Photo via Bravo
Top Chef: Wisconsin
Top Chef: Wisconsin
We Milwaukeeans always knew that our city has an impressive, multicultural culinary scene that rivals any metropolitan area from coast to coast. Thanks to “Top Chef: Wisconsin,” filmed last summer throughout Milwaukee and parts of the state, the world now also knows.
That “Top Chef” bump is exactly what Chef Paul Bartolotta of The Bartolotta Restaurants intended when he spearheaded the effort several years ago to bring the popular cooking competition show to Milwaukee. “The world is coming to our table,” Bartolotta says proudly. “We’re showing our Midwestern hospitality and what we’re capable of. The show also has a long legacy in reruns.” Thus, Milwaukee’s foodie scene will live on for years to come.
“Top Chef: Wisconsin” is the 21st season of the TV show and is currently airing on the Bravo network. Viewers are currently experiencing Wisconsin’s diverse locales and seeing that the state has much more to offer besides amazing cheese—but there’s plenty of that, too!
Using a Culinary Legacy to Showcase Milwaukee
The Bartolotta Restaurants legacy began when Paul and his late brother, Joe, formed Ristorante Bartolotta in March of 1993. Paul went on to gain global experience at restaurants in Europe and throughout the United States before returning to Milwaukee in 2019 to assume the leadership role at The Bartolotta Restaurants after Joe’s passing.
Paul Bartolotta is a four-time nominated and two-time James Beard Award-winning chef. He’s also no stranger to television—he’s appeared on “Top Chef,” “Iron Chef,” “The Today Show,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” “The Talk” and “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”.
Having previously forged connections with the “Top Chef” team, Bartolotta had envisioned Milwaukee as an ideal setting for the show. “Upon moving back to Milwaukee full-time, I often asked, how can I make a difference and be part of building the social fabric of our community?” he reflects. Bartolotta, who had joined the board of directors at VISIT Milwaukee and the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, quickly gained earned their approval for the idea. He then went to Joel Brennan, one of the top cabinet officials of Gov. Tony Evers’ administration, who also expressed full support.
Bartolotta reiterates that it “took a village” of leaders from government, nonprofit, business, travel and tourism sectors to set the plan in motion. Despite obstacles including the COVID-19 pandemic, he reiterates that everyone stayed engaged. It had also been suggested that a “Top Chef” season fold in Milwaukee with other Midwestern cities such as Minneapolis and Detroit, but Bartolotta wasn’t having that.
“I was like, ‘no, no, no! Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Milwaukee! And then Milwaukee evolved into Wisconsin,” he shares. “They didn’t give up on us, and we never took our foot off the pedal. We never took being part of a Midwest episode. We wanted the whole pie to ourselves.”
More Than Cheese
Bartolotta and the Wisconsin welcome team put together a list of “a million things we thought would be of interest to them.” The “Top Chef” team also researched what they wanted to explore to enrich each season and every destination for the viewer’s journey.
“It’s an incredible, authentic competition that’s really challenging, but they also explore the history and geography of these locations and elegantly connect with a sense of place,” Bartolotta says. “When they came here and looked around, they immediately saw there more depth.”
That depth includes Wisconsin specialties such as Door County cherries. The first three episodes of “Top Chef: Wisconsin,” which had already aired of this writing, include the “cheftestants” incorporating Door County cherries, along with a surprise ingredient, into their dishes.
Bartolotta, along with Lupi & Iris chef/owner Adam Siegel—one of the many local chefs that he had mentored—were guests on the judging panel on Episode 1. He was surprised to see Dan Jacobs of DanDan and EsterEv was among this season’s cheftestants. Jacobs, along with DanDan co-owner Dan Van Rite, are also James Beard Award finalist in the Best Chef: Midwest category; the winners will be revealed in June.
“I didn’t realize he was a cheftestant,” Bartolotta recalls. “They don’t tell us this stuff, and I don’t ask. We’re respectful to not get in their business and give them space to do their work.”
While Wisconsin has been gaining national recognition as a culinary destination, “Top Chef: Wisconsin” will further elevate the state’s foodie status. Like a proud father whose children have gone on to greatness, Bartolottta credits the many local chefs that were his protégées and went on to open innovative, successful restaurants and earn accolades. He says they, along with other talented chefs, some of whom had moved here from other cities, are propelling Milwaukee’s culinary scene to greatness.
“This bit of national exposure has never come to shine upon Milwaukee they way that it should. “Top Chef” will help do that for all of us here operating restaurants, bars, taverns, and other great places,” he says. “We’re known as the City of Festivals, we’ve got great museums, neighborhood restaurants and neighborhoods—there are so many great things happening here that gave the ‘Top Chef’ people a lot to show.”
The Bartolotta Restaurants’ newest establishment, The Commodore, will open soon on Nagawicka Lake, in the former Seven Seas building. The bucolic Lake Country setting will offer private piers, outdoor dining, catering and an event space. Paul shares that his parents we married at Seven Seas.
“It wasn’t a single individual, but an entire community that came together and made Top Chef: Wisconsin happen,” he concludes.
