she did for a year.

When the restaurant changed management and theme, Anderson said, the new managers discontinued the rotating art gallery concept. But in the meantime, Braun had taken notice.

“I met Ryan through that,” Anderson said, “and then his manager contacted me said he wanted to arrange a private showing.”

Paintings ‘pop’ in Malibu sunlight

Braun, after signing an eight-year contract extension with the Brewers, bought an oceanfront house in Malibu, Calif., and had been looking for the right artist to set the tone in his new home.

“He said that the California sun is pretty intense, especially coming right off the ocean,” Anderson said. “He told me my large, bright, colorful paintings really pop on the wall.”

On Saturday, Anderson said, both Braun and Fraser again complimented her on how good her work looks in the home – “which thrilled me,” she said.

Anderson is a longtime Wauwatosa resident and former business owner. She opened and ran the Underwood Gallery at 1430 Underwood Ave. for 10 years, selling jewelry, ceramics and fine art pieces from artists near and far and painting at home as a hobby.

Only a few years ago, Anderson decided to take the plunge and make painting her focus. She sold Underwood Gallery and began exhibiting her own work.

It didn’t take long, obviously, for her to make her mark. Her paintings soon were selling for thousands of dollars.

Becoming artist to one of baseball’s biggest and most charismatic stars will likely elevate Anderson’s reputation even more.

Voting still going on for Pfister position

Anderson last year was the top popular vote-getter for the position of Artist in Residence at the Pfister, but the public’s vote only counts as one with a panel of judges. Westbrook was chosen instead, but Anderson is in the running again for 2013.

Votes can be cast by text, tweet or on Facebook, and may be recast once a day in each format:

• Facebook – http://t.co/ssGtGFSR
• Twitter – @poll PAMELAA
• Text – PAMELAA at 22333

The Pfister holds the world’s largest hotel-owned collection of Victorian art, and maintains a painting studio for each year’s artist in residence where hotel patrons can arrange to watch works in progress.

Original Article by: Kristine M. Kierzek for JS Online

Growing up picking cherries, strawberries and apples, Bill Doyle developed an early appreciation for fresh, local and seasonal ingredients.

A native of West Sand Lake in upstate New York, he took those early lessons and turned them into a career.

Trained at the Culinary Institute of America-Hyde Park in New York, Doyle has more than two decades of kitchen experience in hotels and convention centers.

Nearly a year ago, he came to Milwaukee as executive chef at the InterContinental Hotel. He might not know all the local landmarks just yet, but he’s making his way through the farmers markets.

Doyle recently moved into a new role as executive chef at the Hilton Milwaukee City Center Hotel, 509 W. Wisconsin Ave. He oversees all food and beverage operations at the Hilton, including Milwaukee ChopHouse and Miller Time Pub.

He lives in the Okauchee Lake area with his wife, their two children, a cat and three dogs.

As part of Marcus Restaurants’ 2013 Celebrated Chef winter series, Doyle will present a Chocolate Chowdown featuring cocoa-spiced spareribs and chocolate desserts on Feb. 2. For information and a schedule of classes, go to marcuschefs.com.

Classes will be held from 10 to 11:30 a.m. select Saturdays at the Mason Street Grill Chef’s Counter.

Classes are $29 per person, $49 per couple. For reservations, call (414) 935-5950.

Q. How did you start working in the restaurant industry?

A. When I was really young, in grade school, I started working orchards picking strawberries, cherries and apples through the seasons. Then I started working in a country club when I was a freshman in high school.

I started as a dishwasher, and then a couple months later became a cook. I graduated high school, went into the Army to pay for college. Then I went to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park.

Q. How do you describe your approach in the kitchen?

A. My focus is on the food in every way. I’m a perfectionist, never satisfied. I’m always going to work to improve on what we’ve done before.

I’m a risk taker and rarely do the same thing twice if I’m doing menus.

It’s not about the spotlight for me. Sometimes the spotlight or your personal ego can shadow what’s really important. That’s the food.

The higher up in the industry you get, the further you get taken away from the food. It’s a constant battle to get back to it.

Q. How much time do you spend on the line these days?

A. That depends on the day. I always tell my cooks and students that I probably split about 60/40. Forty percent being cooking, 60% being administrative. . . .

Now I’m more of an innovator and train my staff on how to do it. Yesterday, however I spent 9 1/2 hours in the kitchen. That was a good day: all food.

Q. Your class for the Marcus series is Chocolate Chowdown. What have you learned about working with chocolate?

A. You can’t just do everything and anything with chocolate. It is sensitive to moisture and heat.

The current trend is to experiment and incorporate chocolate into savory as well as sweet. A lot of people consider chocolate as just a dessert. It can be a lot more than that, as we demonstrate in the class.

