Five-Day Wine Fest Features Storytelling, Famed Sommelier
Plus: new Brewers stadium fare, Couture's restaurant-bar, new Jordanian cafe.
Milwaukee Wine Academy co-founder Tim Cole (right) speaks to a guest at a 2025 MKE Wine Weekend tasting.
MKE Wine Weekend returns next month with a message in the bottle.
Now in its third year, the festival will center on storytelling during its five-day run, featuring a film screening, a sommelier interview and an expo highlighting under-recognized winemakers.
“Milwaukee is ready for wine experiences that are both elevated and welcoming,” said Tim Cole, co-founder of Milwaukee Wine Academy, in a statement, noting that the event aims to “bring people together while keeping wine education at the center.”
Wine Weekend kicks off April 9 with a happy hour at Thelma Carol Wine Merchants, a boutique bar and retail shop for wines, spirits and tobacco. The casual gathering will offer an opportunity for guests to mingle and plan for the days ahead.
On April 10, the Wisconsin Club will host Read Between the Wines, a tasting and conversation featuring internationally recognized sommelier Cha McCoy, author of Wine Pairing for the People.
The Goodland Wine Expo will take place at Summer of ’85 on April 11, offering more than 60 picks from Black winemakers, women, people of color and those from lesser known regions, according to a news release.
The festival continues April 12 with a free community screening of Blind Ambition, a documentary following Zimbabwean refugee and winemaker Tinashe Nyamudoka as he competes for the country’s first Wine Tasting Olympics team. A ticketed fireside chat and tasting — with an appearance from Nyamudoka — will follow the film.
An educational session, Wines Off the Beaten Path, concludes the 2026 event.
Tickets for Milwaukee Wine Weekend are available to purchase online. Early registration is strongly encouraged, organizers said, as space is limited.
See The Milwaukee Brewers New Concessions for 2026
Pocket pancakes had their moment in 2025, but a slate of new ballpark eats is taking over American Family Field this season.
Under an open roof and sunny skies, representatives from the Milwaukee Brewers and Delaware North unveiled a selection of fair-inspired snacks, barbecue and sweets to keep fans fed throughout more than 80 scheduled home games.
Tom Hecht, vice president of consumer experience for the Brewers, said menu development has been underway since last year, with staff tracking fan behavior and trends to guide new additions.
“Matt Arnold and Pat Murphy are right now putting together the roster — and that’s what we’re doing, too,” Hecht said. “We look to see what fans are gravitating to and what needs to change. We spent a lot of the offseason tasting new items.”
Proposed Bar and Restaurant Progressing at The Couture
Is The Vig still set to debut at The Couture this year? Bet on it.
The Chicago-based bar and restaurant, named after the vigorish (transaction) fee or “vigilance” charged by a sportsbook, recently submitted license applications for its upcoming Milwaukee location at 909 E. Michigan St.
Housed on the second floor of the luxury apartment tower, The Vig aims to open in June with a globally inspired menu and craft cocktails. Plans also call for live entertainment, including musicians and DJs, while large-screen TVs throughout the space will be tuned to sports games.
Legacy Hospitality leads the business, which has operated its flagship in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood since 2015. A second location later launched in West Loop. Ryan Marks is co-owner of the local expansion, with attorney Ronald Stadler serving as the registered agent.
New Craft Brewery Planned For Milwaukee
A background in emergency services may be just the thing for Nick Guthery‘s latest venture: opening his own brewery.
From one high-energy career to the next, the Milwaukee native will soon make the leap to business ownership, launching Tree Line Brewing Company at 7100 W. Center St, in the Enderis Park neighborhood.
The proposed brewery hits especially close to home for Guthery, who grew up in the adjacent Cooper Park neighborhood and now lives in the area with his wife and daughter.
“We want to really focus on the neighborhood brewery aspect,” said Guthery, who praised the community he’s found in the craft beer industry. He hopes to continue that at Tree Line while “keeping it local as much as [we] can.”
Parks Will Expand Traveling Beer Garden Tour in 2026
The Milwaukee County Parks touring beer garden will return this year with two different tours for the first time in years.
For its 13th season, Milwaukee County Parks and Sprecher Brewing Company will send two decommissioned fire trucks outfitted to dispense beer on a tour of 11 different parks.
The Roll Out the Barrel Tour will kick the season off on May 13 at Wilson Park and stop at six parks total this summer. The Pass Me the Pint Tour will begin June 3 at Cooper Park, stopping at five gardens throughout the season. Each truck will spend a little more than two weeks at each park, selling beer, soft drinks, hot dogs, brats and pretzels.
Sprecher is sponsoring the tours, including live music every Friday and Saturday evening. Parks is also partnering with local businesses to add amenities to the pop-up beer gardens.
Local Events Business Expanding to South Side
Michelé Bogan is expanding her local business with a new lounge and event venue on the South Side, bringing new life to a long-vacant corner tavern.
M&M Lounge and Events is planned to open at 2691 S. 7th St., the former site of Money Pit Bar and Grill. First proposed last October, the venue received its occupancy permit earlier this month and is now awaiting final inspections and license approval prior to its official launch.
Bogan, a veteran of the event industry, began her career in 2021 as a travel decorator before launching M&M Creative Designs LLC in 2022. The business expanded with its first event space in 2023.
The proposed southside venue would operate as both a private event space and public tavern, offering a variety of alcoholic beverages and community activations such as happy hour specials and after-work kickbacks, Bogan told Urban Milwaukee in February.
How A Cambodian Grandmother Inspired Milwaukee Sandwich Shop
Nikki Podgorski‘s grandmother, or “yey” in Khmer, split her days between rice farming and running a small food stall at the local market. Growing up at her elbow, Podgorski, a first-generation Cambodian American, absorbed her cooking skills, work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit.
