Semolina Hosts Sunday Supper With Zia P
Part cooking class, part communal meal, all showcasing Sicilian family recipes.
Petra and Andy Orlowski, co-owners of Semolina MKE. Photo taken April 30, 2025 by Sophie Bolich.
When Petra Orlowski became an aunt, she asked to be called Zia P, combining her first initial with the Italian term for auntie. The name stuck among family members — and soon, Milwaukee diners will come to recognize it as well.
It’s fitting, given Orlowski’s Sicilian heritage and authority in the kitchen. After all, she’s perfected the art of scratch-made pasta, can readily list several applications for colatura (Italian fish sauce) and rarely turns down a snifter of digestif.
“Just a little,” said Orlowski, pantomiming a pinky-up sip.
Inspired by fond memories of afternoons at her Grandma Rosie’s house, Orlowski is preparing to host the inaugural Sunday Supper With Zia P, a hybrid cooking class and sit-down meal gathering eight guests for an evening of hands-on preparation — generously interspersed with wine, snacking and conversation.
“We’ve been doing classes for over three years now, and a lot of people ask if we’d ever consider hosting a dinner,” Orlowski said.
Until recently, the answer was always no. “But we thought about it, really tried to wrap our heads around the concept, and decided to host a trial run with some friends — and it went really well.”
The first Sunday Supper is set for May 11, coinciding with Mother’s Day. It’ll take place at Semolina MKE, the specialty food store Orlowski co-owns with her husband, Andy.
Upon arrival, guests can expect a welcome cocktail, followed by an interactive introduction to the evening’s appetizers: tuna pate, olives and potato chips. The combination is a favorite for Orlowski, conjuring memories of her travels. “When you go to a bar in Italy, they hand you a little bowl of plain potato chips and some olives — it’s just the perfect start.”
After first bites wrap up, guests will work together to prepare caponata, tomato-stewed green beans and swordfish skewers, all of which will be served family-style around a large table in the center of Semolina’s retail space. For dessert, there’s citrus olive oil cake with lemon curd, likely accompanied by a pour of sweet wine or a digestif.
Though Sunday Supper is meant to be laid-back and communal, it still requires careful planning. Orlowski must consider the time necessary for each dish, as well as the skill level of those preparing it.
“We’ve decided that cutting is my job,” she said. The rest of the cooking will be guided, but it’s designed to be approachable for even the most novice chef. “I’ll explain what I’m doing, then say, ‘Here, it’s your turn—stir this, skewer these, or can you trim some green beans while we chat?'”
Orlowski outlined these logistics on a recent Wednesday morning while standing at the countertop in her commercial kitchen at Semolina, surrounded by bunches of semi-dried herbs, chili peppers, and piles of eggshells — soon to be repurposed into art — as she mentally worked her way through the upcoming dinner, hopefully the first of many.
“I’m not a spreadsheets girl,” she admits. “I must stand here and think it out–“
“You’re a legal pad girl,” Andy chimes from the next room.
“I am!”
A second Sunday Supper is tentatively planned to align with Father’s Day — a worthy opportunity for those seeking an experience-based gift. Future dinners will explore a variety of regional menus, with the first event centered on Sicilian cuisine.
Orlowski also hopes to eventually host winemakers or sales representatives to coordinate and explain pairings. Meanwhile, recipes will incorporate products pulled from the shelves at Semolina, introducing attendees to lesser-known items and demonstrating how to use them in everyday cooking.
“I do want people to actually go home and make these things again,” Orlowski said. “I don’t want them to think, ‘Oh, well, that was really fun. But I’m never going to do that.'”
The inaugural Sunday Supper with Zia P will take place at Semolina, 2474 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tickets are $175 and available to purchase online.
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