Vliet Street Moveable Feast: Where and what to eat in Washington Heights and Martin Drive

Milwaukee is a city of neighborhoods, and dining critic Rachel Bernhard intends on exploring them the best way she knows how: through food. In her series Movable Feasts, she sets out to craft the ultimate meal by visiting multiple dining destinations — plus popular stops along the way — to get a better taste of what each of the city's distinct neighborhoods has to offer. Which neighborhood should she visit next? Let her know at [email protected].

Bridging Milwaukee’s west side and Wauwatosa, West Vliet Street in the city's Washington Heights and Martin Drive neighborhoods is home to longstanding neighborhood institutions and a bevy of new businesses that are helping to revitalize this corner of the city.

Anchors of the community are Highland Lanes, an intimate bowling alley that’s been operating since 1960; the Times Cinema, a single-screen repertory movie house originally built in 1935; and Rainbow Booksellers, a children’s bookstore open since 1994.

But thanks to a few newer restaurants, the neighborhood has become a recent destination for dining, with everything from burgers to gelato to artisan pizza. Here are just a few highlights on this stretch on the city's west side.

Appetizers: Charles E. Fromage 

I love any place that focuses on a simple concept and executes it well. That’s the case at this teeny bar where it’s all about snacking, sipping and sharing. The snack menu at Charles E. Fromage, 5811 W. Vliet St., is short and sweet: cheese, nuts and spreads, all made by Tony Schiro, who owns the bar with his wife, Honore.

The Fromage Cheese Board is a perfect way to sample a few of the bar’s best bites. It includes two house cheeses, herbed mixed nuts, fruit jam, a fig and goat cheese spread and 5 Cheese Glop, an airy combination of five soft cheeses whipped together with thyme and lemon. Served with baguette slices, the board has just enough to satisfy a small group before a full dinner.

If you want more to nibble on, add one of the house-made spreads like the zesty tomato-eggplant Capalatina, Tomato Confit or Mami’s Olive Salad.

Pair your snacks with one of Charles E. Fromage’s classic cocktails, Milwaukee-based beer, or a glass or bottle from the extensive wine list, which has more than 30 total, including white, red, sparkling, rose, orange and port varieties. Stop in at the right time and you can get a great deal, too. On Wednesdays, all wine bottles are 50% off and on Fridays, wine and beer are two-for-one from 4 to 6 p.m.

The space is small — just 14 seats inside and about 20 more outside when the weather is nice — so you may be vying for a seat. But it’s a sweet place to pop in for a laid-back snack and drink, whether you’re on your way to the next stop or you plan to park there for the night.

Dinner: Wy’East Pizza 

Located just two blocks east of Charles E. Fromage, Wy’East Pizza, 5601 W. Vliet St., has been serving artisan pies to the Washington Heights community since 2016. What sets Wy’East’s pizza apart is the dedication they have toward crafting the ultimate crust. It starts with a dough that goes through a long fermentation process, which gives it a more robust flavor, chewy texture and lends caramelization during the baking process, yielding burnished bubbles of char that add just a hint of smoky flavor.

As for toppings, Wy’East keeps theirs simple, with no more than three at a time on any given pizza, letting the crust and sauce shine without weighing things down. Pizzas like the Hot Marmot (pepperoni, fresh garlic and sweet hot peppers), the Three Sisters (fresh mushrooms, garlic and basil) and the Zig-Zag (soppressata and ni?oise olives) are crowd-favorite red pies, while white pizzas like the Cloud Cap (fresh mushroom, roasted garlic and rosemary) and Cape Blanco (fresh garlic, sausage and black pepper) forgo sauce altogether for a base made of olive oil and ricotta cheese.

Specialty pizzas rotate based on available ingredients. On a recent visit, I tried their latest creation, the Scarecrow Boogie, which is loaded with Wisconsin sweet corn and sliced chives all atop a creamy sauce made with roasted poblano and guajillo peppers, giving it an impressively spicy kick. Get it while it’s available — it's the perfect slice of summer.

The restaurant is open for dine-in and pick-up from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. To-go orders are accepted by phone beginning at 1 p.m.

