A hungry crowd turned up for the Mitchell Park Domes’ annual “Restaurants Under Glass.” Guests wandered through the facility’s three domes while eating, sipping and enjoying the mini-trains rolling through a floral “Gulliver’s Travels” exhibit. Among the restaurateurs showcasing their menus was Michael Dillon from Edgar’s Calypso, who served a delicious ropa vieja. Allison Sidner and Danette Garcia offered hearty helpings of pulled pork and corn bread from Maxie’s Southern Comfort.
Event organizers included Diane Bucher Gilboy, Deanna Andre and Gail Schumann, with help from many of the Domes’ friends and volunteers such as Clay Ecklund; Philip Rozga and his wife, Terry; Richard Risch; and Roger Krawiecki, president of the Friends of the Domes group. County Parks Director Sue Black and Chief of Operations Chuck Ward stopped by for the fun.
Viva La France: Craving a little French musique, D&B popped down to Chez Jacques, where brothers Kevin and Laurent Soucie were performing. The place was packed with a Milwaukee French Immersion School holiday party that included Jill Mulhern, Barb Babcock and Suzanne Green, there with her husband, Gary. The Soucie clan included Kevin’s son Nicolaj, sister Michelle Waller and cousin Janis Geldon. Also in the toe-tapping crowd were Third Wardians Sue and Tim Frautschi; Tom Schwark; Chuck and Anna Rychner; Christianne Ehrenreich; Julie and Bruce Buchanan with Julie’s father, Harold Anderson; and Kathy Flesch. The Soucie brothers plan to perform together more often; Kevin is a folk chansonnier and Laurent is drawn toward American rock and blues, so their music meets in the middle.
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The night still young, B&D then checked out Soho 7, the hot new “posh lounge” on Buffalo Street, which was packed with a 20to 30-something crowd. A group from Fuel Milwaukee (formerly Young Professionals Milwaukee) stopped by for late-night partying after dining at Tulip. Among them were Olivia Marshall; Community Connections Consulting’s Karin Gratz; Suresh Lakshmipathy; Erin Ong and Paul Newman; Greg and Angela Quigley; Jackie Valent; and Dante Houston.
Picture Perfect: MAM photography curator Lisa Hostetler described FOTO, the new museum show, as a “once in a lifetime chance” to see rare photos from 1918-1945 by central European photographers. Speaking at a fund-raising party hosted by Tim Murphy, Julie Solochek and Maxine Wishner, Hostetler talked to an enthusiastic crowd that included Milwaukee Ballet Artistic Director Michael Pink and his wife, Jayne; Colleen Reilly and Dan Ryan; Jim Wiechmann, Point Beer brew baron, and his wife, Sue; photographer Kate Lilek Elsner; MIFF’s Jonathan Jackson, on his way to the Sundance Film Festival; and MAM’s Joe Ketner and his wife, Patty. Frosty Wa-hay!: Celebrating the birthday of their national poet, Robert Burns, area Scots laid a wreath at his statue on Burns Common, the same day the frozen Packers lost their Super Bowl bid. Chilly temps, however, didn’t deter the 25-plus stalwarts, among whom were John Alley, Ian Day, Tim and Jon Young, Dave Berger, Larry McNaughton and Ron Coutts, the newly appointed high commissioner for Clan Donald-USA. Everyone huzzahed and sang jovial rounds of “Auld Lang Syne” and other haggis-inspired tunes, led by piper Rob McWilliam. The wreath was donated by Kathleen Fletcher of Fletcher’s Flowers. Everyone then speedily adjourned to Cafe Hollander for rounds of industrial strength beverage.
The Robert Burns banquet at the Wisconsin Club attracted even more of the kilt-clad set, hosted by the St. Andrew’s Society and organized by entertainment director Brenden McDaniel. Entertainers included Reuel Zielke and the Milwaukee Caledonian Scottish Dancers, Denise Babin and Paul Gunderson with the Scottish Country Dancers and harpist Kim Robertson. Raising the roof were the massed pipes by Celtic Nations and the Billy Mitchell Scottish Pipes and Drums.
Bruce and Janine Smith, Tom and Vicki Nelson, Ross and Mary Read, Phil French and other revelers didn’t seem to mind. Political Pack: The crowded race for the Third District alderperson makes for a busy roster of fund-raising events. Caterers extraordinaire Erik Nilsson and Dexter Tamondong recently hosted a delicious Sunday brunch for Patrick Flaherty. Bill Dempsey, who has moved back to Milwaukee from D.C. to run the Flaherty campaign, greeted such supporters as Jenny Green; Al and Ingrid Gomez; Cramer-Krasselt’s Marion Gottschalk; Paul and Karen Stafford; the ever-charming Jack Eigel; and Tammy Magolan of Taylor’s. Volunteer Antoine Jones also helped out.
Another fund-raiser was hosted in Riverwest by Alexa Bradley, Valerie Fendt and Maureen Kane for aldermanic hopeful Sura Faraj. On hand were Kelly Gauthier, Faraj’s campaign manager and a part-time Hinterland waitress; Ann Brummitt, Milwaukee River Work Group coordinator; videographer Dena Aronson; Hannah Medrow from Assurant Health; Stacy LaPoint, president/owner of Companion Natural Pet Food and Faraj’s MySpace developer; Lutheran pastors Sue Gaeta and Amy Reumann, and Reumann’s adorable daughter, Helen; and computer programmer Ian Schulman.
If you have any tips for Boris and Doris, contact them at borisanddorisott@aol.com. Their next column will appear in the Feb. 14 issue of the Shepherd.
