Cudahy Burgers’ owner Jay Mulloy chose to serve his hamburgers on buns from Milwaukee’s Wild Flour bakeries. He liked those buns so much that he decided to enter into a partnership at Wild Flour’s home base and build a bistro around the bakery.
Bakehouse Bistro (2800 W. Lincoln Ave.) is a hybrid operation. The dough still rises every morning in the Wild Four bakery, operating from the back of the storefront complete with its century-old brick oven. Up front is Mulloy’s counter-service bistro with an intriguing menu, a few tables and a railed-in patio with outdoor seats. “The idea behind it?” says Mulloy. “Wild Flour makes the best bread in the world, so why not build great sandwiches on it?”
And yes, you can still buy loaves of Wild Flour olive-rosemary bread, cranberry-walnut bread, five-cheese bread and other selections at the Lincoln Avenue location.
The Bistro’s sandwiches include such staples as grilled cheese and chicken and tuna salad along with la torta carnitas with slow cooked pork on a bun. But the Bistro also uses that great Wild Flour dough for something less common in Milwaukee: potpies. As with much of the menu, there are anchor potpies and a changing cast of guest stars. One anchor is the hearty chicken potpie with peas, carrots, potatoes and chunks of chicken breast. A recent visit found a pair of tasty specials: a Moroccan lamb pie with couscous and tender pieces of roasted lamb; and an African peanut pie with yams, carrots, roast chicken thigh, okra, a spritz of white wine and Ethiopian seasoning.
Similarly, the soups will always include chicken dumpling and a 13-spice jambalaya made with four kinds of peppers and Klement’s sausage. But there will always be specials such as the white bean salsa verde with cilantro, wine and jalapeños. The specials will often be spontaneous creations, decisions made “the morning of, depending on what’s fresh at the market that day,” Mulloy explains.
With its tiled floor and leaded glass windows, the Bakehouse Bistro is a modestly elegant setting for eating in. However, take outs are encouraged. Buy a loaf of bread and carry it home along with a freshly baked potpie.
The Bakehouse Bistro is open 7 a.m.-6p.m., Monday-Friday and Saturday 7 a.m.-4 p.m.
