Is Milwaukee ready for cerebral dining? One guerilla farmer seeks to find out

Over the past five years, Milwaukee's dining scene has been influenced by a number of national trends – local, sustainable sourcing of ingredients, specialization and dining districts – that have changed both the way we eat and the way we think about eating. 

Classic upscale restaurants like Sanford and Bacchus continue to train a new generation of Beard-nominated Milwaukee chefs. And even brand new dining spots like Braise seek to push the envelope with locally sourced ingredients and palate-expanding offerings.

But, there's at least one local farmer who believes that Milwaukee restaurants can (and need) to do even more.

Jonathon Stich, a 29-year-old from Burlington, Wisc., left the corporate world in search of a new vocation. After reading about how heirloom tomato grower Tim Stark in Pennsylvania developed a business selling his wares to New York restaurants, Stich made the decision to find a way to sell his own local produce to area restaurants. He began in Chicago, where he was fortunate enough to find a market with restaurant icons like Dave Beran of Next, Anthony Martin of TRU and (ultimately) Grant Achatz at Alinea. Stich also began working with Adam Siegel of Milwaukee's own Bartolotta Restaurants, as well as chefs at Le Reve, Honeypie and Café at the Plaza.

"I grow greenhouse and field heirloom tomatoes, specialty products like edible flowers, microgreens and pea tendrils," Stich explains. "I also source from a wide variety of area partner farms. It's not just about finding out which farms have what, it's about figuring out who does what best. After all, you're dealing with the most discerning chefs."

In the process of establishing his business, Stich learned a great deal about the art of food. He watched as expert molecular gastronomist Grant Achatz created meal after amazing meal while pushing the boundaries of conventional dining.

"The first night I ate at Alinea ... didn't just change my perspective on fine dining, it entirely changed my perspective on food and the creativity of food. I had gone to finer dining restaurants in Milwaukee, and the creativity just wasn't there," Stich laments. "We do comfort food unbelievably well. We have great cafes, gastropubs and some nice bistros. But, when it comes to this unbelievably creative energy, we just don't have it."

Stich began to question why there weren't more chefs like Achatz right here in Milwaukee. And he started contemplating ways that he could provide a venue through which young chefs could express themselves and push their talents to the limit.

"I'd love to change the perception of food in Milwaukee and really up the bar for dining," remarks Stich. "Do people need service pieces to eat food? Do they need tables and chairs? How can we integrate music, art, fashion? How can we interrupt peoples' senses enough that they're heightened?"

So, Stich began planning his first "Iteration" dinner.

"Originally I wanted to do a farm dinner. I saw what Dave Swanson was doing, and I thought that was brilliant – doing an on-the-farm dinner using that farm's produce. And that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to take what I'm producing and put it on a plate. So, I thought, why don't I take these chefs and bring them together and have them use my ingredients to create something new?"

He banded together with some of the area's best chefs – Justin Aprahamian of Sanford, Karen Bell of Café on the Plaza, Justin Carlisle from Umami Moto, Gil Petrovic from Le Reve, Peter Sandroni from La Merenda, Danvan Rite from Hinterland and Paul Zerkel of Roots – and asked them to assist him in creating an elaborate nine-course celebration of local foods. The dinner, which was held at Hinterland Erie Street Gastropub on Tuesday, Dec. 13 and limited to 65 guests, sold out in less than four hours. It included creative courses featuring pheasant, rabbit, pork and locally raised trout, as well as beverage pairings and an amuse bouche showcasing an oyster shooter served on a locally grown mustard leaf.

Stich is already beginning to envision a plan for his spring dinner – which he sees as a project incorporating Milwaukee's industrial past with elements of art, diner participation and surprise.

"The thinking is – let's do something that will taste good. But, great dining has to be soulful," Stich reflects. "Even Chef Achatz ... he can be so methodical, mechanical. But, I want something more – something that tells me a story about the farm that produced the food, something about the life story of the chef. Taking an experience and putting it into the food – for me, that's everything that I want."

Stich would like to see more Milwaukee chefs breaking out of the traditional molds they've set for themselves and really putting themselves into their dishes. But, another part of the picture, according to Stich, is getting diners to really take a look at the food they're eating and try to decipher the stories and symbolism behind each dish.

"We're conditioned to sit down and see colors and identify flavor profiles – salty, sweet, bitter – but, we need to be receptive to the story to be told," Stich explains. "I don't want them to just plop down and say, 'Where's the food?' I want diners to sit down, look at the dish and ask, 'What's going on here? What's being conveyed?' Once you condition people to think like that, they're not going to sit down to a meal in a restaurant and look at it in the same way."

In addition to the Iteration dinners, Stich also plans to launch his One Guerilla Farmer CSA program in January 2012, offering 100 shares to local residents based on the ingredients he is supplying to his restaurants. Half shares will be available for as little as $300 for 15 weeks of produce. As an added bonus, the first 20 people to purchase a share will be assured a reservation for all 2012 Iterations dinners.

For more information, follow One Guerilla Farmer on Facebook.