Good eats – restaurant outlook

High-end restaurants holding their own
While slow economic times might not deter someone from a stop at George Webb or a swing through a franchise drive-through, Milwaukee does have its share of restaurants that make a meal more of a luxury than a necessity. And if economic conditions were worsening, it might make sense that getting a table at these elegant eateries would be a little easier recently.
At Sanford’s on Jackson Street in Milwaukee, owner Sandy D’Amato says the white-linen restaurant is doing fine.
“We’re doing the same as last year,” D’Amato said. “We haven’t seen any big dip. But the summer is our busiest time. I have always found that strange. People may be coming into town for all the things that happen.”
D’Amato said the dining room sees a mix of business and consumer diners, which may buffer them from a decline in either expense-reported entertainment or cutbacks in family budgets.
“It’s a mix,” D’Amato said. “I’d say that during the week a lot of our clientele is people coming into the city on business — plus some tourism.”
D’Amato described the restaurant’s approach to the menu as Modern American.
“We do a tasting menu — offering three, four, five or seven courses,” D’Amato said. “In most restaurants that do this, you get what people have on the menu for the night — but here you can choose from 20 items. When we started doing this, there were only two in the rest of the country doing that. This is a very labor-intensive way of doing a menu.”
A meal at Sanford’s runs from $45 for three courses, to $75 for a seven-course feast.
D’Amato said he recalls only one historical time period when things got slow at Sanford’s.
“The last time was during the Gulf War,” Sanford said. “That was probably the one event that affected us the most. Since then it has been going up or staying the same.”
Business is also up at Mo’s — a newer entry to the city’s high-end restaurant market on Plankinton Avenue just north of its Wisconsin Avenue intersection.
Manager Deborah Stephenson said the menu consists of “predominately steak — and some high-end seafood. We charge $25-$35 per entree. All entrees are a la carte — potato and vegetable are ordered on the side.”
Stephenson stressed that Mo’s is heavily reliant on business traffic since it’s located between six major downtown hotels and in the heart of the downtown business district.
“On the weekend, it is more tourists — but during the week it is all business,” Stephenson said.
Mo’s opened relatively recently — in June of 1999, and a steady incline in business has been helped along since Mo’s was recently voted the top steak house by the readers of Milwaukee Magazine.
Once one ventures out of the city and into the southwestern suburbs, fine dining establishments still report stable business patterns.
According to sous chef Dan Sutherland of Heaven City in Mukwonago, things are steady with the exception of a blip earlier in the year.
“We may have slowed down a little more than usual in January and February, but now it’s back up,” Sutherland said.
“It slows down in the winter,” Sutherland said. “It’s harder for people to get to us when there is a lot of snow. But things are about the same. We run a steady business — and are busiest on weekends. In the summer we pick up.”
Heaven City’s menu consists of what Sutherland called “a Midwestern contemporary confusion” — with entrees that range from $14.95 to $23.95.
Heaven City is heavily reliant on consumer traffic more so than business diners.
“But we do get business diners — quite a bit actually,” Sutherland said. “They are taking their clients out when they are coming through for a couple of days.”