Sobelman's Waukesha

Recently, the hubs and I were looking for someplace to go for lunch on the weekend. We have our staples of Culver's, Taco Bell, and Cousins, but I wanted something different. I pulled the discount card off the fridge (thanks to the Waukesha West Baseball team) and saw Sobelman's on there. I convinced the hubs that we should try it as neither of us had been there yet.

The location of Sobelman's in Waukesha has been quite a few things in the past couple of decades. When I went to Carroll, it was Mulligan's, a popular college bar. After my college years, it became a few other bars before becoming a country bar that then turned into Sobelman's. The owners of Sobelman's Waukesha also own Boscos Social Club in downtown and I went to college with one of the owners and had friends in a similar circle. It's awesome to see that they stayed local after college and now have successful businesses in the city.

When we walked into Sobelman's, the first thing I noticed was how different it was from the college days. The bar used to jut out in the room and take up a ton of space. Now the bar is L-shaped allowing for more tables for dining. They added cool rustic lighting with mason jars and lots of local vintage signage.

We grabbed a high top table in the middle of the place and were promptly greeted by our server. We showed our coupon for free cheese balls right away and she told us it was a great choice. I ordered a cherry coke and the hubs ordered a Mt. Dew copycat called Mountain Mist from Dang! That's Good soda company (from Milwaukee!). It wasn't Mt. Dew, but it was still good. And my cherry coke was made with grenadine - delicious.

Sobelman's is known for their awesome burgers and has even made national TV shows with a local burger battle in Milwaukee.  I am a sucker for a Mushroom Swiss burger (my go-to at Culver's) so I had to try theirs. The hubs went for The Hangover (though he didn't have one) and just said no to the onions.

Our cheese balls came out wicked fast and oh man were they good. "No cheese ball left behind" was our mantra because we didn't want any of the cheesy goodness to go to waste. The cheese is breaded in a delicious coating and then deep fried. The ranch that comes with is awesome and the pairing really got our buds going. We ate about half the order before our burgers came.

The burger patties are flatter than other places in Waukesha, but with how they pile on the toppings, you still get a huge sandwich. (Is a burger a sandwich?) The buns are nice and buttery on the outside and soft on the inside. My burger had more mushrooms on it than I have ever gotten and they were sauteed perfectly. The cheese was melty and the whole pairing worked really well. I ate half the sandwich as is, and for the second half, I ate just the burger and toppings because I was too full to eat the bun too. The pickle slices on the side are nice, super crisp, and dilly.

The hubs burger looked amazing - one smush down on the sandwich had the fried egg running all over. He said it was cooked perfectly and it added egg to every bite. The sandwich also had cheese and bacon. He devoured the entire thing and was very impressed.

Our server was extremely attentive and we never ran out of beverages, had plenty of napkins, and she made sure we liked everything we got. She even chatted with us a bit about their other specials and how awesome it is to work for this company. Most servers don't take that kind of time any more or say it nearly as sincerely as she did - so that awesome to hear and something I wanted to relay.

Sobelman's is known for their Bloody Mary's and even has one with an entire fried chicken on top! We didn't try any that day--me, because I'm expecting, and the hubs, because he didn't think he needed a third lunch that day :) (They really can be meals in themselves, can't they?) But we are definitely going to keep this place in mind for lazy Saturdays and invite some friends for Bloody Mary's and a great meal.

They also have wing night on Wednesdays and Fish Fry on Fridays - plenty of reasons for us to go back. And if it wasn't for that coupon to get us in the door the first time, I'm not sure how long it would have taken us to try this gem.

Grilling in Wisconsin

The weather was just too wonderful last week to not take more advantage of being able to grill out. I searched through my Pinterest posts and found Greek Kabobs that sounded amazing and Pinot Noir Burgers. I had almost everything in the house for both of these and set to work.


First up the Greek Kabobs. I thawed out some chicken breasts that I had in the freezer, sliced them in to thin pieces and then threw them in a Ziploc bag with the marinade. I didn't have Greek Seasoning, but I had almost everything that comprises it and made it myself. I omitted the marjoram. I let the chicken marinate while I made the avocado tzatziki sauce. I also soaked the skewers at this time to help prevent them from burning so quickly on the grill.

The sauce came together really easily and my only substitution was sour cream for Greek yogurt because I didn't have any in the house. While I let the chicken marinate a little longer, I made my potato packets. Using my mandolin, I chopped up potatoes and carrots and sprinkled them with onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Add other spices if you would like.  Spray the aluminum foil with cooking spray and then add a dab of butter to the top of the pile.

 

Then seal it up tightly so the steam doesn't escape. This went on the grill before the chicken because it was going to take a bit longer.

 I threw the packets on the grill and skewered up the marinated chicken.

The directions said to only have them on the grill for 4 minutes per side, but I found that it took a lot longer to reach a safe consumption temp for me. Maybe their grill was hotter than mine. But when they were done, they smelled amazing. Notice the charring on the skewers - even with the water, they still burned.

Then it was time to unwrap the potatoes and serve up dinner. Everything was great. The chicken came off the skewer nicely and the tzatziki was nice and refreshing. The Greek flavors really came through the meal. And as always, the potato packet was delicious and filling.

Next up were the Pinot Noir Burgers. I didn't have Pinot Noir in the house, but I had a bottle of New Age red that I substituted. I sauteed the mushrooms and onions in some of the wine and then set those on the side.

The burgers were a little moist because of the added wine, so we formed them and then set them in the fridge to firm up a bit before grilling them. I would suggest next time to really mash the burger into a ball as they are still very moist and crumbly on the grill. None fell apart and I have always heard that over-mixing the meat can make a tough burger.

With the burger, I also grilled up some pineapple and more potato packets.

Then it was time to assemble. I had Swiss cheese that we put on the bottom bun, topped by theburger and then the mushrooms and onions over the top. We did add a little Miracle Whip to the top bun for added flavor.

All said and done, the burgers were cooked medium well and had really great flavor. The pineapple was a great treat and the potato packets are always a great addition.

I will keep this on my repertoire as another way to make a grilled burger. I made some great ones for a Packer party in Fall for my friends and I think this ranks right up there with them.