Milwaukee, WI

I’m flying in to Milwaukee early November for a work meeting, but I have several hours to kill during the day - what should I do, what should I see, and where/what should I eat for lunch? I’m staying at the Saint Kate, which is downtown.

Chicago.

George

The Pfister is the classic Milwaukee historic downtown hotel. I love hotels like that, and I love the Pfister, if you want to look at lodging again. I’m not familiar with the Saint Kate, so I can’t compare. Plus, “they” say that the old tower is haunted, so your room may come with a bonus ghost, no extra charge! (I have yet to receive any overnight visitors myself, but one can always hope).

Eat lunch at Buckley’s if it’s at all convenient to whatever you’re doing the rest of the day. I’m afraid I can’t be of much help there.

Thanks!

The Saint Kate just opened this Summer, I believe. It’s owned by the same people as the Pfister, but the St. Kate is an Arts Hotel with exhibits rotating through.

The pizza place in your hotel is one of the better ones in the area. Milwaukee has several cool museums: Milwaukee Art, Milwaukee Public, and even Harley Davidson.

Madison.

The hotel choices were interesting:

Brewhouse Inn is in an old Pabst brewery and some suites include a 6-pack of PBR

Iron Horse caters after the biker crowd and has a washing station and motorcycle service people on staff.

Several Frank Lloyd Wright properties including a church (Annunciation Greek Orthodox) and a number of other beautiful and historic churches in your vicinity.
If your free time is after business and you enjoy craft beers, check out Third Space Brewing, a short cab ride away.
The best sausage maker in the Midwest (imho) is Usinger’s on North 3rd Street.They ship.
I get there whenever I can. When I have to travel to Chicago, I stay in Milwaukee and take Amtrak in and back.

The Pfister is definitely not an “Arts Hotel” in line with the current “Arts Hotel” trend, but they do have an artist in residence program, and have for years. The artist is often on site during the day.

The Iron Horse is MUCH more than a biker hotel. I’d say it’s top 3 hotels I’ve ever stayed at, and their new restaurant (Ash) will be opening at the end of this week. For this restaurant the hotel is partnered with Dan Jacobs and Dan VanRite of DanDan/Fauntleroy/EsterEv fame. Open heart cooked meat-centric. I would bet it will be awesome, but the wine list will leave much to be desired.

If you can get out of the St Kate, you’d be far better off at the IH, in my experience.

Lots of lunch options in downtown MKE, I’d just use Yelp to find top rated choices that interest you.

The MKE Public Market is worth a walk through as well.

Have a good time.

Thanks All!

My team is staying at Saint Kate, so I’ll be there. However, I’ll be there before Noon and they don’t get in 'til late, so I think I’ll check out some of their exhibits, go get some sausage and beer, perhaps look at some Harley history, and check out the Iron horse and have dinner at ASH.

If you can be at the Milwaukee Arts Museum at noon, the museum flaps its wings. If not, the museum folds its wings up at the end of the day

Hi Christine, I’m a Milwaukee local and can definitely recommend things based on what exactly you’re looking for. How many hours do you have to kill? Any restrictions on food? Just lunch or dinner, too?

Also, too bad you aren’t visiting in the summer, but I think you’ll enjoy Milwaukee either way.

^ this

The art museum is a great visit either way, very close walking distance from downtown.

Btw, Pabst Brewery is making beers to the original recipe (including Andecker) and the space is pretty awesome, actually includes a part of the original Pabst Brewery.

For other great breweries (aside from 3rd Space), check out Good City, City Lights, Lakefront & many others - all are within 5-10 minutes of downtown depending on traffic. Tons of great breweries in Milwaukee, just lmk if there’s anything in particular you’re looking for and I’ll make some more recs.

full discloser: I sell cleaners to Pabst, Good City & Lakefront

Andecker, OMG! I enjoyed it after work at icehouse Mary’s back in the late 60s.