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In a city like this, there are secrets and surprises seemingly behind every corner. Join us as we uncover the places, history and other stories that are just too good to keep under wraps.
Peek Inside: The Amazingly Small Kitchen at Sanford!
If you’re standing in the Sanford kitchen, you’re in the way. The cramped, unfussy space – smaller than the kitchen in some houses – does not offer the luxury of room to maneuver, especially during service at the East Side restaurant, when up to seven chefs pack in there. A casual observer of the scene might think they’re looking into the back of a roadside diner – until they notice the meticulous culinary process that chef and owner Justin Aprahamian has implemented.
This careful, rapid, station-to-station brigade creates some of the best fine dining in Milwaukee. Ask one of the chefs what makes Sanford’s kitchen different from others they’ve worked at in Milwaukee, and they’ll emphasize that organization, that exactitude, that intense care that goes into making every dish delicious … and also how small it is.
Peek Inside: Cactus Club’s Hidden Time Capsule
The second floor of Cactus Club, like its nearly 140-year-old Bay View building, has a long and winding history. It’s been a former owner’s apartment, a storeroom, a greenroom for artists, and it was even an Airbnb during COVID. Now, it serves mostly as a crash pad for the acts that perform downstairs four or five nights a week…