I’m playing with pork spareribs (for the class). When you get into the savory aspect of cooking with chocolate, it is unexpected that people get chocolate as an accent rather than the main flavor. It is an excellent background to many other cuisines and flavors.

Q. What appeals to you about cooking for others in a restaurant setting?

A. I was drawn to it because food itself is so diverse. There’s an endless amount to learn. It’s very individually rewarding as a career, but it also involves a great bit of teamwork.

It has an artistic component. It is called culinary arts. Most of us chefs believe it is an art form, possibly one of the most difficult art forms.

The other thing is that it is sustainable. No matter what happens, everybody’s got to eat. It ties us all together. I’ll never know everything there is to know about food.

Q. Much of your career has been in hotels and restaurants handling big events. What advice can you give to those planning menus for weddings or large events?

A. The best thing to consider is that you’re going to be trying to please a lot of people. You can’t go too far to the left or right. Think the majority, and don’t limit your choice because of the few.

Wedding-wise, my biggest suggestion is to try to choose the menu and foods you like. That day is all about you. Try to start there.

Q. When looking ahead, what issues are important to you?

A. Our focus, as it continues to be an international and national trend, is farm to table. That will be a huge focus of ours in 2013.

It is a way to improve the flavors and the quality of our cuisine, as well as do the right thing for the environment our kids will live in and grow up in.

Q. What local farmers markets do you visit?

A. We’ve been to South Shore Farmers Market, West Allis and the one in Madison. That’s the first one we wanted to explore. It is outstanding and still considered local. . . .

Wisconsin has a lot to offer. We’re not just looking at fresh, raw products, but bread makers, ice cream, charcuterie, cheeses.

We’re working on co-ops and getting together as a group to communicate to bring the product we need to our doorstep when we need it.

Just because we want to use a local product doesn’t mean it is easy. Making it happen is one of the most difficult pieces. It’s coming along.

Q. Best kitchen advice you’ve ever gotten?

A. I would have to say, build a great team. The future of food is only as good as the people we grow.

Q. What should aspiring chefs know?

A. It’s not a bunch of screaming and yelling and chaos in the kitchen. There are deadlines all the time.

There’s a lot more involved in being a chef and the culinary world than just food: management, team building, organization, sanitation and cleanliness, efficiency, equipment knowledge. It’s physical. It’s mental.

Q. What’s your go-to kitchen equipment?

A. An immersion blender is a very handy tool to have. It is portable, mobile. I have a 12-inch French knife that I use for almost everything.

It’s a very large knife, and I got in that habit early in my career, and I can’t quite kick that habit. Everyone is always surprised when I pull that out.

Q. Do you cook at home?

A. I don’t like to get too involved when I cook at home. It’s part of what I do all day, and I don’t want to go home and do it all night.

We do a lot of roasted chicken and vegetables. We have a little bit of Irish heritage, so we do stews, depending on what time of year it is, but we also do quick things like macaroni and cheese.

Q. Have you gotten a chance to check out other local restaurants?

A. To be honest, I haven’t had a lot of time to explore the market. I really liked Braise. That’s the one that stands out the most since I’ve been here. I’ve only been here for eight months.

Original Article

Downtown Restaurant Week returns for a second year, this time bigger and better.

Louis FowlerJanuary 16th, 2013 

Downtown Restaurant Week
Sunday-Jan. 26
Throughout Downtown OKC
downtownokc.com
$12 lunch, $35 dinner

We think a lot about sequins here—about their care and conservation—the history of their invention and evolution—and they ways their sparkle conveys the magic and glamor of performance.

From the Hollywood movies of Judy Garland to the honky-tonks of Patsy Cline, sequins have played an important role in audience enchantment. Their very glimmer is a kind of short-hand for magic—the magic of a fantasy world conjured upon a screen or the magic of a voice stirring powerful emotion. It was the marriage of sequins, intense light, and Technicolor, after all, that gave those slippers their ruby glow in The Wizard of Oz and conveyed their inner power. [1]

“The iridescent glimmer of sequins are essential elements in the larger-than-life persona of many a performer. It’s as if the shimmer allows them to bring their own special lighting to the stage.”

—Dwight Blocker Bowers,
Entertainment Curator,
National Museum of American History

Sequins—whimsically employed—are what first drew me to artist Timothy Westbrook’s Pabst Blue Ribbon shoes. They were posted on Facebook by Milwaukee’s Pfister Hotel where Westbrook is Artist-in-Residence. Online, the shoes were gorgeous and charming—their blue bows and red ribbons lining up just right—but it was the sequins’ brilliance and texture that put them over the top. I have two-stepping friends who would die to dance in them.

