State Fair Unveils Nearly 100 New Foods and Beverages

Bavarian Cream Bug Donut from All Things Jerky. Photo courtesy of the Wisconsin State Fair.

The Wisconsin State Fair continues its pursuit of culinary excellence—and its dedication to edible bugs—with nearly 100 new food and beverage options in 2025.

The lineup includes a bloody mary-inspired funnel cake, crab rangoon tacos and the Bavarian Cream Bug Donut, which features a certified menagerie of ants, crickets, grasshoppers, worms and a scorpion. Make it a meal with other insect-infested items like the Cricket Chocolate Chunk Cookies and Iced Larvae Latte.

There’s also plenty of pest-free offerings, including beverages like vanilla espresso fizz, frozen Jarritos and strawberry jalapeño whipped lemonade. Deep-fried tequila donut shots blur the line between food and beverage, inviting guests to knock back a cup of warm doughnut holes tossed in tequila-lime icing. Despite its boozy flavor, the dish doesn’t contain any alcohol.

The new additions join a list of classic standbys—like cream puffs, corn on the cob, cotton candy and a multitude of foods on a stick—available throughout the fairgrounds.

Attendees can also look forward to allergy-friendly options from Keys Gluten-Free Fair Foods, serving corn dogs, cheese curds and desserts, as well as Molly’s Gluten-Free Friendly Bakery, which offers lemon and s’mores-flavored cookies.

The gluten-friendly businesses are among more than a dozen new vendors this year, joining Buzzy Badger, Dragon’s Breath freeze-dried ice cream, GoldenKdog, Lumberjacks Arctic Treats, Rock & Roll Beer Garden, Sheboygan Pasty Company, Sip Yard, Tropics Frozen Cocktails, Valley Fudge & Candy, Coop’s Champion Chicken, Flying Solo Bar & Grill, Top Nacho and the aptly named Roasted Corn.

See the fair’s online Food Finder for a comprehensive guide to this year’s food and beverage offerings. For more fair food, see Urban Milwaukee’s earlier coverage of the 2025 Sporkies and Drinkies finalists.

Deals and Discounts

The fair will host Crazy Grazin’ Day on Aug. 5, offering sample-sized foods for a reduced price at more than 30 locations throughout the grounds. A full menu is available to view online. The $11 meal deal will also return this year, with more than 20 options available every day of the fair.

See the Wisconsin State Fair website for additional deals and discounts.

The fair is set to begin Thursday, July 31, and runs through Sunday, Aug. 10.

Former Promises Building For Sale

A historic Walker’s Point building is for sale following the January closure of its latest tenant, Promises.

Dieter Wegner owns the property, 726-734 S. 6th St., which has housed a series of taverns over the past decade, including Felipe’s Place and Gibraltar. The latter has since reopened in the Historic Third Ward.

Originally constructed in the 1890s, the Italianate-style building contains 7,428 square feet total, with a first-floor commercial space and upper-level apartments.

It’s priced at $895,000.

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UW Food Program Shutting Down After Federal Cuts

The University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension is ending its 30-year-old FoodWIse nutrition education program and laying off more than 90 people after losing a federal grant.

Extension made the announcement Friday.

The Congressional budget reconciliation bill that was signed into law on July 4 eliminated all National Education and Obesity Prevention Grant Program (SNAP-Ed) funding effective Sept. 30.

For more than three decades, the FoodWIse program has been providing people with nutrition education and community-based strategies to support healthy eating and active lifestyles by partnering with local schools, food pantries, farmers markets and community centers, according to the Extension. The program reaches more than 133,000 people.

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New Restaurant Opens on Fond du Lac Avenue

Rise Kitchen has achieved liftoff in Sherman Park.

The new restaurant opened earlier this month at 4610 W. Fond du Lac Ave. It features a preliminary menu of burgers and fries, with plans to expand the selection as it continues to gain traction in the neighborhood.

