TheGreen Bay brewery opened in 1995, with a restaurant following a fewyears later. Kelly Qualley is executive chef of the Milwaukee site anda seven-year veteran of the Green Bay operation. The menu shows a lovefor unusual ingredients merged with the best products of Wisconsin. Youwill find chanterelle and matsutake mushrooms, Tasmanian salmon andHawaiian bigeye tuna on the same page as Nueske's bacon, Glorioso'sItalian sausage and a fried pig's trotter for good measure. This is alineup that stands out in the trend-obsessed Third Ward.
Themain menu is served at the bar and in the dining rooms. A small loungeto the rear has its own menu with the same soups, salads and starters,as well as a few less expensive entrees. The lounge also serves as thesmoking area.
It would be easy to compose a meal fromthe lounge menu alone. Try the soothing roasted oyster mushroom bisque($7), a rich tan puree with drizzled truffle oil and a few choppedchives. A salad of roasted beets and arugula ($8) is served withcrumbled blue cheese, diced and pickled red beets and a lemon trufflevinaigrette on the side. The centerpiece is slices of golden roastedbeets.
Fresh seafood arrives daily and is carefullyselected. Order the raw Kumamoto oysters ($10). They are small, asoysters go, but of superior flavor and presented in a unique manner.Instead of the usual half-shell, the oysters are placed in ceramicOriental soup spoons. It's a more refined way to eat them. The shellshold diced Serrano ham and cucumber relish with lemon. Alas, thedistinguished Spanish ham seems superfluous in this setting and is bestserved in thin slices. The menu also has Filipino-inspired lumpia($12). These are rice paper spring rolls with a luxuriant filling oftiger shrimp and lump crab, served with a few leaves of bibb lettuce,cucumber kimchee and Buddha's hand ponzua fancy term for asweet-and-citrus dipping sauce. While the shrimp are noticeable, thecrab is hard to discern.
The entrees reflect the menu'sdiversity, including duck breast with quail and Australian lamb loinand angus steaks. The seafood draws attention, such as the unusualandouille-crusted Hawaiian opah ($26). How do you create a crust withspicy sausage? Chef Qualley finely minces it and blends it with breadcrumbs. Opah, a colorful tropical fish, beloved by crossword puzzleauthors, is served as a thick slab. The texture is firm with a flavornot unlike the increasingly scarce Chilean sea bass. This otherwiseexceptional entrée had one flaw: The center was raw. It would bepermissible, even desirable, with ahi tuna, but not with opah.
Thegastropub has a surprisingly good wine list, even including eightvintage ports. Do try one of the beers, however, for which Hinterlandhas won several awards. Order a sampler of three to find a favorite.Reservations are essential on weekends, though there is a chance for atable at the lounge. This is the best and most interesting menu toappear recently. Hinterland has great potential.
Hinterland Erie
Street Gastropub
222 E. Erie St.
(414) 727-9300
