Wisconsin Foodie

Food Halls

Food Halls – Transcript

– This week on Wisconsin Foodie:

– “Zcalo” is a native word for square, a gathering place.

– That may be the best taco I’ve ever had.

– Thank you, thank you.

– A food hall is unlike a food court, in that it is crafted towards locally owned chefs.

– We’re doing fast casual pasta. But, we’re making everything from scratch. It’s a good lunch. You’ll be sleeping later, but–

[Luke laughs]

– So if there was something here today on the menu that you would suggest I try? Mm. I love that.

– What do you think when you think Milwaukee style?

– Um…

– [snaps fingers] See!

[Luke laughs]

– You know what I mean?

– I would be breaking down your door once a week if this was in my neighborhood.

– Announcer: Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters:

– Introducing Organic Valley Ultra, milk with more protein, half the sugar, and no toxic pesticides. Let’s be honest! None of that healthy stuff really matters unless our kids will drink it.

[dramatic music, mom whispers, c’mon.]

[gulping milk]

[cow moos]

– Yeah, I would drink that.

[mom gasps]

– Do you hear that? She would drink that!

[cheering, triumphant music]

– Parents are weird.

– Announcer: More protein, half the sugar. Organic Valley Ultra.- The dairy farmers of Wisconsin are proud to underwrite Wisconsin Foodie, and remind you that, in Wisconsin, we dream in cheese.

[crowd cheering]

Just look for our badge. It’s on everything we make.- Employee-owned New Glarus Brewing Company has been brewing and bottling beer for their friends only in Wisconsin since 1993. Just a short drive from Madison, come visit Swissconsin, and see where your beer’s made.- Wisconsin’s great outdoors has something for everyone. Come for the adventure, stay for the memories. Go wild in Wisconsin. To build your adventure visit dnr.wi.gov.

– From production to processing, right down to our plates, there are over 15,000 employers in Wisconsin with career opportunities to fulfill your dreams and feed the world. Hungry for more? Shape your career with these companies and others at fabwisconsin.com.

– Specialty crop craft beverages use fruit grown on Wisconsin orchards and vineyards to create award-winning ciders and wines. Wisconsin’s cold climate creates characteristics and complexities that make this craft beverage unique to our state.

– Society Insurance.

Freshwater Family Farms.

Also, with the support of the Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

[upbeat music]

– Luke Zahm: We are a collection of the finest farmers, food producers and chefs on the planet.

We are a merging of cultures and ideas shaped by this land.

[sizzling]

We are a gathering of the waters, and together, we shape a new identity to carry us into the future.

[glasses clink]

[knife scrapes]

We are storytellers. We are Wisconsin Foodie.

[tearing paper]

[upbeat Latin music]

– Another non-traditional way of getting into the restaurant industry can be seen here in historic Walkers Point in Milwaukee. The Zcalo food truck park, is kinda the brain child between community developers and chefs who come together with their individualized food truck ideas, and tell stories and create food from them. Today we are going to hook up with Jesus from Mazorca, and hear about why his family’s tacos are made with love and history and pride, right here in Walkers Point.- Hey Luke, man, what’s going on?

– Luke: Hey, what’s up, man?

– Jesus: Welcome.

– Thank you. Good to see you. What’s cooking today?

– Jesus: Listen, were making fresh tortillas, come inside.

– Luke: Awesome, I can’t wait.

– Jesus: Cool.

– So in order to make masa, that dough that’s there. So, they take corn that has matured on the husk. They soak it, then they’ll grind it and add water, then it becomes this dough, which is masa. So then, what we do is we roll it up in a ball, press it with this tortilla press, and then my mom will lay it onto the comal, which is the flat top and she’ll cook it for about you know 30 seconds per side.

– Carmen: Yo me mira mi mama tostar las tortillas y mi abuela y mi bisabuela.

– Sure.

– Carmen: Y es un tesoro que siento en mi corazn y transmitirle a toda persona que viene a comer los tacos mexicanos.

– Luke: Ah, that’s beautiful! Oh, my gosh!

– Jesus: Do you want to attempt to make a tortilla?

– Luke: I do! I do!

[Carmen speaking in Spanish]

– Okay.

– Take a this, this one.

[Carmen speaking in Spanish]

– Okay.

– Carmen: Muy bien!

[Carmen speaking in Spanish]

– Luke: I’m going to go [inaudible] here.

– Esta bien?

– [Carmen speaking in Spanish]

– Just be careful. That’s a lot of dough.

– Luke: It’s a big tortilla.

– Yes, so remember to be prepared–

– Should I make it smaller?

– No, no, go for it.

