Birch Explores Modern Wisconsin Cuisine
COVER STORY: Chef Kyle Knall has built a restaurant that reflects his journey from Birmingham to New York to New Orleans and, now, Milwaukee.
Welcome to the weekend! Here’s what you’ll find in this week’s newsletter:
Cover story: At Milwaukee’s Birch, chef and co-owner Kyle Knall embraces the best of the region.
Featured Field Guide: Download your copy of our Field Guide to Milwaukee! This 56-page dining guide is formatted for your phone and includes a curated four-day itinerary with 35+ recommendations for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and drinks.
The Order: At Pusadee’s Garden in Pittsburgh, the yellow chicken curry with roti is a must-try.
Weekend Reading: New York favorites from
, a surprising order at Chicago’s Superdawg from , and some splurge-worthy hotels in Charleston, South Carolina.
Farm to Table with a Personal Touch
MILWAUKEE, WIS. — The menu at Birch, chef and co-owner Kyle Knall’s Milwaukee restaurant, is like a directory to Wisconsin farmers. “The most frequently asked question in the restaurant is, ‘Who the heck is Jerry?’” Knall says. “We just made Birch shirts, and we talk about him so much that we put that on the back of our shirts.”
‘Jerry’ is Jerry Wagner, who provides many of the vegetables on Birch’s menu (currently, his kale is in the fazzoletti, his sunchokes are on the grilled flatbread, and his celeriac and horseradish are in the charred beef tartare). He’s not the only local purveyor with pride of place on the menu – you can try Cindy’s farm egg, Lynn’s fermented red cabbage, and Matt’s chrysanthemum. Calling out purveyors is nothing new, but using first names contributes to the personal feel of the menu, which is filled with references to other restaurants and experiences. Take the Contramar-Inspired Fish, which is based on Gabriela Cámara’s iconic red- and green-salsa topped whole fish. We had that dish at Contramar in Mexico City and when we visited Birch last fall, we were able to try a version made with Wisconsin-grown ingredients like poblano and fermented squash.
For his work here, Knall was nominated for the James Beard award for Outstanding Chef in 2022 and is a semi-finalist for Best Chef: Midwest this year. His food is New American in style and local in ethos, but it also reflects the journey he has gone on, from Birmingham to New York to New Orleans to Milwaukee. Take the squash carpaccio, which was perhaps my favorite dish on our visit — thin slices of avocado squash topped with herb aioli, salsa verde, croutons, and pickled shallot. This carpaccio is based on a green tomato one that’s followed Knall throughout his career. “The classic way [to serve a green tomato] is frying or pickling, but we slice it thin and serve it raw with a bunch of fresh herbs, acidic dressing, and crunchy croutons,” he says. “It evolved into the avocado squash carpaccio.”
Knall first had avocado squash (which really does resemble an avocado in its appearance and buttery flavor) in New York when he worked at Gramercy Tavern. “Farmers in New York brought it to the Union Square Greenmarket,” he says. “This ingredient is the highlight of the summer for me. I got Jerry to grow it for us. We were blown away by how many we sell when we have it on the menu. People have no idea what the ingredient is — it’s never been grown in Wisconsin before but it’s grown by Jerry because we brought it to him. It shows how farmers and chefs can manipulate and change the culinary scene.”
“People have no idea what the ingredient is — it’s never been grown in Wisconsin before but it’s grown by Jerry because we brought it to him. It shows how farmers and chefs can manipulate and change the culinary scene.”
– Chef Kyle Knall on avocado squash
Knall is a Birmingham native who worked under chef Frank Stitt in his hometown as well as in New York (at Maysville in addition to Gramercy Tavern) and New Orleans (Kenton’s) before moving to Milwaukee in 2020. “My wife grew up here,” he says. “I met her in Birmingham and followed her to New York in 2007.” He had just opened Electric Lemon with Stephen Starr at the Equinox Hotel in 2019 and his son was born in February 2020, when Covid hit. Knall says: “We reassessed our life and said, ‘Let’s move to Milwaukee.’”
When he arrived, Knall connected with Rebecca Zwiefelhofer, owner of Birch & Butcher, who wanted to sell her then-closed restaurant. Knall helped transform the restaurant into what it is today, renamed it Birch, then he and wife Meghan bought it in 2022. After working for lauded chefs around the country, owning his own restaurant has given Knall the chance to take what he’s learned and create his own New American cuisine, cooked over live fire and made with Wisconsin ingredients.