My cousin Rebecca’s wedding brought me to the hotel soon after, and in a quiet moment I discovered Westbrook’s studio just off of the hotel’s ornate 19th-century lobby. An odd place for PBR shoes, you might think, but this is Milwaukee, home of the Pabst family of brewery pioneers. Pabst Blue Ribbon is about as iconic as it gets in this place of invention.

I spotted the shoes right away—twinkling amid mannequins, gowns, and sparkling fabric being woven on a giant loom. I moved closer. I had never seen sequins like these—like round pieces of confetti arranged as if scales on a mermaid’s tail. I couldn’t stop looking.

“Please touch!” enthused a voice from behind a non-electric treadle sewing machine. The kind and welcoming artist himself. Even with permission, I was hesitant to touch, but I’m so glad I did. Those weren’t sequins at all! They were red, white, and blue aluminum circles hole-punched from PBR cans! I loved the shoes even more for their surprise—for the inventive way that they not only celebrated an iconic American product—they were the product, recycled back to life.

Each shoe, Westbrook explained, was covered in over 2,000 aluminium circles hole-punched from used PBR cans. Separated for color and pattern, the “sequins” were then meticulously glued to a pair of vintage shoes over the course of 32 hours. Next to the PBR shoes were the latest entries in what Westbook calls his, “Drinking Shoe” collection: “Strongbow shoes” made from the hard cider’s distinctive yellow and black cans.

The “magic” of the PBR shoes, I told Westbrook, made me think on some level of that most celebrated pair of sequinned shoes in the Smithsonian’s collection. Funny I should say that: Westbrook recently created “Ruby Slippers” for a project commissioned by Misha Rabinovich.

The result is a spectacular pair of shoes that would make the Wicked Witch of the West take notice: a sparkling duo made of thousands of aluminum “sequins” from another American icon: Coca-Cola. The project was difficult on several levels—the heel, for example, is often wrong in reproductions—but Westbrook’s greatest challenge was creating something that evokes the public’s powerful memory of the shoes while providing a 21st-century twist.

“The closer I get to garbage the more interested people are, ” Westbrook said. ”When they don’t know what they’re looking at, when they have to look closer and differently to figure it out, they see the innovation—that it’s not garbage at all—it’s something beautiful and a piece of Americana.”

Turns out, there was more to see, including other pieces made from recycled materials such as audio cassette tapes, MRI film, scrap yarn and fabric, umbrellas, medical splints, electric wire, and those ubiquitous white plastic bags. Even retired sheets donated by the Pfister get a second life as gowns.

Since that meeting in Milwaukee, I’ve enjoyed an ongoing conversation with Westbrook about his work and commitment to using re-purposed material. So much of what he talked about resonated with conversations the Lemelson Center has had with the many creative and innovative people that come through our doors. In my next post, I will talk about the work Westbrook is doing to transform discarded audio tape into shimmering textiles that challenge one’s definition of luxury.

[1] Blocker Bowers, Dwight (Entertainment Curator, National Museum of American History). 2007. From the Smithsonian Channel’s America’s Treasures video.

A visit to milwaukee means a step into the past and a look to the future. You can trace the city’s industrial history and cultural heritage in everything from architecture to beer to motorcycles. At the same time, it’s a bustling metropolis, with world-class art and innovative restaurants.

As you explore the city, you soon discover that the modern and the historic overlap. Many of the city’s revered arts groups—the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Ballet Company, Florentine Opera Company and First Stage Milwaukee—thrill audiences at the sleek Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, while the Pabst Theater, a city, state and national historic landmark built in 1895, welcomes today’s hottest bands and comedians.

Sometimes what’s old becomes the cool new place to hang out. That’s the case with the Historic Third Ward, a neighborhood of historic warehouses that are now home to boutiques, galleries, restaurants and bars. You’ll also find the Milwaukee Public Market, a two-story indoor market brimming with wine, flowers, seafood, cheese, sausages, a coffee shop and a taco bar.

A symbol of the city—its roaring Harley—is honored in the Harley-Davidson Museum. Opened in 2008, it celebrates more than a hundred years of the famed cycles and the free-spirited life on the road they represent.

Speaking of icons, Milwaukee is synonymous with beer for good reason. Start with a guided tour at Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery for a sample of Pabst or Schlitz and an overview of the city’s brewing history. Then stop by Lakefront Brewery to get a taste for modern-day beer making. A tour includes four pours: Choose among the microbrewery’s Riverwest Stein flagship beer, Lakefront Cherry fruit beer, Lakefront Organic E.S.B. (extra special bitter) and the new, gluten-free New Grist.