– So we’re going to take it and fold it over.

– Cuanta presion?

– Not too much.

– Jesus: Not too much pressure.

– Luke: Okay.

– Carmen: Aha, it’s fine.

– It’s fine?

– Bien.

– Okay.

– So what we’re going to do is we’re going to pick it up?

[Carmen speaking in Spanish]

Una. Una. Una.

– Okay. There you go. One.

[Carmen speaking in Spanish]

– Luke: Ah, ha!

[Carmen speaking in Spanish]

– Jesus: There we go, yeah. Carmen: Ah!

[clapping]

– Luke, were hiring.

[Luke laughs]

– Great, I’m always looking.

[Luke laughs]

Tell me a little bit about the Mazorca tacos.

– Jesus: Absolutely, so you see my menu is very small. I only offer five different types of tacos. So we have al pastor, which is pork. We have bistec, which is steak.

– Luke: Marinated in Wisconsin beer.

– My bistec taco kinda separates me from the rest because I actually serve beans with on it. It’s very common to find bistec tacos with beans. We have a vegetarian and a vegan option. And, we have Birria. Birria is a very regional dish. Different parts of Mexico, they will have their own variation of this one. We marinated them in chilies, garlic, ginger, a lot of aromatics. It’s beautiful.

– Luke: Which is your favorite?

– I go for the Birrias, man.

– The Birrias? Okay.

– It depends. You know, if your hungover, the Birria is– You got to go for that one.

– Luke: Do I look hungover?

– Jesus: No, no! I’m just saying.

– Luke: Perfect.

– Jesus: For the Birria you put cilantro, and then you have the picked onion, then you have a wedge of lime.

– I got to say like, the more time I spend with food, you know, I love to cook. I love to eat.

– Right.

– ‘Simple’ is almost all the time better.

– Absolutely.

– You get three or four really good ingredients in one taco, and a tortilla made with love by Carmen in the tradition of her grandmother, and her grandmother’s grandmother.

– Jesus: Definitely

– Luke: It doesn’t get any better than this.

[taco crunches]

Mm. That may be the best taco I’ve ever had.

– Thank you. Thank you. All you really need is a really good tortilla, two or three ingredients. That’s why we focus on making like tortillas to order. I mean there are very few people that do this, because it’s very laborious, as you can see. But, it makes a huge difference.

– It does. This is like no taco I’ve ever had before.

Gracias, Carmen.

– [Carmen speaking Spanish]

– Luke: So, what do you say, we make some tacos and head inside?

– Jesus: Perfect, sounds like a plan.

[rhythmic bass music]

– Luke: What’s the translation on Zcalo?

– Jesus: Zcalo is a native word for square, a plaza, a gathering place. I realized that there was a community of food entrepreneurs. But, they didn’t have that one spot where they could come together and show case their craft.- Got it?

– Thank you. Yeah! Stepping up.

– All right, man, we made it. So, we have a vegeterian, al pastor. We have hot sauce: medium. The hot, just be very careful. My mom was very upset that day, when she made it, so it’s really spicy.

– Luke: Really?

– Jesus: Yeah, really.

– I was going to say the love goes into all the tortillas, and all the anger goes into the hot sauce. That’s awesome.

– So we have the vegetarian tacos. I feel like it’s one of the most underrated taco we have. So what we do, we take a piece of Mexican cheese, and we sear it on the flat top, then we smother it with some guacamole, tomatillo, cilantro. Very simple.

– Luke: Whoa. I can’t wait to try that one. Here we go, and I got the hot sauce on it, too right?

– Yes, be careful.

– All right, all right.

That’s delicious.

I mean…

…the cheese. You get that tomatillo in there, as well. The freshness of the cilantro. That hot sauce is banging. I’m going to tell you that right now. My nose is going to start running here. But, it is good.

– Jesus: Right.

– You said that the Zcalo is a used as a place to like come and shout your message. What was the message that you needed to shout through your food.

– The vision here at Zcalo was that we wanted to cultivate relationships with food entrepreneurs. Those who are working on, you know, reshaping the landscape. Secondly, we wanted to really create an ecosystem that’s gonna harvest community. We’re just getting started, honestly. I’m definitely– I came back to Milwaukee for a reason. And, we will continue to focus on helping out more food entrepreneurs get started and succeed. I’m excited for the future.

– Brother, thank you so much. These are delicious. I know you’re a busy man, but I got to say that even to get to hang out with you and your mom a little bit, super inspiring. Keep up the good work.

– It was great having you here.

– Thanks so much, all right.

– Jesus: Cool.

