What are you doing tonight night, people? You should work in NEWaukee’s Night Market (open from 5-10pm, and final of the season!). Last month I went to September’s market, and had a great time. Here’s my recap:
My friend Kate and I arrived like 30 minutes before it shut down for the evening, but quickly ran into people we knew. I stopped to talk with Christina Ward of Kick Out The Jams (also a contributor to Edible Milwaukee) left with a jar of grape pie filling. What is grape pie filling, you ask? Wait till the bottom of this post to find out.
Kate and friends and I walked around a little and met Michael and Laurie from Hometown Established: A General Store. They have a newer business in the Third Ward, and sell some really delicious/hip/local/pretty/good-smelling products. Check them out here and here!
We found our way to the Cedar Teeth booth, where we sampled some delicious pizza and chatted with Hannah Roland (owner and pizza maker extrodinaire). We tasted a smashed potato pizza as well as a delicious sweet apple one. Read Molly Snyder’s review for a professional’s point of view. And if you can, check out their food, which you can find at Beans & Barley, Groppi’s and a few other locations around town.
And because there’s a dancer inside of me that wants someday to get out, I quickly scarfed down my pizza in order to get to the dance party a few booths away. And because of said need to dance, I enlisted a (very awesome) woman I had just met to join me in the middle of the dance mob. Two DJs were spinning and I heard the likes of Lauryn Hill and Notorious B.I.G. For a moment I didn’t feel 34 with four children at home.
Soon after, the market closed up shop and Kate took me to the butcher shop pictured below.
Then we walked around back to this alley.
And made our way into a bar behind that butcher shop. And that’s all I’ll say about the rest of the night!
Ok, back to the grape pie filling. Christina’s instructions included a package of Nutter Butters and an oven. I did my best, but you guys, I’m NOT a baker. While the color was incredible, the end product wasn’t quite as pretty.
I didn’t bake it long enough, but pulled it out of the oven because I had to leave the house. And then the next day when I was going to serve it to my family, I put it back in the oven because the filling was still jiggly. I’m told that’s not traditionally how you bake a pie…baking it, then cooling it in the fridge overnight, then baking it again. It’s no wonder that my family was politely uninterested in my creation.
Next time I’ll do your creations justice, Christina, next time. Or I’ll just stick to one of the many options that require no preparation other than putting it on a cracker.
So anyway, check out Christina at a market near you. And head to the Night Market tonight. And keep exploring!
A. Storm
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