“My mentors, Frank Stitt and Mike Anthony, had the same philosophy about cooking and how produce is important to making delicious food,” he says. Living in different parts of the country was also an influence. “More than anything, being able to cook and eat and absorb the culture from those cities has influenced how we cook and the type of restaurant we have.” New Orleans’ music and festive nature contributes to Birch’s feel, while working in New York restaurants and at Kenton’s influenced the food. “The way we come up with the food is by going to the West Allis Farmers Market, buying all the produce we can get, and then concepting dishes around that,” he says. “Everything is cooked over open fire, served chilled, or in the form of a pasta. Not having gas in our kitchen provides limitations to how we cook. But it truly is rooted in what produce is available from the farmers we know really well.”
Pasta takes a starring role in the kitchen, and I loved the ricotta cavatelli with Jimmy Nardello peppers, Brussels sprout leaves, and Wisconsin Parmesan. “I love fresh rolled pasta that has a ton of egg yolk in it,” Knall says. “We use eggs from Cindy’s Greenhouse. They’re called Daisy’s Dozens, and Cindy’s granddaughter gathers eggs and sells them at the market. The eggs are really special and making this luscious pasta dough is a great way to show them off. There’s always a ricotta-filled pasta with the ricotta we make with amazing Wisconsin dairy.”
Knall is also a culinary consultant at Stone Bank Farm Market in Stone Bank, Wisconsin, where he began working shortly after moving to Milwaukee. Stone Bank is an organic farm that in addition to growing vegetables, raises lamb, beef, and chickens. The market sells their products as well as others from farms around the area. Knall’s role includes leading dinners on the farm and cooking classes, as well as turning leftover produce into prepared meals to be sold at the market.
It also directly leads to what’s on the menu at Birch. “Last summer, Birch paid to raise 26 lambs and instead of trying to move through the lamb quickly, we froze it, so we’re still bringing lamb down,” he says. “That relationship to Stone Bank is the most vital to Birch becoming what it is. But we also have Jerry’s Produce, Cindy’s Greenhouse, and Centgraf Farms, who we rely on to cellar produce for us.” That means that no matter what season you visit Birch, you can taste the best ingredients of the area, prepared with thought and care.
459 E Pleasant St, Milwaukee, WI | @birchonpleasant
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Garden of Delights
PITTSBURGH, PA. — We do ample research anytime we visit a city, but we also reach out to our network of friends and food writers around the country to help answer that essential question — what’s the can’t-miss spot right now? Before one of our road trips through Pennsylvania, I posed that question to Pittsburgh food writer Hal B. Klein, formerly of Pittsburgh magazine and now at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He had an immediate answer: Pusadee’s Garden.
Pusadee’s Garden is a gorgeous, sprawling Thai restaurant with five dining rooms, an open kitchen, and a garden. Here, chef Bootsaba “Gik” Tongdee, who is a semi-finalist for the James Beard award for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic this year, cooks a menu that explores different regions of Thailand, as in her Northern-style mushroom laab and Southern-style tuna version. The 17-ingredient khao yum is delicious, too. While we had no misses from our order, the curry with roti was the standout. The appetizer features lush sweet potatoes and shredded chicken in a beautifully spiced yellow curry that’s finished with fried shallots and cilantro. It comes with three delicate, flaky roti alongside to scoop it up. There’s so much goodness happening at Pusadee’s Garden, but don’t miss this dish.
5319 Butler St, Pittsburgh, PA | @pusadeesgarden
NEW YORK
Power Lunch:
recently talked with newsletter and shared some of her favorite restaurants in New York City. One of her picks is the much-loved Via Carota, which we also enjoyed at lunchtime on our last trip to Manhattan. Reichl has her own favorites, but we’ll also suggest Via Carota’s prosciutto plate (with 24-month-aged prosciutto and Parmigiano) alongside their Cynar-spiked Negroni Terra. Can’t miss.ILLINOIS
Against the Grain: Writing for her newsletter
, Whitney Moeller makes the case that, on your next trip to Chicago’s Superdawg, you should forgo their signature all-beef dog and instead order a cheeseburger — specifically the Supercheesie. “It’s a quarter pound of pure beef blanketed under American cheese, topped with mustard, Spanish onions and piccalilli (an old-fashioned term for pickle relish), on a sesame bun.” I’ll be honest, I’ve never strayed from the formula at the classic drive-in, but next time I’m there I’ll give it a whirl!SOUTH CAROLINA
Southern Hospitality: We love a luxury hotel, even if we’re most often found spending the night at more budget-friendly lodgings. That said, if you are headed to South Carolina this summer, Travel + Leisure has a list of some splurge-worthy hotels in Charleston. We’ve always been partial to The Dewberry due to their top-notch cocktail bars and mid-century modern decor. Us? We’ll probably be at the Hyatt Place — it is next to The Ordinary, after all.
— Compiled by Kenney Marlatt
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Thanks for the shout out!