Editor's note: Triciclo Peru closed to the public after this article was published and is no longer in operation.

Dinner: Triciclo Peru 

The first time I tried Triciclo Peru was at The Vine beer garden at Humboldt Park in Bay View. I was an instant fan of their empanadas, tender baked pockets filled with meat and veggies served with accompanying sauces that I’d happily use every last drop of.

Those empanadas are still offered at The Vine, but back in 2019, Triciclo Peru opened its brick-and-mortar restaurant at 3801 W. Vliet St., giving them a chance to expand their menu to include entrees and appetizers inspired by classic Peruvian dishes. Yes, you can (and should) still order any of the 12 empanadas like the Sweet Potato (sweet potato, collard greens, Gouda and Parmesan), Chicken (shredded chicken, red pepper, green olive, raisin and boiled egg) and Vegan Soy Chorizo (soy chorizo, potato, red pepper), but it’s worth branching out to the rest of the menu, too.

I'm a big fan of the Lomo Saltado, a traditional Peruvian dish of marinated steak stir-fried with onions and tomatoes and served with crispy french fries and rice. It’s delicious in its traditional sense, but you can also order it “con Fettucine,” which nixes the fries and rice in favor of pasta coated in a Peruvian Huancaína sauce of yellow pepper and cheese.

While you’re there, be sure to try one of their pisco cocktails, too. The Peruvian clear brandy is the specialty at the bar, with it showing up in multiple drinks including the traditional pisco sour, pi?a colada, pisco mojito and pisco collins.

The restaurant is open noon to 10 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, noon to 11 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and noon to 9 p.m. Sunday, with the kitchen closing one hour earlier each day.

Something Sweet: Pete’s Pops 

Next door to Triciclo Peru is Pete’s Pops, an artisan popsicle shop that got its footing as a food cart and opened its first brick-and-mortar location at 3809 W. Vliet St. in 2018.

Pete’s selection is always changing, but expect more than plain chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. They offer both creamy pops and fruity pops and have made more than 100 rotating flavors including cantaloupe lemongrass, blackberry mint, horchata, peanut butter and jelly, Mexican hot chocolate, salted watermelon, sugar snap pea lemonade and avocado (which was the first flavor Pete ever made). The storefront typically has from five to 10 flavors in rotation at one time.

Order from the storefront’s window and you can enjoy quickly at the indoor counter, or take your pop to go. The Vliet Street location is open noon to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.

Cheap Eats & Sweets: Fred’s Frozen Custard & Grill 

If you’re not in the mood for pizza or Peruvian, this classic burger shack will get you by on homestyle burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches and fish. Or stop in for a snack of chili fries, cheese curds, fried pickles or onion rings. Fred’s, 4726 W. Vliet St., has been a Washington Heights institution since 1967, but got a facelift in 2019, when Sam Kassel-Ogden and Alex Ogden purchased the business to ensure it would remain a staple in their neighborhood.

Fred’s hot dishes are the stuff of childhood nostalgia, as are its desserts. You won’t find a lot of fancy flavors — chocolate, vanilla and twist are the base of all their offerings — but they build tasty sweet treats including banana splits, rocky road sundaes, turtle sundaes, malts, shakes and soda custard floats, made with your choice of soda (the root beer float is hard to beat).

Sit outside on one of Fred’s picnic tables, or take a stroll over to nearby Washington Park and enjoy your treat. Hours are 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday and noon to 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturday.

Rachel Bernhard joined the Journal Sentinel as dining critic in June 2023. She’s been busy exploring the Milwaukee-area food scene to share her favorite finds with readers along the way. Like all Journal Sentinel reporters, she buys all meals, accepts no gifts and is independent of all establishments she covers.

What should she cover next? Contact her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at@rachelbernhard or on Instagram at @rach.eats.mke. 

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story did not mention the fact that West Vliet Street extends into Milwaukee's Martin Drive neighborhood, where Triciclo and Pete's Pops are located.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Where to eat on Vliet Street in Milwaukee's Washington Heights and Martin Drive