Kawoomph!

Photos by Kevin C. Groen

Mason Street Grill
425 East Mason Street
414-298-3131
www.masonstreetgrill.com

Kawoomph” is the term Mark Weber coined to describe the explosive sound brandy makes as it hits a searing pan of steak au poivre. Mason Street Grill adopted it as the name for its logo: a steer with a chicken hat and flying fish grazing its shoulders representing the breadth of its offerings.

Under Weber’s stewardship as Managing Director, the Pfister Hotel’s new flagship restaurant is now at street level and accessible to diverse customers. If you’re with friends, settle into the comfortable leather chairs and banquettes for a memorable feast. Solo diners can pony up to the kitchen counter where they’ll find company watching all the action through the pass. Dinner fare ranges from an exquisite herb-crusted New York Strip steak at $48.50 to a grilled hot dog bun crammed with lobster salad for just $16.50. Steaks come with salad and a side (like the inspired fresh creamed spinach scented with nutmeg) and sandwiches include fries or gingered cabbage slaw. The crispy cracker-crusted pizzas (all under $10) topped with tomatoes and fresh herbs taste like summer. The vanilla-flecked cheesecake is light as mousse. And with a Kenwood Yulumpa Brut for $6.50 a glass, even I, a pauper writer, can afford it.

Those who have followed Weber’s luminous career from Arby’s (!) to the Riversite to his own restaurant, WaterMark, would not be surprised by his current appointment, for his cookery is inspired in any setting. He’s received great critical acclaim, but none greater than that of French Novelle Cuisine innovator Paul Bocuse. Among classically trained culinarians, Bocuse (not Emeril or any other TV celebrities) reigns as pope. Thus, it was like Da Vinci honoring a protégé when Bocuse himself complimented a meal Weber had prepared for him at Lake Park Bistro as the closest to his own cuisine that he had ever tasted.

He was bred for the food and beverage industry. The chef’s ancestors were brewers in Germany who brought their trade to the U.S. His great grandfather worked for Pabst and his great uncle Clem, as a Miller Brewing VP, brought Lite beer and Lowenbrau to the brand. With thumb and forefinger a couple inches apart, Weber says, “We had our own kiddy mugs this big as long as I can remember.”

Weber grew up in Rochester, New York, where his father was a VP for French’s Mustard. The position involved a lot of entertaining that opened portals of extensive gustatory experimentation for his son. Weekends and vacations were spent at the family vineyard in nearby Canandaigua where there was work for all seasons.

Three years into an engineering degree at Monmouth College, Weber was bored stiff and left. By then, his parents had moved to Mequon and after a few weeks on their couch Weber ventured out to find employment. He put in a desultory application at the Midway Motor Lodge’s fine dining restaurant, Café Manhattan, hoping they wouldn’t call. “I had no restaurant experience at all, but I commented that I’d eaten in a lot of them.” They called.

He found the camaraderie in the kitchen more fun than waiting tables and began hanging with the chefs. Et voila! Weber found his calling. Within the year, Weber had applied to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. In 1985, he found the CIA “an intoxicating environment.” He enjoyed every facet of his education. “I was lucky to go there when there were still a lot of European chefs there with the old standards. Mistakes were not allowed to be repeated.” Upon graduation, Weber took a fellowship in purchasing and storeroom operation, learning product control, price negotiation and writing specs – observing the flow of goods.

In the years following graduation, Weber first worked at a restaurant in Cincinnati under Arno Schmidt, who literally wrote the book on culinary cost control. In 1988 he returned to Milwaukee to help open Jim Marks’ Riversite. He also helped Tim Collins launch Red Rock Café in Shorewood and built their kitchen for a measly $4,500 by scouring the area for used equipment. By the time Weber became corporate chef for Bartolotta Restaurants and managing partner of Lake Park Bistro several years later, his culinary wizardry was widely recognized.

Weber opened WaterMark Seafood in the summer of 2003 just off Brady Street. He received rampant critical acclaim and an amazing 29 points in the Zagat Guide, but never achieved the volume needed for the location. The business closed two years later. His mother was actually relieved, commenting, “Well, now you got that outta your system!”

Not quite. “I’d do it all over again,” Weber enthuses. VS