Tupelo Honey Cafe Is Scrumptiously Southern

Everything I write in this review of Tupelo Honey Cafe will be edged with superlatives. This newcomer to Milwaukee, circa 2021, originated in Asheville North Carolina in 2000 and to date there are more than 20 across the country from Asheville to Denver.

It’s located at the corner of N. Broadway and E. Clybourn Street across from the Milwaukee Public Market‘s parking lot and the entrance to the Historic Third Ward. Don’t be fooled by the address on Broadway, the entrance is just around the corner on Clybourn. If you have trouble finding parking, you might want to pay to park in the Chase Tower garage on Water Street. Or, you could use public transportation and find a place to park somewhere on The Hop’s route. Then you can enjoy a convenient free ride to Tupelo Honey and this fine way to travel to Downtown and the Third Ward.

When the restaurant is busy, mainly during brunch hours on weekends, reservations are suggested. During the week friends and I found lunch hour busy, but thanks to the size of Tupelo Honey, there were plenty of tables available for walk-ins. Three dining rooms with six tops, four-tops, high-tops, and a few booths, were sparsely populated. The restaurant is immaculate, fresh and bright, especially on a sunny day when sunshine pours in huge windows that face Broadway and Clybourn.

The owners left no detail behind and that includes salt and pepper grinders on every table, a classy touch in this restaurant where southern comfort food reigns. On weekdays until 4:00 you can order a lunch combo, a half-sandwich and two sides, more than enough for a filling meal because portions at Tupelo Honey are generous.

The Ashville Hot Chicken Sandwich, a large chicken breast lightly breaded and deep-fried, added toasted cheese to a chicken sandwich. There was griddled bread, house made pickles, garlic-buttermilk ranch sauce, and in between two slices of melted Havarti cheese, the crispy chicken. My companion’s Griddled Fried Green Tomato Sandwich also included house made pickles and Havarti, another successful flavor combination, complex and delicious.

Our sides included Sweet Potato Bisque with Spiced Pecans and Chives, soup that tasted like its name, a little spicy and a little sweet. The fries were battered and came to the table hot, crisp, and straight from the fryer. Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows and Spiced Pecans was served in a small cast iron pot to keep it warm. Spicy pureed sweet potatoes were covered with toasted mini marshmallows, reminiscent of campfires and perfectly toasted marshmallows.

The Rainbow Avocado Bowl might not be classic southern cuisine unless you add healthy and low-calorie to the list. It lived up to rainbow with a mix of roasted carrots and cauliflower, avocado, beet hummus, garbanzo beans, pecans, and cilantro, dressed with harissa-honey yogurt sauce and for added heat, Sriracha. Cauliflower rice substituted for the usual rice found in a bowl. It’s redundant to mention delicious, but it was.

We washed all this awesome food down with Turmeric Ginger Tonic, a healthy drink that tasted of black pepper, Southern Hospitality Spritzer with pineapple and peach, and Kiss of Lavender Lemonade. These drinks added an extra layer of flavor to the spicy food, an unexpected benefit of our drink choices.

On a second visit, the expansive menu led my companion and I to the Famous Bone-In Fried Chicken. It was impossibly juicy and like everything else, there was no delay from kitchen to customer. If you order Dark Meat, you will be served two legs and a thigh; however, they came from very large birds and you will not leave the table hungry.

Our sides were Salt and Pepper Crispy Brussels and Heirloom Grits with Goat Cheese. Here’s where buttery becomes relevant, a signature of southern cooking and these dishes were no exception. Everything tastes better with butter and that applied to the brussels, the grits, and the Biscuits For A Cause, two biscuits served with blueberry jam and more butter. The Cause refers to a fund that aids Tupelo employees in need.

I like to finish with dessert and this was no exception despite the aforementioned generous portions. There were two choices, Heavenly Banana Pudding and Brown Butter Pecan Pie. I chose a third option, The Mini Dessert Duo, one of each. The pudding was rich and creamy, and the pie, decadent, with a crust that dissolved in my mouth, again, buttery. Next time I will forgo Mini and order one of each for later.

As I already wrote, superlatives are in order. Tupelo Honey with its southern food is a welcome addition to Milwaukee’s downtown restaurants.

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The Rundown

• Location: 511 N. Broadway
• Phone: 414-207-4604
• Hours: 11 a.m. to 8:00 p.m Mon-Thu, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Fri, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sat-Sun. Bruch 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sat-Sun
• Neighborhood: East Town
• Website: https://tupelohoneycafe.com/location/milwaukee/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tupelohoneymilwaukee
• UM Rating: stars (average of Yelp, Trip Advisor and Zomato)