Wining & Dining at the Delta Center

Being a wine guy I try to hit as many wine tastings and events as possible. Last Saturday I made a point to attend Wine & Dine Wisconsin, an event organized by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, now in its fourth year. The two-day event was held at
the capacious (and recently renamed) Delta Center in downtown Milwaukee.

As I strolled from my car around noon on Saturday, I couldn’t help but wonder if the crowd would be sparse on such a sunny and unseasonably warm day in November. It quickly became clear there were plenty of foodies and oenophiles more interested in good eats and drinks than in spending one more warm day out of doors.

The event was huge in scale, rivaling the annual auto show. Encompassing 190,000 square feet, putting on this affair and running it smoothly was no small feat. As with most well-run annual events, each new year brings improvements, and special events manager Becky Steimle deserves kudos for enticing an exemplary group of food and beverage vendors while simultaneously adding atmosphere and organizational efficiencies to this years event.

Wine & Dine was roughly 50 percent larger than last year, surrounding a new Wine Gallery ― a concentration of wine vendors grouped under an attractive wood arbor covered in white lights and faux flora meant to evoke the feeling “of an outdoor cafe in wine country.” It featured more than 150 wines and a dozen Washington State wine companies under one canopy, undoubtedly adding a touch of insouciant ambience to a huge room that needed it. More importantly, it made the sampling of those wines simpler and more welcoming.

The longest line by far was for Maxie’s Southern Comfort. When some in line were asked why they were willing to wait so long, they pointed to the full plates being lovingly carried away from the table, in contrast to the one/two-bite samples served by most vendors. Ah yes, Milwaukee loves its bargains, but it was also pointed out that a full plate is better to “soak up all the alcohol.”

Not able to wait myself, I scuttled up to the counter for a better look, being very careful not to appear to be line-jumping lest I incur the wrath of those waiting patiently. And indeed, the plate Maxie’s served was brimming with the savory southern fare it is renowned for—eastern North Carolina-style pulled pork, organic yellow stone ground grits and Tasso gravy, vegetarian jambalaya, corn bread, and from sister restaurant Blue’s Egg, corned beef hash, all nestled neatly from rim to rim on a six inch plate.

Sendik’s Food Markets, a first time sponsor/vendor at the event, had an extremely well-organized booth manned by sharply dressed staffers grilling gourmet Black Angus beef sliders and pouring tastes of their private label beer. Although waiting was mandatory at most exhibitor booths, this crew operated as a well-oiled machine and the orderly line moved quickly, lured through the guided maze by the visuals of a flaming grill and wafting scent of grilled beef at the finish line.

This was not an event for vegetarians, although, there was, in addition to the to-be-expected abundance of cheese offerings, a snappy looking table of scrumptious black bean burgers proffered by Cafe Manna, each neatly plated in halves and cheerfully handed out by smiling staff.

Another happy lot were the chef and staff manning the ubiquitous Bartolotta tables in the Critics Corner (Ristorante, Bacchus, Harbor House, Lake Park Bistro, Mr. B’s), as were as the crew at Sanford’s and Dream Dance. The food sampled here will have you dialing for reservations.

Beth Romano of Milwaukee, exclaimed, “ the food was phenomenal!” upon leaving the Corner. This area requires an additional fee of $19 (Saturday was sold out in advance online) and seemed worth every penny. But oenophiles beware, there were only two wine vendors in the up-charge Critics Corner. TwentyFour by Packers defensive back Charles Woodson was a no-show, and left a forlorn and empty booth after pulling out three days before the event, according to Steimle.

There were plenty of fabulous and inventive foods and wines available in the general attendance area too. Of particular note is Braise, a Walker’s Point restaurant where I’d shared a couple of outstanding small plate starters seated at the bar the night before. On Saturday, Braise sampled Focaccia with Pork Belly and Green Garlic Jam. Nearby was Chef Joshua Moore and staff from Cafe Benelux in the Third Ward, sampling cute and very tiny cups of Pork Rillette consisting of pork shoulder in duck fat topped with melted leeks and wild cherry gastrique. Ooh la la, that was tasty! (But begs the question, “is anything with duck fat not tasty”?)

Seven Hills Winery sent their Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Erik McLaughlin, to represent their well-made wines. This was the rare booth manned with someone intimately familiar with the product and able to answer typical consumer questions.

Adding visual (and possibly psychic) relief was The Club by Potawatomi, with its neon lit panels pulling you inexorably in to their oasis of cocktail delights. As the afternoon wore on, this spot grew more crowded and more boisterous. But the prize for loudest revelers goes to the beer drinkers at the Leinie Lodge, where a vintage mid-20th century polished aluminum Airstream beckoned while huge platters of Wisconsin cheese and free flowing beer enticed many revelers to hang out. At The Club, bartenders from Potawatomi’s Bar 360 mixed and poured newly created cocktails, and the two-man team from Bittercube riffed on classic old school cocktails.

Beer offerings were almost as prevalent this year as the wine, 175 beers to 200 wines. Arguably the beer vendors, like Pepsi working to outpace Coke, put out more effort than most (but not all) of the wine purveyors did. Better displays, snazzier, more congenial and better trained servers eager to elbow their way into your consciousness, at an event billed as being about wine, and food.

As the afternoon wore on, I heard various grumblings, the most egregious being about the unsightly overflowing trash cans and empty, uncleared tables piled high with dirty plates as if they were trash receptacles. These complaints were during the middle of the event, 2 and 3 p.m., not when it was ending, and as hard as the organizers worked to add ambience, this was something that pulled the rug out from under their efforts. The other complaint of note is when vendors pull out early, leaving empty tables. This too adds a demoralizing affect and should be avoided at all costs. It’s dispiriting to patrons who paid to be there and can’t be good for the moral of those working until the closing bell either. Steimle acknowledged the frustration this causes and told me they “have incentives in place to prevent this” breach of trust that is the bane of event organizers everywhere.

All in all, Wine & Dine continues to be a pleasurable event for those wanting to experience some of the best food, craft beer, and to a lesser extent wines, currently offered in Wisconsin.