“It’s been going really well so far,” owner Jonathan Springfield-Burnett told Urban Milwaukee, noting that the restaurant offers on-site dining, though delivery orders have mostly buoyed the business through its early weeks.

For now, the operation is a one-man show, with Springfield-Burnett handling the front-of-house, the fryers and the flat top—where he feels most at home.

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Soua Chang

Editor: This is the first installment of a new series in which Urban Milwaukee will explore five ingredients and how to use them with Milwaukee chefs, growers, and caterers.

It’s the height of summer and farmers markets are in full swing—vendor tables straining under pints of rotund blueberries, golden loaves of sourdough and wayward zucchinis swollen to twice the usual size.

If you’ve strolled through any Milwaukee-area markets, there’s a good chance you’ve encountered Soua Chang, whose family has been on the circuit for more than a decade.

They started at South Shore Farmers Market more than 10 years ago and still vend there today, but have since added locations including New Berlin, West Allis, Fox Point, Pewaukee, Walker Square Park and Enderis Park.

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Los Gordo’s Serves Souped-Up Snacks on South Side

Frozen custard may be Milwaukee’s reigning summer treat, but a new southside snack shop is making a play for the crown with a mile-long menu of refreshing sorbets, tajin-topped sundaes, icy lemonades and more.

Los Gordo’s, now several months into its tenure at 2691 S. 6th St., serves a core menu of Mexican-style snacks such as cueritos, fresas con crema, paletas and mangonada—a spicy-sweet blend of mango sorbet, mango chunks and chamoy.

But that barely scratches the surface.

The longer you look, the more there is to see, with munchies covering nearly every flat surface in sight. Gallon-sized bags of pale orange duros line the glass-topped counter, begging for a heavy-handed pour of Valentina. Cake slices chill in a narrow cooler. Chips, candies, cookies and freeze-dried ice cream sandwiches crowd the shelves and hang from clips on the walls.

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New Hot Chicken Spot For Capitol Drive

After decades in the restaurant industry, not much surprises Ehab Abughosh. That is, until his first bite of authentic Nashville-style hot chicken.

“It just blew my mind,” he said. “How it tastes, how busy the places are, I just loved everything about it.”

After several return visits and a couple of cooking classes, Abughosh has thoroughly acquainted himself with the southern city’s signature dish—crispy, cayenne-kissed and flaming red.

He’s now gearing up to launch his own restaurant, Ray’s Chicken & Fries, with a specialized menu showcasing his take on the trending chicken. Pending final inspections, the new business is anticipated to begin its soft opening in early August at 7609 W. Capitol Dr.

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Oaxacan Restaurant Expanding to Clarke Square

A popular Mexican restaurant is expanding its presence in Milwaukee, with plans for a new location in Clarke Square.

Guelaguetza Restaurante Y Barra would bring its signature Oaxacan cuisine to 2537 W. National Ave., the former site of La Cueva, which shuttered in February.

The previous establishment operated for just one year before the Milwaukee Common Council voted not to renew its license. Though initially promoted as a Bartolotta-style restaurant, La Cueva instead functioned as a nightclub, city officials said, and was linked to recurring violence — including a shooting shortly after its opening.

During a July 18 hearing, Guelaguetza owner Lucia Antonio Perez, accompanied by an interpreter and attorney David Halbrooks, assured license committee members that her business would not continue that pattern.

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Bar Owner Shut Down for Guns, Drugs and Chickens Loses Again

Last November, a mixture of firearms, cocaine and two live chickens prompted the City of Milwaukee to close El Cielo Bar at 1226 W. National Ave.

Now, the owner is preparing to shut down his other business.

Sky Bar, 1339 S. 7th St., is set to close at the end of the month following a July 18 appearance before the Milwaukee Licenses Committee, where owner Ruben Albanil-Coyolt withdrew his renewal application.

The decision came after a reported shooting at the premises in March and an objection letter that described Albanil-Coyolt as “a habitual law offender,” arguing his previous nonrenewal disqualified him from holding a liquor license.

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