Racine's Famous Wells Brothers Pizza

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Admittedly, I have not spent much time in Racine over the years. But I have heard about Wells Brothers Italian Restaurant from people who worked in the area and a couple Midwest food accounts on Instagram. Not to mention, it’s been listed on some “best pizza” lists and has been open since 1921, making it a notable southeastern Wisconsin establishment. So, I decided to take an afternoon to check out the pizza at 2148 Mead Street after popping into the nearby Racine Art Museum for an exhibit I’ve been meaning to see.

The dining room was packed at 1 p.m. on a Saturday with families sitting around enjoying a big meal together and plenty of individuals sitting at the bar. Since I was alone, I opted for a seat at the bar so I could see all the people coming in and out of the restaurant. College sports blared in the background and people at the bar were noticeably invested in the game. During my 90 minutes at Wells Brothers, I met a World War 2 survivor from Berlin and her daughter, a New Yorker who just moved to Milwaukee, a couple of sports fans, and one regular who ordered a Spotted Cow by saying, “I’ll have a nice cold glass of milk.” It was a melting pot to say the least.

The bartender is the husband of the woman whose family owns the restaurant and is the manager on duty. They run a wonderful operation as this place seems to be endlessly busy. After discussing what they’re known for and understanding I was going to be taking home a ton of leftovers. I went with the following order: $12 unlimited soup and antipasto salad, large crispy pizza, half sausage, half giardiniera (hot and mild) and a Peroni.

Try the Giardiniera

Wisconsin is known for its thin crust pizza, Milwaukee especially. One of my pizza aficionado friends from out East calls this style “pub pizza” which I think is a great descriptive. Following his advice to get sausage, I stretched my normal order with the half giardiniera being that it’s half-way from Milwaukee and Racine where the pickled condiment is adored. It was good, but I think the less toppings the better with thin crust pizza. Next time I plan to try their pepperoni.

I have to give a shoutout to my air fryer as it rejuvenates leftovers that otherwise cannot be saved. It brought my leftovers back to life to enjoy again later that day. Even the antipasto traveled well as it is perfectly, evenly and lightly dressed. It’s rare to find a salad that stays that long and is made fresh to order. I took all of the soup home since I’m not a total glutton, and it lived up to its “cozy winter wild rice” soup name as listed on the daily soup menu.

Racine isn’t so far from Bay View that I would consider this a trek, but that all depends on the route you take and the traffic that time of day. On my way back, I hit up IKEA and South 27th Street for the Holy Land Grocery & Bakery I’ve been meaning to check out. But I’ll save that for another article someday. There’s nothing better than a successful meal adventure and getting errands done to make for a great Saturday afternoon. Next time you’re heading south, be sure to leave an hour to stop by Wells Brothers for some of the best pub style pizza around.