Food and Wine Festival Announces Headlining Chefs

Henry Meier Festival Park entrance. Photo taken Dec. 7, 2023 by Sophie Bolich.

Milwaukee’s usual whirlwind of summer festivals will get a new addition in 2026.

Freshwater Food & Wine Festival is set to take over Henry Maier Festival Park on Sept. 19-20 with cooking demonstrations, restaurant vendors and a Champagne Room designed as a tribute to Miller High Life.

First announced in November 2025, the festival secured city approval earlier this week and later that day unveiled a lineup of celebrity chefs and attractions.

“Freshwater is built like a great music festival—except the headliners are chefs,” Wes Shaver, founder and CEO of the festival, said in a statement.

Milwaukeeans Dan Jacobs and Adam Pawlak are among those headliners, along with Wisconsin native Elena Terry, George Motz, Joe Sasto and Chicago’s Tony Scardino, also known as Professor Pizza.

Each guest brings a distinct background and culinary style to the festival, with plans to share that expertise with attendees through storytelling, competitions and tastings.

Elsewhere on the festival grounds, attendees can expect eats from Restaurant Row, with confirmed participants including DanDan, La Dama Mexican Kitchen and Bar, Carnevor, Lupi & Iris, Aya and Professor Pizza.

A separate attraction, The Flavor Yard, will highlight food trucks, 3rd Street Market Hall vendors and Saz’s Hospitality Group, alongside beverages and desserts from Vendetta Coffee Bar.

Seven wine regions will be represented throughout the grounds, allowing festivalgoers to sample a wide range of reds, whites and bubbles while shopping two on-site markets and stopping at booths such as Pearl & Pop, a seafood and wine bar led by Black Shoe Hospitality, and Berens Backyard Bar, Charlie Berens’ nod to Wisconsin hospitality featuring brandy cocktails and live music.

The two-day festival will end its first day with a five-course dining experience pairing dishes from Pawlak, Sasto, Kyle Knall, Justin Aprahamian and a fifth surprise chef with sommelier-selected wines.

“There’s simply nothing else like it on the lakefront—or anywhere in the country,” Shaver said.

Additional participating restaurants, chefs, food trucks and wine partners will be announced in the coming weeks. Festival tickets will be available for sale online starting July 1.

More Than 130 Sites Offer Summer Meals For Youth

Hunger Task Force representatives and community partners gathered at Franklin Square Playfield on Wednesday to launch the 2026 Milwaukee Summer Meals Collaborative, a countywide effort to ensure children have access to free meals while school is out of session.

The initiative, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, provides breakfast, lunch and dinner at more than 130 sites across Milwaukee County, including schools, parks, apartment complexes, and community centers.

“One in four kids in Milwaukee lives in poverty, and for local families, eating healthy is harder than it has ever been,” said Matt King, CEO of Hunger Task Force.

King, who took over leadership of the nonprofit in 2024, praised last summer’s efforts, which distributed more than 500,000 meals. This year, partners expect to serve more than 450,000 meals across Milwaukee County.

Read the full article

Bay View’s Chettinadu House Closes

Chettinadu House, once a promising new arrival to Bay View‘s growing restaurant scene, has closed after five months in business.

The Indo-Chinese restaurant encountered financial challenges early in its tenure at 2258 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. and is now facing an eviction lawsuit from Baylawn Properties LLC, according to online court records.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the restaurant remained closed during regular operating hours. Owner Ameen Khan could not be reached for comment by publication time.

Chettinadu House opened in January, replacing Caribbean restaurant Sabor Tropical in a prominent commercial space along the neighborhood’s main commercial strip.

Read the full article

City Closes Bay View Sports Bar

Bay View sports bar Brown & Gibbs is ceasing operations after the Milwaukee Common Council blocked its license renewal on Tuesday.

The decision followed an earlier recommendation from the Licenses Committee, which cited owner Julio Maldonado’s failure to attend two consecutive license renewal hearings.

“I think we’ve used too much of the community’s time and your time on this,” Alderwoman Marina Dimitrijevic told committee members during a June 9 hearing, also noting a lack of communication from the business. “If it’s within our purview, I think denial is appropriate.”

Alderman Alex Brower moved for nonrenewal based on a second nonappearance. There were no objections.

Read the full article

Mother’s Closes in Bay View

This article is available only to Urban Milwaukee members.

Read the full article

BaoBao Offers Authentic Vietnamese Food

Despite the traffic and the road construction, you can’t miss BaoBao Cuisine when you get close to it on S. 27th Street just south of Layton Ave. That is because BaoBao announces itself with a giant sign on the street side of the restaurant that reads Vietnamese Cuisine. This new restaurant serves authentic Vietnamese food, including a long list of pho choices.

I came twice, and both times one of my companions ordered pho: the seafood pho and the special pho. The special overflowed with beef, a variety that included tenderloin, meatballs, brisket and tendon. The broth had a deep, beefy flavor, and the tender meat had absorbed the nuances of the broth. The tendon, a traditional addition to beef pho, tasted like a beefy rubber band. For the seafood pho, the chef added shrimp, fish balls, fish cakes, squid and scallops. Both bowls came with basil, lime and sprouts. There were 15 varieties of pho on the menu, including oxtail, lobster, chicken, tofu and one in a hot stone.

The stir-fried mixed vegetables were a week’s worth of veggies for one person and included broccoli, carrots, celery, cabbage and sprouts. Each vegetable was crisp, and the steamed rice was just right and delicious on its own. There were a dozen steamed rice dishes, including lobster, Mongolian beef, sweet and sour chicken and Vietnamese curry.

A special for the day, shaken beef tenderloin or nui xao bo luc lac, was predominantly stir-fried beef plus some slices of red and green peppers and onions. A sweet glaze flavored the dish, which also had a serving of steamed rice and a small salad.

Read the full article