By Lori Fredrich Senior Food Writer, Dining Editor Published Feb 10, 2025 at 1:01 PM Photography: Lori Fredrich

Get your chompers and sippers ready. It's almost time for the Taste & Toast, a happy hour extravaganza celebrating some of Milwaukee's best Downtown spots.

This year's event will take place Feb. 24-28 and will feature specially priced small plates, appetizers, cocktails and NA cocktails from 4 to 7 p.m. at over 20 restaurants, bars and lounges in Downtown Milwaukee. Gluten-free, vegetarian and plant-based options will be available.

Nosh on Cubanitas famous plantain chips and guacamole.
Enjoy Cubanitas famous plantain chips and guacamole.
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Participating restaurants include

View full menus for participating restaurants online starting in mid-February.

Eat, sip and enter to win

As a bonus incentive for participating in Taste & Toast, two diners who participate and complete a survey about their experience will be awarded over $300 in dining gift certificates. To enter, participate in Taste & Toast and fill out the survey at tastetoastmke.com by March 3. Two winners will be selected via a random drawing once the event concludes.

Discounted parking

Again this year, Interstate Parking will offer discounted parking to Taste & Toast patrons at select lots. Visit TasteToastMKE.com to view participating lots and obtain promo code info. 

Lori Fredrich Senior Food Writer, Dining Editor

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.