Read on for ten more ways to experience the two sides of this fascinating city.

Stay

Historic

The Pfister Hotel preserves the elegance of a bygone era, but when it opened in 1893 it debuted such cutting-edge technology as full electricity. A grand lobby showcases a soaring, muraled ceiling and a lounge with a fireplace and live piano music. The Pfister houses the largest collection of Victorian paintings of any hotel in the world—and hosts an artist-in-residence. Guest rooms are well appointed, with floral carpets, crown molding and large windows. Stop up to Blu on the twenty-third floor for panoramic views of the city and formal afternoon tea; come evening, the sophisticated space is an ideal spot for cocktails.

Modern

A hundred-year-old warehouse has a new life as the hip Iron Horse Hotel. The boutique hotel mixes industrial, rustic and modern elements. Loft-style guest rooms feature exposed pipes and brick, tiled and muraled walls, as well as leather headboards, concrete-topped desks and black-tiled bathrooms. Cool public spaces range from a library with a fireplace and a leather sofa imprinted with a faded American flag to a bar with a red pool table and industrial-style stools. In the lobby, sink into leather sofas and peruse motorcycle memorabilia—a nod to the hotel’s biker clientele and the nearby Harley-Davidson Museum.

Dine

Historic

Karl Ratzsch’s honors its German American heritage without kitsch. Opened in 1904, the restaurant features dark wood ceiling beams, with artwork, steins and antiques on display. The menu ranges from strudel, schnitzel, spätzle to fish, salads and vegetarian dishes. Staffers treat both regulars and newcomers like old friends.

Modern

Set within the stately Cudahy Tower near Lake Michigan, Bacchus opened in 2004 as part of the Bartolotta collection of restaurants. A small but diverse menu of small plates and fish, lobster and steak entrees is accompanied by an expansive wine list. Ask for a corner banquette in the elegant, contemporary dining room for a romantic meal.

Sip

Historic

Open since 1938, Bryant’s Cocktail Lounge is a blast from the past, with velvet walls, cozy booths and old tunes playing on a McIntosh hi-fi. The bar doesn’t bother with menus. Simply tell the bartender what you’re in the mood to drink.

Modern

On the top floor of a brick building in the Historic Third Ward, Cuvée celebrates the bubbly. The champagne bar offers a hundred different varieties of sparkling wine—by the glass or bottle, or in flights or cocktails—all served up in a sexy space with low, intimate seating.

View

Historic

Set in a Tudor-style mansion built in 1911, the Charles Allis Art Museum boasts an impressive art collection. Among beautiful marble fireplaces, silk carpets and wood furniture are paintings from the French Barbizon and Hudson River School groups, as well as works by Winslow Homer, Thomas Gainsborough and Albrecht Dürer. Changing exhibitions showcase the work of contemporary Wisconsin artists.

Modern

While the Milwaukee Art Museum’s roots trace back to the 1880s, its 2001 Quadracci Pavilion addition—a soaring, sail-like structure—designed by renowned architect Santiago Calatrava made it a modern marvel. Inside, thirty thousand works of art range from antiquity to the present day, with significant collections of folk art, German Expressionism and works by Georgia O’Keeffe.

Shop

Historic

Since 1870, George Watts & Son Luxury Tabletop & Gift Emporium has sold fine tabletop products and home décor accessories. Stop in for dinnerware, table linens or a unique gift for a wedding, anniversary, new baby or holiday.

Modern

At Broadway Paper in the Third Ward, wood shelves brim with greeting cards, candles, books and gifts, plus paper and supplies for art and craft projects. Don’t miss the hanging racks of decorative papers boasting colorful, modern prints.

It is all those things, but it’s also like show business, a play staged every day with a bit of illusion and talented actors dealing directly with an audience of guests.

If they can open the doors and turn on the lights, it must go on, despite all the backstage stuff that might be trying to darken it: fights over money, changes in management, legal struggles over ownership, loss of a prestigious “flag,” an uncertain future.

That’s what happened at The Cornhusker Marriott, climaxing in 2012, when the troubled and disruptive eight-year ownership by Atul Bisaria and his Shubh Hotels finally came to an end.

A year ago, things couldn’t have looked much worse, as Bisaria’s properties elsewhere were going out of business, The Cornhusker was being repossessed and it was losing its prestigious Marriott affiliation, because it wasn’t up to those standards. That meant an immediate loss of business. Nobody was telling the frightened employees anything. Some of them bailed out.

