Mediterranean Cuisine in Milwaukee’s Downtown

The food arrives quickly, but the atmosphere encourages lingering at this Near Eastern restaurant.

by

Let’s Eat!

The owner of Madison’s popular Near Eastern restaurant, Mediterranean Joint, chose a descriptive name when he opened a restaurant in Downtown Milwaukee. Like the Madison Joint, the Milwaukee menu circles around the eastern Mediterranean seaboard, landing on Turkey, Greece and the Levant—a culinary zone interconnected by trade and culture for many centuries.

The restaurant’s entrees are served on decorative metal platters and encompass chicken, beef and lamb, with vegetarian side dishes and a Vegan Kofte Plate ($17.99) with grilled vegetable kofte, pita bread, rice and salad. The attractively served Chicken Shawarma Plate ($17.99) features lightly seasoned, fall-apart-tender shredded chicken resting on a bed of rice and chickpeas, accompanied by pita, an ample chopped lettuce salad with tomatoes and onions, a small bowl of palate cooling tzatziki and a single rice-stuffed grape leaf. The costliest menu item is the entrée sampler, the Combo Plate ($27.99).

Mediterranean Cuisine also offers wraps, including a Gyro Wrap ($11.99) with thin-pressed lavash instead of the usual pita. You could go light with the Turkish Tabbouleh Plate ($7.99), a serving of the traditional Near Eastern salad made from bulgar wheat, parsley, mint, cucumber and tomato tossed with lemon juice and olive oil. Other lighter options include the Hummus and Baba Ghanoush plates ($6.99 each) served with pita. The extensive, reasonably priced sides and appetizer menus include Greek fries ($5.99) sprinkled with feta, oregano and parsley. You can make a mezze platter by choosing from three of the appetizer selections. Also typical for the region, a bowl of yellow lentil soup ($5.99).

How’s this for a Near East-Wisconsin fusion? Mediterranean Cheese Curds ($11.99) accompanied by tzatziki and “Turkish marinara sauce.” But that’s the only Packerland touch.

Mediterranean Cuisine serves some of the best baklava in town with honey-sweetened pistachio or walnut varieties ($4.99-$5.99). The dessert goes well with a steaming demitasse of caffeine in the form of Turkish coffee.

Orders are taken at the counter and delivered to your table. The food arrives quickly, but the atmosphere encourages lingering. The walls are covered with the panorama of a Greek seaside village, the tall windows admit sunlight and an expansive view of busy Water Street, and the Arabesque music, with its gentle ouds and woodwinds, is conversation level. Make a night of it? Mediterranean Cuisine serves beer, including the Turkish brand Efes ($6.99), and wine by the glass or bottle ($6.99/$26.99). It’s open seven days a week for lunch and dinner.

Mediterranean Cuisine