Dining Month is brought to you through a partnership with Educators Credit Union, Potawatomi Hotel Casino and Saint Kate Arts Hotel.
In 2017, I decided to dig into the history of the Caradaro Club, which introduced pizza to Milwaukee, and I talked to a number of people. But none was more passionate a source than Jim Balistreri, who worked at Caradaro Club and later opened four outposts of it. One of those restaurants survives as Balistreri’s Italian-American Ristorante at 812 N. 68th St.
This morning mutual friend “College” Dave Mikolajek messaged me to say that this Milwaukee pizza pioneer passed away on Thursday. He was 81…