Theme guide
Food & drink
America's Dairyland runs on cheese, beer, brandy and a Friday night fish fry. Here is what to order, where the good versions are, and which food traditions are genuinely worth rearranging a day for.
The supper club
A Wisconsin supper club is a specific institution: a family-run restaurant, usually out of town on a lake or a highway, with a dark bar, a dining room with white tablecloths and a menu that has not changed since 1974. Dinner is a ritual with fixed parts:
- Relish tray — raw vegetables, pickles, olives and sometimes herring, brought to the table as you sit.
- Brandy old fashioned — brandy, bitters, sugar, a muddled cherry and orange, topped with soda or sour. "Sweet" means 7-Up; "sour" means sour mix; locals specify.
- Soup or salad — usually both, usually a creamy soup and a salad with a sweet dressing.
- The main course — prime rib, ribs, or fish. Order the prime rib if it is on offer.
- Ice cream drinks — a grasshopper or pink squirrel for dessert, and this is not optional.
They are concentrated on lakes and rivers outside the cities. Ask at any hotel; every town has one and locals are loyal to theirs.
The Friday fish fry
Wisconsin is the only state where a Friday fish dinner is a civic obligation, a holdover from Catholic observance that everyone adopted regardless of faith. The standard is beer-battered cod or perch, chips or potato pancakes, coleslaw and rye bread. Church halls, VFW posts and supper clubs do it best; the price is usually low and the queue is usually long after 7pm.
Perch is the local favourite and worth ordering when available. If the menu says "all you can eat", it means it.
Cheese, and the curd
Wisconsin produces about a quarter of the cheese made in the United States and has more licensed cheesemakers than any other state. Three things to know:
- Cheese curds — unaged cheddar curds, eaten at room temperature so they squeak against your teeth. Fresh ones are sold in bags at gas stations, dairy stores and farmers markets. Fried curds are a bar snack, and a good one, but the fresh version is the local obsession.
- The cheese trails — self-guided driving routes through the dairy counties, with farm shops and creameries open to visitors. The best cluster is in Green County and around Monroe, where Limburger and Swiss have been made since the 19th century.
- Aged specialities — 10-year cheddar, gruyère-style alpine wheels, blue cheese from the Driftless Area. Buy from a creamery shop rather than a supermarket.
Four things to eat at least once
- A fresh cheese curd that squeaks — within a day of being made.
- Friday fish fry with rye bread and a brandy old fashioned.
- Prime rib at a supper club with a relish tray.
- Booyah, the thick chicken and vegetable stew sold at community fundraisers in the Green Bay area.
Beer
Milwaukee is where American lager was industrialised, and the big heritage plants still run tours. But the interesting drinking is in the small breweries, which are now spread across every city in the state. Look for:
- Milwaukee — a dense cluster of taprooms in Walker's Point and Bay View, plus the heritage tours.
- Madison — breweries within walking distance of downtown and a strong sour and barrel-ageing scene.
- The northwoods — small-town breweries in Minocqua, Eagle River and Bayfield, often in converted garages.
- New Glarus — a brewery that deliberately does not distribute outside Wisconsin, which makes the drive worthwhile for beer people.
Wine, cider and spirits
Wisconsin's cold-climate wines are made from hybrids like Frontenac and Marquette, plus fruit wines from cherry, apple and cranberry. The best vineyard experiences are on the Door Peninsula and the hills above Lake Superior in Bayfield. Apple orchards in Bayfield and Gays Mills press cider from September. Distilleries making brandy, whisky and aquavit have opened across the state; most run tastings.
Where to eat, by region
| Region | What it does best |
|---|---|
| Milwaukee | Breweries, the public market, neighbourhood restaurant districts |
| Madison | The Saturday farmers market, farm-to-table restaurants, cheese shops |
| Door County | Fish boils, cherry orchards, small-batch wineries |
| Bayfield | Apple orchards, cider, lake whitefish |
| La Crosse | German bakeries, Oktoberfest, river-town supper clubs |
| Green Bay | Booyah, Friday fish fry, supper clubs |
| Green County | Limburger, Swiss, cheese trail |
Food festivals worth timing a trip for
- Maple syrup weekends — late March, farms across the state open their sugar shacks.
- Cherry harvest — mid-July to August in Door County.
- Oktoberfest — late September to early October in La Crosse and Milwaukee.
- Apple harvest — September to October in Bayfield and Gays Mills.
- County fairs — July and August, with a cheese judging that is taken very seriously.
For the cities themselves, see Milwaukee and Madison. For seasonal timing, Events and Seasons.
In pictures
Rinds, curds and copper
Eat your way across the state
The itineraries build meals in deliberately: a fish fry on day one, a supper club on the drive north, and an orchard stop in October.