Years later, Podgorski is following a similar — though distinct — path, launching her own food stall at 3rd Street Market Hall. Num Pang, which she’ll operate with her husband, Brian, is guided by the lessons her yey passed down.
“She was like my mom and dad put together,” said Podgorski, whose parents worked long hours during her childhood. “She taught me at a very young age how to cook for not only myself, but for my family. And she taught me traditional Cambodian recipes, just making sure that I remember our culture and how to make authentic food.”
Ingredients like kroeung will reflect that knowledge at Num Pang. “I call it our Cambodian holy trinity,” Podgorski said of the flavorful paste, made with lemongrass, lime leaf and herbs and spices. “It’s the foundation for a lot of Cambodian cuisine.”
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New Plan For Northwest Side Tavern
The Divined Pub and Lounge is proposed to open at 6180 N. 64th St., bringing finger food, martinis and hookah to the former site of Douglas Inn.
Shaniqua Caesar recently filed a license application for the new business, which she plans to launch “as soon as possible,” pending city approval. She told Urban Milwaukee her goal is to provide the community with “somewhere to eat,” but said details are still being finalized.
A proposed menu highlights casual eats such as fried chicken strips, mozzarella sticks, pizza, burgers and tacos, along with heartier options like steak and pork chops. Daily specials like Taco Tuesday, 50-cent Wing Wednesday and Ladies Night Thursday are also listed, along with recurring deals such as free hookah on Mondays and a $25 “drink-all-night” wristband promotion.
The menu, which also advises, “We don’t rush for those who aren’t tipping,” is the same as that included with an earlier proposal for Boss’s submitted in December 2025. Registered agent Justin Jackson is also the building owner and operates the nearby New Entertainers, which served a 15-day suspension in February.
Jordanian Cafe Expanding to Milwaukee
A proposed southside business would add to a growing number of Middle Eastern-inspired cafes in Milwaukee. Al Hamawi plans to open its first Wisconsin location at 1010 W. Layton Ave.
The upcoming cafe would join three existing locations in Illinois, where Al Hamawi sells flavored lattes, teas and energy drinks, along with a wide selection of packaged snacks. In addition to its physical locations, the company has an online store featuring coffee, nuts, dried fruits, desserts, olive oil and other specialty foods.
The Milwaukee storefront, part of a multi-tenant building, was previously home to Kim’s Thai Restaurant, which closed in September 2024. Al Hamawi is partnering with Firebird Construction for a buildout that would transform the 1,952-square-foot restaurant into a counter-service cafe. The project is expected to cost $250,000, according to construction documents. Neighboring businesses include IHOP and Archwell Health.
According to its website, Al Hamawi has roots in Amman, Jordan, and dates back to the 1940s. At existing locations, popular menu items include pistachio lattes, Turkish coffee, karak chai and matcha in flavors such as Oreo, salted brown butter and raspberry cream. The cafe also offers refreshers such as peach mango, dragon fruit lychee and strawberry acai — available with or without caffeine. A wide selection of retail snacks includes nougat, chocolates, roasted nuts and seeds, dried fruits, coffee beans, olive oil, jam and honey.
Local Entrepreneurs Launch Event Planning Platform
Since 2019, Zocalo Food Park has been a reliable spot for diners looking to track down food trucks in one place. But what if you want the vendors to come to you?
Jesus Gonzalez and Jaden Brozynski believe they have the answer. The business partners recently launched Eventini, a digital marketplace designed to connect event hosts with vetted food trucks and other event service providers.
Gonzalez said the platform aims to streamline what can otherwise become a snarl of emails, phone calls and separate contracts — a time-consuming process he has experienced firsthand while operating the food truck park at 636 S. 6th St..
“Planners and hosts often struggled to book food trucks and local service providers because the process was fragmented and time-consuming,” he said in a statement, noting the need to contact multiple vendors, compare menus, negotiate schedules and coordinate payments. “At the same time, many entrepreneurs were losing valuable opportunities due to the lack of simple booking tools. We built Eventini to simplify that entire process and help people discover great local providers in minutes.”
Honeypie Cafe Boasts Good Home Cooking
After Honeypie Cafe opened in 2009, it quickly earned a reputation for its wide selection of extraordinary pies. As soon as you enter the cafe, a stunning display of daily pies is impossible to overlook. They know how to hook you with French silk, chocolate hazelnut, key lime, salted caramel, cherry, apple, and the one I took home, cinnamon apple with a creamy cream cheese topping and mounds of slightly sweetened whipped cream. It tasted like an upgraded version of my grandma’s apple pie, and that included the crust — flaky, buttery and just-out-of-the-oven crisp. For the record, not all the pies they offer are available every day at the cafe.
Lunch was equally impressive. My companion’s biscuits and gravy — two house-made biscuits topped with sausage-rich gravy — were served with two over-easy local eggs. The gravy, rich and creamy, smothered the biscuits that were more solid than flaky but left no doubt that they were freshly made. The fruit bowl held a combination of blackberries, apple slices, strawberries and blueberries that were artistically arranged to add color and class to this tasty breakfast.
The fried chicken sammie, made with a chicken thigh, had spicy harissa aioli and pickled daikon. Shredded cabbage added extra crunch. The accompanying tomato soup was thick, almost like a sauce, and could have used a smidge of sugar to soften the acid from the tomatoes, though that might depend on how you prefer your tomato soup.
The fries that came with the sammie were so thin and delightfully crisp that my companions and I decided they had to be calorie-free. If you ask for hot sauce to dip your fries, expect a spicy, hot, vinegar-based sauce guaranteed to leave a warm glow in your mouth.
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