The Bistro Downtown
When winter has no chill, and the icy temps have you craving a warm, savory classic, head to The Bistro Downtown. Here, you’ll find a duo that has stood the test of time, a crispy grilled cheese with white cheddar, gruyere and parmesan cheeses alongside a cup of scratch-made tomato soup so piping hot, it’ll fog the windows clear across the room. It’s a relaxed space where you can kick back and unwind before your next stop along the Museum Days trail or grab a quick bite between meetings.
Diverse Dining Market
Home to a halfy-hour that lasts all day, Diverse Dining Market is home to a menu of intriguing sandwiches to couple with its soup of the day for a classic half-sandwich and a cup of soup meal deal. Designed to empower food entrepreneurs, the market brings culinary vision into reality with creations like the salmon grilled cheese, the brisket panini and the veggie grilled cheese. Pick one that pairs best with the day’s soup and relish in the bright ambiance of this new space.
St. Paul’s Fish Market at the Milwaukee Public Market
A taste of the tropics, even in the dead of winter, St. Paul’s Fish Market in the corner of the bustling Milwaukee Public Market is where you’ll find an unconventional combo that’s delicious, balanced and just what you’re looking for. The restaurant’s daily soup menu includes classic seafood-laden dishes like New England clam chowder, sausage gumbo and lobster bisque, while their sandwiches double down on the fish (and shellfish) with crab cakes, fried lake perch sandwiches and Jamaican jerk swordfish sandwiches. Take it to go, or pack into the cozy dining area in the Milwaukee Public Market for a bite.
Downtown Kitchen
Found on the second floor of the U.S. Bank building, this restaurant from The Bartolotta Restaurants, an award-winning restaurant group, treats quick lunch bites with the care they deserve. Serving lunch with a side of lakefront views, the wood-enclosed space is massive, with tons of seating from high-top tables, bar seating and standard lunch tables, perfect for groups of any size. Here, you’ll find a half-sandwich and soup combo. You can pair a cup of their soup of the day with half of a ham, turkey, club, roast beef, tuna salad or chicken salad sandwich alongside a 24-ounce drink or bottled water. Their soups rotate daily, so you can find a new pairing all week long.
Café at the Pfister
A lux restaurant where Milwaukee’s tastemakers go to see and be seen, the Cafe at the Pfister, where you’ll find a unique soup and sandwich combo. Tons of places have tomato soup, though the café’s signature soup, made with San Marzano tomatoes, basil, cheddar crostini and a splash of cream, is the gold standard. But what makes this one stand out is that you get to pair your soup with a set of sliders, an inspired creation by the chef, who crafts this culinary creation based on what speaks to them. Order them both and let the universe decide.
Café at the Plaza
Breakfast is the specialty of this Art Deco-inspired restaurant inside The Plaza Hotel. It’s the most important meal of the day, and it’s served all day long, a shapeshifting meal that can be enjoyed for breakfast, brunch, lunch or an early dinner. Start with a cup of the soup de jour, a rotating menu that’ll help even the most indecisive diner pick their entrée. You could go with the breakfast burger (a half-pound angus burger with a fried egg, bacon, cartelized onions on an English muffin), the café’s specialty, the 1007 Breakfast Sandwich (herbed goat cheese, roasted tomatoes, two eggs any style, choice of bacon, sausage, chicken sausage or avocado on your choice of toast) or even a fried chicken sandwich. After your meal, you can take a walk at Juneau Park or even down to the lakefront along the Oak Leaf Trail.
Waterfront Deli
On weekdays, this place bustles with workers picking up a quick bite between meetings and packing the upper floor with diners enjoying their meal, delivered by a whimsical-looking conveyor belt. Join the line to order at the deli counter or read the board outside this Water Street staple to find the daily special, any of the rotating soups with a grab-and-go half-sandwich is a quick pick for the indecisive. However, if you have a discerning palate or a specific hankering, the boards above the counter list a wide variety of sandwiches, including a hot, piled-high pastrami sandwich, to pair with a cup of signature soups that range from crowd-pleasing to adventurous.
West Allis Cheese Market – West Allis Location
While the West Allis Cheese Market inside the Milwaukee Public Market doesn’t serve soup, a quick trip out to West Allis is worth it. As the name would suggest, cheese is their specialty, but they also serve some of the best meats around, making any sandwich stand above the standard sub shop. But they also offer some unique signature sandwiches, including the Cheezy Joe, a grilled cheese on white bread with a hearty helping of sloppy joe right in the middle. Give it a try with their soup of the day or have a meaty meal with a cup of chili and relax in their deli-style dining room as the snowflakes fly outside.
Loup Soup
At Loup, soup isn’t an add-on; it’s kind of their thing. Where most restaurants lean sandwich-forward, this place doesn’t mess around with liquid goodness. They have a massive menu of soups that changes by the day to pair with their “sammiches.” You could pair a ham and Wisconsin Swiss on a toasted focaccia, a herb-crusted grilled cheese sammich or a curious lemony egg sammich with a cup (of bowl) of their incredible bubbling broths with well-loved specialties, clam chowder, chicken and dumplings, crab bisque, garden veggie and spicy chorizo loco. Whatever you do, do not pass up Loup’s house-made bread, slathered with butter.
Benji’s Deli
You can’t spell delicious without deli. Over in Shorewood, the classic diner vibes, the well-loved booths and the humming energy of a busy restaurant in rhythm is your next stop. The Hoppel Poppel is rightfully the star of the menu, but the enormous egg scramble isn’t why we’re here today. We have the rumblies that only soup can satisfy. You’ll find a quick-pick creamy tomato and parmesan soup with a three-cheese grilled cheese on the menu, a classic, but peruse the menu, and you’ll find a combo fit for our list. Chicken soup is good for the soul, and for the appetite, and here you can get it with a Matzo ball, essentially a giant dumpling. Their menu says it’s just what the doctor ordered, and we tend to agree. You can get it with another deli specialty: a corned beef sandwich piled so high you might need to take the second half home.
Find Even More Great Sandwiches
- 600 East Café & Business Center
- Style Pop Café
- Sprocket Café
- Fruition Café
- Foltz Family Food Market at the Milwaukee Public Market
- West Allis Cheese Shop at the Milwaukee Public Market
- Riley’s Social Tavern
- Hen’s Deli