[bass thumping beat]

– Luke: After those amazing taco’s I know that I need to make my way over Milwaukee’s east side to explore the Cross Roads Collective, one of Milwaukee’s newest food halls, and learn about this up-and-coming dining trend.

[bass thumping beat]

– Gina: A food hall is unlike a food court, in that it is crafted towards locally owned chefs. So there’s supposed to be a more culinary experience. It is kinda new. It’s actually been popping up all over the United States, for I’d say about the last 3 years. So we are really focused on the operations of the place itself. So just like a restaurant tour, we have to make sure that the sidewalks are ready and everything is clean, and the garbage is out. And, it allows each of these individual vendors the ability to focus more on the food and the experience within their own booth. I’d like chefs to view this space as a place where they can come and try new concepts that they know are going to go out and potentially be the future of restaurants in this city.- What’s up, Adam?

– How you doing Luke? Welcome.

– Thank you so much. It’s been a long time coming. Tell us a little bit about Egg & Flour.

– Adam: The concept is new I feel like for Milwaukee. We’re doing fast casual pasta, but we’re making everything from scratch. So, we’re doing all the pasta ourselves in-house. We’re doing all the sauces, all the garnishees, everything that you might see in front of you. The only thing we don’t do here is we don’t bake our own bread. It’s coming from Blue’s Egg bakery, Black Shoe’s Hospitality. They do a great job. So, it’s super quick and easy. You can wear your pajamas in here. You can dress up if you want, but it’s super fast. It’s fast casual. That’s what we’re doing here.

– Luke: Sure. I’m starving.

– We’re going to do the bucatini, then. That’s probably the best one to do, especially if you haven’t been here. We’re going to start with our a fresh bucatini noddle. This is the wide spaghetti noddle with the hole running through it. It’s going to be going right into the water. This pasta takes 2 to 3 minutes max. It’s the greatest part about this concept. And what we do here is the pasta’s fresh. It does not take long at all. And then, one of my favorite things on the menu after the bucatini, are bolognese for pasta-wise, is going to be our caprese salad. I’ll probably whip one of those together for you too, ’cause you got to try it. It’s life changing. We do it with burrata filling. We don’t do it with the ball burrata, but actually, it’s just the filling in it.

– Where’s that from?

– This is actually BelGioioso, which is local right in Wisconsin. Awesome cheese. I use BelGioioso for everything. Then we’ll finish it off with the pistachios. And since we’re at Egg & Flour we’re going to just hit it will a ton of Parmesan cheese.

– Luke: Yeah.

– So we’re doing the bucatini dish here, so we got ladle in the Parmesan cream. That’s going to get the cheese a little bit hot. Get it started here. Pasta in. We’re going to be tossing it into the Grana Padano cheese wheel. 10-month aged, American Grana cheese, similar to Parmesan, just a little less salty, little more nutty, some more flavor, little bit softer cheese. Letting the hot cheese wheel and cream sauces come together. Little bit of chives. The huge cracked black pepper. Hopefully, you’re a fan.

– Luke: I am.

– Adam: All right. And then, just rain down on it with the Parmesan.

[rhythmic rock music]

All right.

– Man!

– That’s a good lunch.

[Luke laughs]

You’ll be sleeping later, but–

[Luke laughs]

– So I always feel like it’s in my best interest to make sure I get some of the vegetables in first. And this, for being in Wisconsin, is like the most aptly-garnished vegetable I’ve ever seen with cheese.

The first of the bite, you get a little bit of the acidity, from the balsamic vinaigrette, which is really really balanced and really lovely, because it immediately contrasts with the creaminess of the burrata filling. You get the salty of the parm. You get the crunch of the pistachios. But then, the thing you’re kinda left with overwhelmingly is the herbaceousness of like the basil, and the pesto, and then all those fresh herbs. It kinda carries you through. But, I came here because the name of this restaurant is Egg & Flour and this bucatini, this is one of my favorite pasta shapes.

Pasta is like that blanket that you put on your bed at night. The one you snuggle up to. Emotionally, you feel instantly secure. This for me is all that flavor and more. The creaminess, the richness. Obviously you get some of the nuttiness from the cheese, and the pasta itself is really fantastic. Little bit of chew to it, so it’s just slightly al dente. But it’s really really well seasoned, and that cracked black pepper. If there’s one ingredient I think that I could take with me on a desert island, to be able to, you know, season the food for the rest of my life, this cracked black pepper might be it.

Adam, this is straight-up delicious. Super exciting to have you here. Thanks a lot brother.

– Appreciate it.

– Of course, man.

– Thanks for coming down.

– Thank you for having us.

