Downtown Milwaukee's The Wolf on Broadway will preview dishes at a June 10 pop-up in Brewers Hill

Carol Deptolla, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
·3 min read
The Wolf on Broadway's interpretation of an Indonesian gado gado salad will be served at a pop-up June 10 at Uncle Wolfie's Breakfast Tavern in Brewers Hill. The Wolf on Broadway is due to open this year in the Kinn Guesthouse downtown.
The Wolf on Broadway's interpretation of an Indonesian gado gado salad will be served at a pop-up June 10 at Uncle Wolfie's Breakfast Tavern in Brewers Hill. The Wolf on Broadway is due to open this year in the Kinn Guesthouse downtown.

A menu sneak peek of a forthcoming downtown restaurant happens Friday: The Wolf on Broadway, the restaurant coming to the new Kinn Guesthouse downtown, will preview dishes 5 to 8 p.m. at Uncle Wolfie’s Breakfast Tavern, 234 E. Vine St., in the Brewer's Hill neighborhood.

It will be the first in a string of pop-ups that showcase facets of the Wolf menu, co-owner Wolfgang Schaefer said. This pop-up will have lunchy, picnicky kinds of dishes — appetizers, salads, sandwiches and desserts. Future pop-ups will feature main dishes, brunch and more.

The Wolf's chef, Kristen Schwab, describes the menu as "Midwest comfort food meets slightly globally influenced flavors" — some surprises to Midwest dishes.

On the June 10 menu, expect two or so items in each category:

  • Starters: two kinds of hand pies — tamarind-chicken and pizza — plus kimchee pimento cheese and house chips.

  • Salads: roasted and shaved fresh brussels sprouts with whipped goat cheese, oranges, pecans and bright-orange raw-turmeric vinaigrette; a Midwest interpretation of Indonesia's gado gado salad, with peanut dressing made with pounded lemongrass and turmeric and topped with toasted coconut and shallots. ("That’s one of my personal favorites," Schwab said. "It’s unassuming, but there’s really big flavor.")

  • Sandwiches: Black Forest ham with house guava jam, smoked gouda, fennel and arugula on sourdough, inspired by Schwab's time in Brazil, and banh mi with roasted, marinated portobello mushroom, sambal aioli and pickled watermelon radish.

  • Desserts: Lemon-passionfruit bar and brookie bar, a combination chocolate chip cookie and brown butter brownie with salted caramel.

The dishes will be "simply presented, but everything should be pretty packed with flavor," said Schwab, whose Indonesian influence comes from Indo-Dutch family on her father's side. Schwab has worked at Dandan, Odd Duck, Goodkind and the late Hinterland in Milwaukee.

The pop-ups, Schwab said, are a way for her and her sous chef, Val Bartram, to test their ideas. The final dishes on the Wolf's menu likely will vary, but "the flavor profiles will be representative, the way we plate, the way we season. That will be very representative of us," Schwab said.

Prices will be about $7 for desserts, $10 to $15 for other plates. Specialty cocktails will be about $9 to $11 from new Wolf bar manager Erik Wickman, formerly of Morel restaurant.

The Friday menu is dine-in only. Reservations aren't being taken, but diners who have to wait for a table can sip a drink outside or browse the adjoining Orange and Blue store. They'll receive a text or call when their tables are ready.

Although the Wolf on Broadway won't make the initial projection of a midsummer opening, it's expected to debut yet this year on the first floor of the newly opened Kinn Guesthouse, 600 N. Broadway.

Contact Carol at carol.deptolla@jrn.com or (414) 224-2841, or through the Journal Sentinel Food & Home page on Facebook. Follow her on Twitter at @mkediner or Instagram at @mke_diner. 

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee's The Wolf on Broadway will preview dishes at June 10 pop-up