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Brunch has become a ubiquitous part of weekend life in Milwaukee, and that means there are countless spots where you can indulge. In this series, we’ll be highlighting a new brunch spot every week and bringing you all the tasty details. Click here to check out all the spots we've tried!
Smoke Shack
332 N. Milwaukee St., (414) 431-1119
smoke-shack.com
Brunch available: Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Both carry-out and dine-in available. Click for reservations
Full menu
If your ideal brunch includes biscuits in various forms, then you might want to check out the Brew City Biscuits brunch at Smoke Shack, which showcases gigantic scratch-made biscuits in a variety of forms, from sandwiches to French toast.
Take the Marty McKlucken, for instance. It features one gigantic biscuit filled with Nashville hot chicken, sweet and spicy pickles, tomato, shredded iceberg lettuce and hoverboard mayo ($12.75).
The chicken didn’t translate as “Nashville hot” for me. But it was an enjoyable take on hot chicken with a sticky sweet glaze that carried a moderate amount of heat. The remaining ingredients were fresh and complementary, making this a solid choice all around.
I’m not typically a sweets-for-brunch type. But I really loved the Berry Biscuit French Toast, which transforms those big old biscuits into soft, warm French toast that you can top with accompanying honey butter, berry coulis and syrup ($12).
I never expected I’d want classic biscuits and jam to collide with French toast; but when it did, I was pretty happy about it. The honey butter was sweet and balanced, the berries just sweet enough and the syrup rounded things out.
We also ordered the Count which is filled with pulled ham, cheddar cheese, Dijon mustard, raspberry jam and a touch of maple syrup ($12.50).
It was delicious as it was, hitting all the sweet, salty and smokey notes all in one dish. But I’d be very tempted to order it as biscuit French toast next time (you can do that for an extra $2.50)
If you opt for carry-out (as we did), you can order up a mimosa kit for $35, which includes a bottle of house cava and 16 ounces of fresh squeezed orange juice mixed with housemade berry simple syrup.
We opted for a less-traditional, but biscuit-friendly cocktail: the Bourbon Smash for two, which comes with two Jim Beam minis, mint simple syrup and fresh lemon wedges for $14. We mixed the bourbon and syrup with a few squeezes of lemon, shook it in a shaker with ice and poured it into glasses (with fresh ice). Perfect.
As a passionate champion of the local dining scene, Lori has reimagined the restaurant critic's role into that of a trusted dining concierge, guiding food lovers to delightful culinary discoveries and memorable experiences.
Lori is an avid cook whose accrual of condiments and spices is rivaled only by her cookbook collection. Her passion for the culinary industry was birthed while balancing A&W root beer mugs as a teenage carhop, fed by insatiable curiosity and fueled by the people whose stories entwine with every dish. Lori is the author of two books: the "Wisconsin Field to Fork" cookbook and "Milwaukee Food". Her work has garnered journalism awards from entities including the Milwaukee Press Club. In 2024, Lori was honored with a "Top 20 Women in Hospitality to Watch" award by the Wisconsin Restaurant Association.
When she’s not eating, photographing food, writing or planning for TV and radio spots, you’ll find Lori seeking out adventures with her husband Paul, traveling, cooking, reading, learning, snuggling with her cats and looking for ways to make a difference.
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