[energetic piano music]

– Gina: You have a lot of individual restaurant owners. So, you have different personalities. The collaboration is nice. The support system is nice. The barrier to entry is completely different. In a traditional restaurant model, your looking at a great expense. You have the build out. You have the design. You have the responsibility. It’s all on you. In a situation like this, you can take a concept, and really really concentrate on your craft, and your food experience for the person.

– Mitchell: We love the camaraderie here. That was kinda one of the unique things that attracted us and appealed to us about this place, was working closely with other great chefs and owners from around the city, and not only share ideas, but also glean some knowledge from each other and just extend a lot of the camaraderie that already exists in Milwaukee on the culinary scene. So, we’re really proud and excited to be a part it going forward, and also, from what we’ve accomplished here already.- Gentlemen, Martin. What an honor to be here today at Frida and the food hall. So if there was something here today, on the menu that you would suggest I would try.

– Our most popular sandwiches is a Duck Duo Po’Boy. It’s pretty amazing sandwich. It’s kinda like Asian influence.

– Luke: Awesome! I would love to try one.

– Mitchell: Frida, we opened last December here in our Crossroads Collective Food Hall. We wanted to kinda be a part of the resurgence and renaissance, if you will, of North Avenue in the east side in general. Tested out a bunch of different recipes, and not only sandwiches, but soups as well and what would be the best combination for a menu and here we are with 4 or 5 soups every day, and about 10 to 12 sandwiches.- Martin: All right, so what you have here is the sandwich, the Duck Duo Po’boy.

– Luke: Yeah! So the duck breast is something that you basically roast off. You try to get that skin on the outside crispy and the inside, you know, nice and succulent. But, with the legs and thighs on ducks because there not as worked as the breast muscles are, one of the ways that we approach that, is that we confit them. And that means literally to kinda cook in fat. Or in this case, cook in its own fat. So, we take that duck leg, we put it at very low temperature, for a very long time in this duck fat and it tends to break itself down. The arugula on there. I know that there’s Parmesan. I’m really excited to see how that kinda integrates with that sweet and sour plum sauce and then the richness of the duck itself.

I love that. The duck has a certain richness, inherent richness in it. You know, people are sometimes scared of it, shy away from it a little bit, because it is so rich and succulent. But the consistency pieces on this sandwich are what keep you going back. The chewiness of the toasted hoagie, the crispiness of the confit. That arugula and a little bit of Parmesan, and then you get that duck breast too, that’s like a substantive bite. It all comes together. And I got to say that plum sauce, that plum sauce is delicious.

Thank you so much, for taking time out of your busy schedule to come out here today and talk to us about what you’re doing here at Frida.

– Thank you so much guys for coming and–

– Aw, man, you’re a busy guy.

– Thank you.

– I won’t keep you anymore, but this is truly worth sticking around for. Thanks a lot.

– Martin: Thank you.

– Jason.

– Jason, nice to meet you.

– Nice to meet you. Yeah, yeah.

– There’s no way after like trying foods that I can’t not eat what we have going on today? So, quick back story like, did you grow up in Milwaukee?

– I did, but my cooking didn’t.

– Luke: Okay, where’s your cooking grow up?

– So, on the wall here are my grandparents, are from Tennessee. My uncles from Mississippi.

So, basically I learned from watching them. I wasn’t a kid that, like I played, but for the most part, I was by family house because we were eating, so I’m like a kid by the table with his eyes right here, watching, waiting, ready to eat. So I used to see my uncle and them do a lot of stuff. I always liked to grill. I’m always watching my uncles and my grandfather grilling. My granddad would throw anything from pigeon to bear on the grill. Whatever he could get he would put on there. It’s really probably like seven years ago, started getting into smoking. Started watching shows, reading books, and trial and error. Pretty much got me to where’s it at now.

– Luke: You know different regions of America, have different styles. Tell me a little bit about your Milwaukee barbecue.

– So, I’m ask you a question.

– Luke: Yeah! What do you think when you think of Milwaukee style?

– What do I think when I think Milwaukee style? Um.

– [snaps fingers] See, you know what I mean.

– [Luke laughs] Yeah right!

– So, it’s yet to be determined. So with that being said, we kinda take different styles from every region, and kinda make it our own. By doing something a little different then they do. Like people in Texas do not use foil, right? They use butcher’s paper.

But it’s like, okay, why not? You know for me, because it works for me, you know. So, it’s like having a cookbook. And they’re not even telling you everything in the cookbook. So you take their base recipe and make it your own. You know, and that’s what cooking is essentially, anywhere. What can I fix you up?

– Luke: Well, you know like, I don’t know man.

– Jason: Want to try the house pastrami?

– I do.

