Mr J's Lounge

Mr. J’s Lounge is an immaculate gem of a space featuring a Spartan, albeit excellent, menu and some of the best rotations of live music in town. The venue sprawls from the main room onto a second, somehow larger floor where DJs spin Thursday through Saturday; there’s spacious dance floor room but also several tables and even an extremely comfy couch. Food wise, they’re outstanding: the okra ($4) is evenly breaded to create two different and appreciable kinds of crunches—the batter and the vegetable. The Soul Roll ($3) is one of Milwaukee’s most unique dishes: collard greens and bacon wrapped in an egg roll wrapper and deep fried, making a juicy and outstanding appetizer. Their wings ($6) come three ways: breaded, seasoned or Buffalo. I recommend the seasoned, which takes their immaculately breaded wings and adds a savory/salty seasoning. There’s no finer spot in Milwaukee to enjoy live music every Wednesday, especially given the kitchen’s strengths. And DJ Kel C provides a great chaser for Packers games with her Sunday night sets—one evening, I heard deep cuts by The Brothers Johnson, 112 and Rockie Robbins.