Photo - semolinamke.com
Semolina MKE
Corzetti - pasta coins made with hand-carved stamps from Tuscany.
Semolina MKE (2474 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.) is a specialty pasta shop that opened Oct. 22 in the Bay View neighborhood. The store carries fresh pasta made on-site, along with pantry staples—most of which are imported from Italy—including olive oil, vinegar, herbed salts, crackers and more.
Owner Petra Orlowski has more than two decades of restaurant industry experience. She wore many hats while working at Sanford. She was a pastry chef at Sheridan’s and a front house manager at Blue’s Egg’s former Shorewood location. When the latter restaurant closed permanently during the COVID-19 shutdown, Orlowski started making pasta at home. People that tried her pasta wanted to buy it, and the idea for Semolina MKE was born.
What’s it like scaling up pasta production from home use to a business model? “It’s actually easier,” Orlowski says, thanks to the purchase of an extruder pasta-making machine from Italy. “I’m able to do all the extruded pastas here, which I couldn’t do at home. When I’m here, I’m focused. At home, I think about how I have to clean the kitchen.”
Orlowski currently has four bronze dies for the extruder, and each one produces a different shape. Mafaldine is a long, ribbon-like pasta; trofie, or “spinning top,” is a delicate corkscrew shape; bucatini is a spaghetti-type pasta with a hole in the center; and lumache, meaning “snail,” holds lots of sauce.
Orlowski says there are hundreds of die options for the extruder. “I often look and consider what shape I want next, but I can’t decide!” she laughs.
A cold case features Italian specialties handmade by Orlowski such as tomato sauce, and caponata (a Sicilian appetizer or side dish made with diced cooked vegetables) made from her grandmother’s recipe. There’s also fresh cheeses and a fresh pasta of the day. The featured pasta shortly before Thanksgiving was the squash and cheese filled cestini.
Some featured items in the cold case, and the extruded pastas available for purchase, are vegan. The pastas, sold in eight-ounce bags, equal about two servings. Freshly-made pasta is not as dry as commercially made pasta sold in grocery stores, Orlowski says, so it doesn’t need to cook as long. She educates customers about cooking times upon purchase.
Unique Italian Imports
Orlowski partnered with the Milwaukee-based import company Allocated Specialties, through which she gets items from small manufacturers throughout Italy. There’s an olive oil made by Argiolas, a renowned winery in Sardinia that also has olive groves. Other items include honey and myrtle jam made by a mother and daughter team in Sardinia. There are also parchment crackers from Sardinia, tuna fillets, organic chickpeas and Cuisine Perel blood orange vinegar, which adds a pop of flavor to dressings and marinades.
Wine helps complete an Italian diner, and Orlowski has several varietals of both easy drinking and bolder flavored vino. She’s also got components for mocktail kits, such as local Top Note tonics, alcohol-free sparkling wines and BioBacche Toscane organic juices.
For dessert, the families can have fun with cannoli kits, available with a full or half-dozen cannoli shells. The dozen quantity includes cannoli cream made by Orlowski, a cupful of chocolate to decorate the ends and a pastry bag.
Orlowski has some taster items open to offer samples. Pasta making classes will begin in 2022. Gift certificates are available for the holidays, which can also be used for the classes. “It’s fun to experiment with the fillings for the pasta. I enjoy getting feedback from people and to help introduce them to shapes and pastas they didn’t know about,” she enthuses.
For more information, visit semolinamke.com.
