Another week, another 25-minute venture from the tastelessness of Mequon to the lively city of Milwaukee. Ever since last week Wednesday, I had been itching to write another blog post- rather, go spend too much money on a delicious meal downtown. As you could imagine, all of the other bazillion less interesting and much less tasty things took precedent in my life, and I had no time to treat myself until just this Monday, Sept. 26, 2016.

As the days past, the more and more I began to crave my weekly chow-time; you can tell how much I was looking forward to this very special time in my week by the amount of famous food Instagram accounts I’ve followed over the past five days. My trendy food habit has now become an addiction by any definition- to be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if I died with a spoonful of something or another in hand. Back to this week’s indulgence: I knew I had to pick somewhere chic yet artsy, and also somewhere that makes a mean cookie. Literally, the entire day on Monday, all I wanted was a fresh, soft, larger-than-life cookie. On the side of a giant salad. And a smoothie. Is that too much to ask for? I think not. Well, as soon as my craving had taken over all my focus and attention from anything important I was learning that day, I kept asking myself: Where could I possibly go to satisfy each and every one of my wants, no, needs, in the best way possible? All of a sudden, a little oven light bulb went off in my head; the answer to all my worst problems- the world famous (or so I’d deem it) Milwaukee Public Market.

I kid you not, this is the place where dreams come true. First of all, it looks like a modern day castle- very aesthetically pleasing, if I do say so myself. It’s perfectly located on the corner of St. Paul Ave. and Water St. in the Third Ward across the street from the equally chic Colectivo coffee roasters and other delicious local restaurants. Not to mention, the Third Ward is my all time favorite area in Milwaukee, admittedly because of the lifesaving Anthropologie store in the dead center of it. I hopped out of my Subaru with my super-one-of-a-kind round Ray-Ban’s on my face and camera around my neck, and stepped forth into the culinary haven that is the Milwaukee Public Market.

The terribly unsatisfying yet comforting smell of fresh lobster greeted me like an old friend. With lobsters swimming happily in tanks to my left, and their former friends being served to happy Milwaukeeans to my right, I proceeded through the seafood section, avoiding eye contact with the sushi as to not be tempted to buy all the food I see. My mind was set on three things and three things only, and I was determined to only spend money on those three life essentials. This means no handmade, perfectly fresh, professionally rolled sushi for this girl. Yeah, I can be strong when I want to. The fishy stench lingered behind me as I passed through the prepared foods and deli cases. Luckily, I don’t have a strong draw to pasta salad and cold tuna, but if it would’ve been a case of universally loved seasonal pumpkin pastries, for example, we would’ve had a problem our hands.

By then, I had made it about a third of the way through the bottom story of the Market, and I was approaching my first victim: The Green Kitchen. The Green Kitchen is my temple- you can literally make any size salad with any kind of lettuce with any kind of toppings you can think of. Plus, they make these little salty chip-like things that you can put on your salad and- well, in short, if you don’t ask for these chippies on your salad you’re kind of an idiot. They’re out of this world. Anyways, I loaded up my salad all of my favorite fruits, vegetables, nuts, and chippies, and was handed my salad by a very nice lady with a septum piercing and political action buttons on her shirt. Food one: Check. Now it was smoothie time.

Well, as it turns out, Milwaukee Public Market smoothies, while delightful, are somewhere between five and seven dollars a piece, and I definitely would’ve rather have my cookie instead of a liquid mixture of peaches and kale. So, I turned to start the long awaited journey to the sanctuary that is C. Adam’s Bakery. Now, the walk was about ten feet from where I had been standing, but imagine this cookie is, say, 200 feet away from me, illuminated at the end of a dark tunnel with me walking towards it in slow motion – it just makes the whole situation as dramatic as is it truly was to me.

Luckily there was no one in line because I don’t think I could’ve really waited any longer. “Hi, how may I help you?” the overworked, likely exhausted woman behind the counter, said. It was music to my ears. As you might’ve guessed, due to my indecisiveness, it took me a solid five minutes to choose the perfect cookie. After running my mind for what felt like forever, I finally decided on a chocolate chunk peanut butter cookie, that was indeed larger than life. And by life, I mean my face. I quickly paid as my mouth started to water, and rushed across the Market to the stairs leading up to the beautiful balcony overlooking the even more beautiful food. I plopped down at a table overlooking the Milwaukee River, and unpacked my long awaited meal.

Of course, dessert comes first. Aka, I pulled the cookie out of the bag first and was too hungry to put it back and open the salad. In all seriousness, it took me two minutes to eat this cookie. I legitimately inhaled it; I couldn’t control myself. It was the perfect combination of chocolate bliss and savory peanut butter; I never wanted that cookie to end. A little part of me perished with its passing (through my digestive system), but my immense satisfaction from the full-cookie experience along with my excitement for what I had yet to eat masked the pain.

I pulled out my salad from the paper bag and dug in immediately. It must be the way they wash their lettuce or something, because these salads are the best bowls of green you’ll ever eat. After I had eaten every last walnut, every last cucumber, and every last chippy there was to eat, I was finally full. I tossed out the inedible remains of my meal, put my camera around my neck, waved goodbye to the poor oblivious living lobsters, and waltzed out of the Milwaukee Public Market with a full and fulfilled stomach. I had successfully eaten all of my favorite foods whilst avoiding plenty of responsibilities, and I was as happy as a clam.

All in all, it was another very rewarding week for my food adventures. Be sure to check back next week for another rendition of MilwaukEAT!

Gallery • 7 Photos

Talia Gottlieb

The Milwaukee Public Market includes 20 vendors, including Benelux Grand Café and Market.