Wisconsin Foodie premiered on Saturday. It’s hard to judge a show when this episode was kind of a set-up/introduction to explain the concept of the show but it looks very promising and I hope enough people catch on to make this a regular show. If you read this blog I think you are their target audience.
The timing of the launch of the show is perfect as the “eat local” movement appears to be expanding beyond “foodies” (a term I am not too fond of) and into the mainstream. This show seems like it will focus on the food, restaurants, and people involved in Wisconsin foods kind of like a certain website you may know of :)
Their selection of interview subjects and features shows they have a good pulse of the Milwaukee Food Scene. La Merenda and Crazy Water are two of my favorite restaurants (and are creating some pretty exciting and delicious food) and it will be great to see those segments in more detail. Adding David Swanson of Braise on the Go (and formerly of Sanford) was a brilliant move. I think what he is doing with his cooking classes out in the field (such as at Pinehold Gardens in Oak Creek) is helping bridge the gap between customers and farmers. Anything that gets people thinking about where their food comes from is a step in the right direction.
Host Kyle Cherek has the enthusiasm and personality to carry the show and elevate it in the event of a dull subject matter or boring guest (though everyone in the first episode was very interesting on their own). Jessica Bell, the show’s wine expert (and sommelier at Bacchus) appears to have a way of explaining wine without making people with minimal wine knowledge (i.e. myself) feel like a complete idiot. It was also nice to see them taste and discuss Wisconsin’s finest winery, Stone’s Throw which I profiled back when it was hosted on Blogger a few years ago.
The Milwaukee Public Market serves as the home base for the show and the place where the live cooking segments will take place.
They touched on beer with the marketing guy from Lakefront Brewery and I hope they really expand on the awesome beers in Wisconsin. There are some Wisconsin microbreweries that are doing some amazing things yet are still flying under the radar. It would be cool to see them select a microbrewery to profile every episode or so. Then again I have always been more of a microbrew guy than a wine guy so its a truly selfish desire.
After Willard Romantini’s “Always In Good Taste” went off the air the only television source left for local food information is Wisconsin Food On Demand on Time Warner Cable (which incidentally shows old Always In Good Taste segments). This show definitly fills the void left by the end of Always In Good Taste and takes local food shows to a new level in both production quality and content. I would encourage everyone to give the show a try and if you do like it, let Channel 12 know about it. Or even better, patronize the businesses that buy commercials during the show and let them know that you saw their ads while watching Wisconsin Foodie.
Eat Wisconsin 
Hopefully they’ll offer it for download eventually. I’m always out on Saturdays and don’t have a DVR.
I also second the La Merenda suggestion. There’s always something interesting each time I’ve been. Last time they had a Steak Frite with hangar steak that was nice.
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