Braise Restaurant & Culinary School — Restaurant in Milwaukee

Cooking 101 For my birthday my wife bought me a cooking class at Braise Restaurant. We had eaten there once before for a friends birthday party and the food was on par. After that we had talked about going back again sometime. The time had come for the cooking class, it was the grilling class that we were signed up for. There were a few months of waiting because the classes fill up quick. The night of, we arrived about 30 mins before the class started and we were shown a table and offered a drink while we waited for the rest of the people taking the class to arrive. I had a small beer and Shayla had a small glass of wine while we chatted and got to know some of the people taking the class. ‪At 6pm‬ the class started; there were 12 people in the cooking class and we took a short walk back to the training kitchen area where they had stations set up for two people per area. They had water areas for you to serve yourself, although a waiter periodically checked and took orders for other beverages, and aprons for students to wear. We got started pretty quick, at the head of the class was the teacher, who just happened to be the head chef, and owner of the restaurant. He laid out the plan for the night and what we were going to make. We also all received a copy of the recipes we would be making too look over and take home. The chef had a great sense of humor and we quickly got to work making fresh salsa from scratch. After we had fished making that we moved on. Next was Swiss chard wrapped mozzarella with chimichurri that we cooked later in the evening. Then we worked on prepping a sauce for the bison steak we were going to grill on an open outdoor fire pit at the end of the class. Once everything was prepped and ready the instructor led us through the restaurant, upstairs and out on to an open rooftop patio. The setting was awesome. There was fire pit with a grate on top where we would be grilling the Swiss chard and cheese, the bison steak and then we topped everything with our salsa, chimichurri, and plated our sides (an eggplant salad almost). The food was delicious. The setting was perfect, the weather was just right. The patio was actually the restaurants garden as well so we were surrounded by fresh herbs and vegetables growing. The Chef stayed with us throughout and answered questions and chatted. All in all I thought it was a great and fun experience. I would definitely try another class and for sure go back to eat. $$ street parking, free...

I’m usually not one to leave bad reviews on restaurants but I had to for our experience. My fiancé and I went to go eat there for a nice dinner date, me with a heavy culinary background have heard from previous chefs and students that Braise was a great place to eat. We decided to check it out and see how great it was. We got there and the atmosphere was fantastic along with the service, and I can’t complain about that. When we ordered we both got something that sounded pretty good however, when my fiancé got her eggplant steak the eggplant itself was extremely salty to the point where neither of us could eat it and the mushrooms were still firm and dominated the plate. My dish was the smoked pork shoulder, when I got it the pork was hardly there and what little pork I had was extremely crispy and salty, I had to mix the pork with the under seasoned corn purée just to make it bearable. After this we decided to get a panna cotta which I made and have had made all the time in culinary school and when I was a chef. It was sweet to the point where all I could taste was a syrupy taste in my mouth. In the end I paid around $125 for the whole experience and went home feeling upset for spending that much money on mid food. My fiancé and I stopped at a qdoba to get a bite to eat since we couldn’t even finish our plates. Overall the service was amazing but the food was extremely overpriced for what we got and I was incredibly disappointed in...

I absolutely cannot express how AMAZING Braise Restaurant & Culinary School was for our reception. I cannot say enough wonderful things about this venue. We reserved the upstairs room, including the outdoor space that provided a beautiful view of the city. Becky Ayala, the restaurant manager, was a dream to work with. She was responsive to my emails and detail-oriented, which was so helpful during the reception planning process. The beautifully decorated room dazzled guests the moment they arrived at Braise and established the vibe for the rest of the room’s design. We also loved having the outdoor space, which was perfectly decorated, with floral arrangements placed everywhere. We opted for a family-style dinner. Locally sourced seasonal food inspired the menu of Mixed Green Salad, Lemon Risotto, Montreal Chicken and Soy Braised Beef. The food was delicious and the two wedding cocktails, Crazy Dave’s Old Fashioned and Rhubarb Lemonade were wonderful and flavorful. Our waiter, Kira and David, our bartender, were exceptional and on top of everything. The timing of the dishes was efficiently paced to allow sufficient time in between dishes. Everything was superb, and our guests raved about the venue and the food. I cannot recommend Becky and her team highly enough. You will not regret booking your...