But a group who hung in there through it all talked recently about the experience, no less than a cliffhanger, as they basked in the probability of a long run under the new ownership of LEM Capital and partner Marcus Hotels and Resorts, which owns the bigger share and plans millions of dollars in overdue renovations.

The Marriott affiliation restored, Marcus gives these people credit for keeping the show together. They include Julie Campbell, director of sales; Dan Jones, senior sales manager; Karen Criss, banquet manager; Cindy Choma, accounts payable supervisor; and Freddie Lozano, bellman.

Lozano, on the front lines of service, has seen more of the hotel’s history than most. He has worked there for 12 years, through part of investor David Murdock’s ownership, then under Bisaria’s and now with Marcus.

The past year was tough.

“We didn’t know much, nobody told us anything, it felt like we were left in the dark,” he said. “Every day you’d hear a different rumor. There was a lot of uncertainty and a lot of worried people. We heard this place might close. We didn’t know what to believe. We were just hoping something positive would happen.

“When we lost the (Marriott) flag, it got really bad,” Lozano said. “People started to quit, you know, managers who said, ‘We better leave before the ship sinks.’ It was really bad for the employees. It was a dark time.

“We did our best, but we could tell the hotel was going downhill. When we lost our flag, we didn’t have as much business, occupancy went down, we lost all those Marriott people. It was tough for people who depend on tips, bell service, the restaurant. We weren’t making as much money, and we didn’t have the business.

“It was scary because we didn’t know what was going to happen to our hotel. Some (employees) had been here 20 or 30 years. You didn’t know what to believe. I just tried to stay positive and provide great service and hope we’d be bought by someone who’d bring back the hotel to what it was before, or better.”

Spoken as if he wrote the play. Which brings up the part about illusion.

“It was rough, but we, of course, didn’t let the guests know,” Jones said.

There were times, Cindy Choma acknowledged, when she didn’t know whether the bills would get paid.

“We improvised,” Campbell said. “We wanted new linen … so we figured out how to rent linen. We made lemonade.”

“We became professional problem-solvers,” Criss said. “When you gotta put the show on, you take care of it.”

They became better managers, better people, worked better as a team, they said, and reassured skeptical customers who knew something was amiss.

“They questioned how stable the hotel was,” Jones said. “We assured them they’d still get the same service.”

People advised Choma to get another job. Jones got a couple of calls about employment; he responded that he needed to see this thing out. Lozano thought about it but didn’t make out any applications.

Then in the spring came the Marcus rumors. Site inspections.

“When Marcus came in, word got out,” Campbell said. “People were saying, ‘We want Marcus!'”

The company has a name for reviving hotels that were in a lot worse shape than The Cornhusker was. One in Oklahoma City was boarded up.

In June, The Cornhusker had three national gatherings: the Congress of American Indians, adjutants general and Izaak Walton League.

“It was a great summer,” Campbell said. And in September came the news Marcus was taking over.

Morale was back; the gusto of a well-rehearsed show was there. Then came Marriott’s return and the beginning of renovations.

Now all the guest rooms have new linen. And it’s not rented. New china, glass and silver.

They are working on increasing bandwidth and making The Cornhusker Marriott the most tech-friendly hotel in the state, Campbell said. More ports, all-new computers for the staff who use them.

“A lot of back-of-the-house stuff,” said Jones. Those things the audience doesn’t see. In two weeks, they got 20 new requests for proposals for big gatherings.

The new decorating will be as obvious as a new chandelier. Not so for some other system renovations. Hotel systems have a six-year to seven-year life cycle. This one is a little past that.

There were times during the past year when new management companies were announced but never arrived.

Now it’s clear who’s running things. “Marcus is right here with us,” Choma said.

“They have a huge support team,” Campbell said. “It’s a blessing.”

The voices that answer the phone make it sound like a musical.

“Right now, it’s during our slow season, but things are going great,” Lozano said. “We’re like a family again. We’re all on the same page, we know what’s gonna happen and so everything’s looking really positive. I’m just looking forward to being the best hotel in Lincoln and probably Nebraska when they’re finished with everything. With the best service.”

The Pfister Hotel is putting an exclusive spin on the weekend getaway with its new Four Diamond Experiences program, which gives guests the opportunity to participate in unique art and dining experiences during their stays.

Starting in January and continuing through March, The Pfister will host a different experience every weekend, including programs with the hotel’s renowned chefs, fine arts workshops with The Pfister Artist-in-Residence and The Pfister Narrator and other hands-on activities.

Each Four Diamond Experiences package includes a Saturday afternoon program, a one-night stay in a deluxe guest room, Sunday brunch and parking starting at $239. For more information, upgrades and reservations, call (414) 935-5950.