The Real Deal
mi • key’s
811 N. Jefferson St
Milwaukee
414-273-5397
www.mikeysmilwaukee.com
The hospitality industry is rife with nomads. Chefs and hoteliers are like the Bedouin – each job is only a temporary oasis. In this world, Peter Alioto is an anomaly – a man who finds a niche and stays there. If mi • key’s takes off, customers are likely to enjoy Alioto’s cuisine for years to come.
Milwaukee native and Whitefish Bay High School graduate Alioto grew up in a large, traditional, close-knit Italian family. Like most Aliotos in Milwaukee, he is related to the restaurant family, although he’s only eaten there once. His family ate at home where food was a focal point for familial confabulations. “I have warm memories of Sundays sitting around the table with my family. It was always pasta,” he recalls.
A typical boy, Alioto was into baseball, track and field and wrestling, dreaming of becoming a pilot. It was Denny’s, however, that offered the high schooler a paycheck. You know the menu – it’s not haute cuisine, but the fast-paced environment taught Alioto valuable lessons. “I learned people skills there and how to think on your feet.” His experience at the family style restaurant allowed him to put his 22-year-old foot in the door of one of Milwaukee’s most notable restaurants, Marangelli’s. “When the opportunity presented itself to me, I didn’t know much about (chef/owner) John Marangelli. It was a very high-end Italian restaurant – that’s where my interest in food blossomed.”
Marangelli’s Northern Italian continental cuisine opened up oceans of new foods and flavors to the young chef, from imported sea urchin to scampi with fresh mint. “That embodies the whole idea of clean, crisp, fresh flavors – dishes in which you can taste the main ingredients. Many chefs today combine too many flavors instead of bringing the most flavor out of what you’re cooking, developing the flavor so that there’s that wow, that punch.”
Alioto stayed with Marangelli for 11 years, through two restaurants, until his last place closed in 1996. He spent the next decade at the Manchester East Hotel managing a demanding food service including restaurants, banquets, meetings, weddings and other social functions. It was a good place to work while raising a family of two children with his wife Lorie. “It was typical American cuisine – steaks, seafood, chops. I missed Marangelli’s and always wanted to get back to the type of food and cooking I enjoyed there.”
“mi • key’s has provided that in a lot of regards – I tried to keep same aspects of freshness and deep flavors in mind when I came up with this menu.” First time restaurateur Mike Pulaski hired Alioto from an online recruitment ad. “It felt like something that would fit me, in that it was a new restaurant involving menu development as opposed to conforming to a menu already in place. Mike was intrigued with the sharable aspect of dining. I always came in upscale, Mike brought me back to a more casual, comfortable-type food and we met in the middle.”
mi • key’s fresh and imaginative menu achieves both their goals – it has down to earth elements with haute cuisine accents. I love the fun, flair and flavor of the Chicken Fried Lobster – tender tail meat in a crispy, lemony coating with whipped potatoes ($26.95). Deal! Friends Table options include a rocking Mixed Grill – a large platter laden with lamb chops luxuriating in a thick, rich cabernet reduction, luscious bacon-wrapped prawns and slices of seared, rare flank steak on a bed of black beans and rice ($26.95). Deal! MK Baked Oysters: huge blue pointers nestled in creamy, cheesy spinach accented with Nueske’s bacon and a dash of Galliano ($11.95). Deal! If they keep this up, I could become a regular! VS
