The votes are in and the winners have been selected for OnMilwaukee's Best: Eat & Drink, 2007. The results of this readers' poll, including an editors' pick, are available in this series of articles that run all month long in the Bars and Clubs section of OnMilwaukee.com.
Bar Louie Milwaukee, 1114 N. Water St., is the 20th location, nationwide, of the popular Chicago-based chain, and offers a variety of fairly-priced signature sandwiches, appetizers, deluxe burgers and entrees as well as everything that gives it its bar title -- handcrafted specialty cocktails, martinis and mojitos, and more than 20 domestics, imports and microbrews.
Sure, it's a chain, but it certainly does fit in well with Water Street's "drinking destination" reputation. Bar Louie also recently set up shop at the Bayshore Town Center, although OnMilwaukee.com food writer Amy Carlson says the two locations are vastly different:
"The Water Street Bar Louie location is distinctly a bar that serves food, while the Glendale location is distinctly a restaurant that also has a bar," she says.
"In other words, Bar Louie did its homework. Water Street does a great professional Downtown lunch crowd but at night, as we well know, it becomes more of a nightlife/bar crowd. Many of the eating options on that strip of Water Street rightfully cater to a drinking clientele, while Glendale caters to families and singles who are stopping for dinner after a long day of shopping."
OnMilwaukee.com's editor's choice: The Lodge
Runners-up:
2. The Harp
3. Safe House
4. McGillycuddy's
5. Rock Bottom Brewery
6. Rosie's Waterworks
7. Water St. Brewery
8. The Lodge
9. Fitzgibbons
10. Tequila Rita's
11. The Corner
12. Brothers
13. Scooter's Pub
14. Duke's on Water
OnMilwaukee.com staff writer Julie Lawrence grew up in Wauwatosa and has lived her whole life in the Milwaukee area.
As any “word nerd” can attest, you never know when inspiration will strike, so from a very early age Julie has rarely been seen sans pen and little notebook. At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee it seemed only natural that she major in journalism. When OnMilwaukee.com offered her an avenue to combine her writing and the city she knows and loves in late 2004, she knew it was meant to be. Around the office, she answers to a plethora of nicknames, including “Lar,” (short for “Larry,” which is short for “Lawrence”) as well as the mysteriously-sourced “Bill Murray.”
