Milwaukee's Birch makes 2023 New York Times best restaurants list

The New York Times named Birch, the contemporary farm-to-table Milwaukee restaurant at 459 E. Pleasant St., in its annual list of the best restaurants in America.

The Times said it sent out dozens of reporters, editors and dining critics across the country to find their favorite restaurants. Birch was the only Wisconsin restaurant named in the list.

Restaurant critic Brett Anderson called Birch a "worldly Midwestern cuisine free of clichés."

Birch's chef and owner, Kyle Knall, said he was honored to have made it on the list. Knall was flying back from New York Tuesday, the day the list was published.

"Whenever I visit New York or Chicago, I always leave those cities ... thinking to myself, 'I don't need to be a chef in one of these cities to do something that I love,' and I think it's great this article just kind of shows that," he said.

Before coming to Milwaukee, Knall was a chef in Manhattan, where he was praised by restaurant critics for his take on traditional dishes.

Birch was Birch and Butch until it closed during the pandemic. The restaurant reopened as Birch in June 2021 with Knall as the chef. A year later, Knall acquired the restaurant form Rebecca Zwiefelhofer.

Knall and his wife just welcomed their second child and plan on being in Milwaukee long-term. He said he has plans to open a new pizza place in West Allis.

"We love Milwaukee and just so happy to be part of the community, he said. "We're just thankful that people have supported us."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee's Birch makes 2023 New York Times best restaurants list