Photos from Story Hill BKC
After two successful restaurant ventures (Maxie’s and Blue’s Egg), business partners Dan Sidner and Chef Joe Muench recently launched Story Hill BKC (as in Bottle, Kitchen, Cup) on Milwaukee’s West Side. The restaurant concept is intended as a community space where you can stop in early for coffee or breakfast, meet friends for lunch, grab a late afternoon snack and cocktail, or enjoy dinner in the evening.
The Story Hill BKC interior evokes an old-time general store theme and features a bar, exhibition kitchen, small private dining room and liquor store. The food is anything but old time, full of robust flavors and stimulating food combinations that embrace local ingredients whenever feasible. Here you will find fresh-baked breads and pastries, cured and smoked meats, and fresh pastas.
Breakfasts are split into categories that encompass familiar offerings (eggs, house-prepared sausages and French toast), crepes and “Illuminated Specialties”—inventive creations that include Greek Yogurt panna cotta as well as back bacon and baked eggs with potatoes and green chili sauce. For a refreshing change, try the Shakshouka, a mélange of baked eggs with spicy tomato sauce, smoked lentils, goat cheese and sumac mayonnaise. Crepes incorporate traditional combinations of berries, bananas and syrup. If you are looking for a more substantial meal, the house special crepe delivers a generous portion of house-cured Berkshire pork loin, Clock Shadow Creamery quark (a soft, fresh cheese), onion marmalade and maple syrup. Lighter fare includes mixed grain porridge (spelt, oats and brown rice) with almond milk curd and spiced granola streusel, or quark with toast and house-made jam. Lunch includes the regular breakfast items along with soups, salads and sandwiches and weekends feature an all-day brunch menu of similar items.
The dinner menu is divided into “Taste,” “Share” and “Pass” sections that invite you to commune on small to large plates. Chef Muench and his crew offer inventive dishes consisting of grass-fed beef with masa pudding and avocado cream; roasted pumpkin agnolotti (fresh pasta pillows) with crimini mushrooms and maple brown butter; and lake trout with tomato jam and sumac vinaigrette. The skewered lamb chops are a generous full rack of lamb with cured olives and port wine sauce. The menu at times is nostalgic with a modern sense. Muench serves up an oxtail stew, a seriously rich dish, but compliments it with a playful portion of alphabet pasta. Other can’t-miss items include chicken meatballs with truffle honey and green peppercorn sauce; roasted cauliflower with dried tomatoes, pine nuts and Montamoré cheese; and sweetbreads with oyster mushrooms. Save room for fresh desserts that include a warm tart cherry upside-down cake, warm banana and chocolate chunk bread pudding, and a seasonal pumpkin cheesecake.
The bar showcases specialty coffee drinks, fresh fruit and vegetable juices, wine, beer and mixed drinks. House-prepared “batch cocktails,” including sidecars, pineapple paloma and the Wisconsin old fashioned, are addictive concoctions blended with high-quality ingredients. The liquor store features regional spirits (Death’s Door Gin, Templeton Rye, Roaring Dan’s Rum), and a full selection of local beer as well as growlers to go. Reasonably priced wines that include exceptional selections heavy on vintages from California, Italy and France can be purchased as carryout or, for a corkage fee, consumed in-house.
John Reiss is a chef and culinary instructor at Milwaukee Area Technical College. For full disclosure, he is acquainted with the crew at Story Hill BKC.
Story Hill BKC
5100 W. Bluemound Road
414-539-4424
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Handicap access: yes