– All right let’s try that.

– Luke: So the technical definition of a pastrami?

– Jason: Smoked corned beef, but for us we wrap it down in brown sugar first, so that it’s not so salty. And, we put the pickle and spices, a little bit of that on there. Then we put chili powder and garlic, and cracked black pepper.

– Luke: Cracked black pepper. Can I taste the ribs, too?

– Jason: Yeah, absolutely. So, for use our ribs…

– Luke: Yeah!

– We don’t look at them until we serve them to you. So we leave them upside down during the whole process. It’s a very old technique, but super effective.

– Luke: I can’t wait to taste this man.

[bouncy music]

Oh, man.

That’s so good. It’s so tender. And juicy, and it’s not like one of those things where it has some adherence to the bone, which I think is a hallmark of a true professional. It’s really easy when your cooking ribs, slow and low. If they go too long, they slide right off, and they don’t have any substance to them at all. But if you don’t take them to that point, where they are actually cooked, then they have the tendency to be tough and a little chewy. This is perfect.

Pastrami. We can see the pastrami here. The reason why it stays nice and pink all the way through from the curing process, right? Salt, sugar. Usually in that corning process, there’s a little bit of nitrate in there as well, to help keep that color set. But also, to really help everything permeate and breakdown some of the protein structure in the meat. We see the bark on the outside again with that crushed blacked pepper, that nice fat cap, and you can see the permeation of the smoke in there, which is the hallmark true barbecue.

That’s wicked good. Pastrami in this form, has like the flavor and consistency of would think of for an Easter ham. It’s juicy, it’s moist, it’s rich. I’ve eaten barbecue literally from coast to coast. And this is unique, it’s delicious, and quite frankly, it’s ours.

This is amazing.

– Thank you.

– I appreciate you, man.

– Thank you. No problem.

– I love the story. I love how it all comes together. And I love that this is in Milwaukee, you know, at the Crossroads Collective. It’s an opportunity for people to kinda come in here and see the city through multiple lenses. I wouldn’t hesitate to come back here in a second. I would be breaking down your door once a week if this was in my neighborhood. Thank you so much for telling your story and your food. It’s gorgeous.

– Jason: Yup, thank you.

– Luke: Thanks, man.

[Bass thumping beat]

– How often do you go back to Mexico?- Sorry, you caught me off guard there.- Luke: Mh. That was the most awkward first bite I think I’ve ever taken.

– This ridiculously good, man.

– Jason: Yeah.

– Luke: I mean–

– I mean the bark.

– Yeah.

– The–

– Look at that thing.

[Jason laughs]

Do you see that? Arthur can you see the bark?

Arthur, look at me. Can you see the bark?

– Arthur: I can see the bark.

– Announcer: Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters:

– Introducing Organic Valley Ultra, milk with more protein, half the sugar and no toxic pesticides. Let’s be honest! None of that healthy stuff really matters unless our kids will drink it.

[dramatic music]

[mom whispers, c’mon.]

[gulping milk]

[cow moos]

– Yeah, I would drink that.

[mom gasps]

– Do you hear that? She would drink that!

[cheering, triumphant music]

– Parents are weird.

– Announcer: More protein, half the sugar. Organic Valley Ultra.- The dairy farmers of Wisconsin are proud to underwrite Wisconsin Foodie, and remind you that, in Wisconsin, we dream in cheese.

[crowd cheering]

Just look for our badge. It’s on everything we make.- Employee-owned New Glarus Brewing Company has been brewing and bottling beer for their friends only in Wisconsin since 1993. Just a short drive from Madison. Come visit Swissconsin, and see where your beer’s made.- Wisconsin’s great outdoors has something for everyone. Come for the adventure, stay for the memories. Go wild in Wisconsin. To build your adventure visit dnr.wi.gov.– From production to processing, right down to our plates, there are over 15,000 employers in Wisconsin with career opportunities to fulfill your dreams and feed the world. Hungry for more? Shape your career with these companies and others at fabwisconsin.com.– Specialty crop craft beverages use fruit grown on Wisconsin orchards and vineyards to create award-winning ciders and wines. Wisconsin’s cold climate creates characteristics and complexities that make this craft beverage unique to our state.- Society Insurance.

Freshwater Family Farms.

1. Henry and Sons Bourbon.

Something Special from Wisconsin.

Marcus Hotels and Resorts.

Central Wisconsin Craft Collective.

91.7 W-M-S-E.

Edible Milwaukee magazine.

Also, with the support of the Friends of PBS Wisconsin. For more information about upcoming Wisconsin Foodie special events and dinners, please go to WisconsinFoodie.com

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