Departments

Q & A: Liza Sterletske, general manager at Milwaukee Burger Co. (winner of Best Cheese Curds)

How does it feel to have won “Best Cheese Curds?”

We’re very excited about that. One thing that we’ve become really, really famous for is our cheese curds, so… we’re excited about it, but it’s not a surprise, because we have such a loyal following … We love the idea of overindulgent dining, and we do everything from scratch in the restaurant. We hand-patty our burgers, we make all our own sauces, we buy very high-quality products, so I’m very proud of the fact that we are a non-processed type of restaurant.

What is your most popular dish here?

We have two burgers on the menu that are our most popular items: we have a Cheese Curd Burger that has two of the same cheese curds actually on the burger, inside the bun, and we have a Hickory Smoked Barbecue Cheddar Burger; they’re both very, very good … Big and bold is important to us. This isn’t necessarily the restaurant to come to if you’re on a diet or looking to be healthy. This is the restaurant to come into when you just wanna throw caution to the wind and be about what Wisconsin is about.

How would you describe the atmosphere at Milwaukee Burger Company? 

We do a lot of cool sports events and we’ve become a craft beer destination, but what I love about the restaurant is I have a really fun team. You wouldn’t be surprised to see my staff singing and dancing in the restaurant … We want you to have fun when you’re here. It’s so important in this day and age to get back to the roots of what we eat … I use the expression when I go to tables all the time: ‘It looks like you have that I-hit-a-wall-face,’ because our food is that indulgent where I can tell right away when they need boxes. And that’s what I love about it. —LZ