Ope! Brewing Co.’s Guide to West Allis
Ope! It’s a sound, a local expression peppered into everyday life that’s as much an exclamation of surprise as it is an expression of Midwest nice, and at Ope! Brewing Co., you’ll find both in abundance alongside some seriously good beer.
Here, you’ll find a brewery that’s emblematic of Milwaukee: no-frills, no-fuss, a gathering place where people and pups can savor a fresh craft beer with plenty of room to relax, catch the game and soak up the ambiance.
Located in West Allis, a rapidly evolving suburb with hard-working, blue-collar roots, Ope! is a part of a tight-knit community, one that’s loaded with hidden gems, mind-blowing eats and, of course, some darn good beer, too. If you’re looking to explore like a local, Ope! knows where you should go.
Day 1
Stay: Holiday Inn Express West Allis
It’s not the flashiest stay, and it’s not meant to be. It’s exactly what you want from a hotel: great service, clean rooms and close to everything you want to see and do during your visit. The Holiday Inn Express West Allis is right in the middle of it all, the center point of most of your plans, making it the perfect place to call home away from home for the next couple of nights.
Cream City Clay
Wander through the many pockets of West Allis, and you’ll discover a city with a creative heartbeat. It isn’t always obvious, and if you’re not looking for inspiration, the spark might just pass you by. It’s in the diverse, adventurous and sometimes daring dining options, the thoughtful craft brews and the occasional mural or painted electrical box that fly under the radar. Cream City Clay brings the artistic spirit to the fore, though. The pottery studio has classes for everyone from beginners to experienced throwers in both wheel throwing and hand-building styles, giving you the chance to craft a souvenir that really is one-of-a-kind. The two-and-a-half-hour classes fill up quickly, so be sure to sign up ahead of time.
Dinner: Flour Girl & Flame
There’s pizza, and then there’s Flour Girl & Flame Pizza. You won’t find boring pies here. Each 10-inch pizza is made with a scratch-made sourdough crust and 100% Wisconsin-sourced ingredients, meaning that even the basic build-your-own cheese pizza will stand out as one of the best you’ve ever had. The menu is filled with cleverly named pies that have a personality of their own, like The Baddy (red sauce, mozzarella, wood-roasted tomatoes, pesto drizzle, balsamic glaze), the Pretty Big Dill (garlic cream sauce, mozzarella, dill pickles, Nueske's black pepper bacon) and even an elevated classic, the Pep in Yer Step (red sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni, house pickled peppers, hot honey drizzle).
NOTE: Flour Girl & Flame takes a break from the restaurant during the summer as they hit the road for pop-ups and private events throughout the season. Catch them while you can!
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Chucho's Red Tacos
If your night calls for beer, birria and a chill night out on a brewery patio, Chucho’s Red Tacos’ food truck is not your average food truck. A fixture outside of Ope! Brewing Co., they’re a staple bringing rich birria bites to pair with your beer, available right here all year round. They’ve got classics like tacos, quesadillas and burritos loaded with authentic birria beef or chicken, as well as menu items for the more adventurous like the quesitaco, a centaur of sorts that’s the best of both worlds and a birria ramen with a consommé broth that hits just right on a chilly afternoon.
Ope! Brewing Co.
Ope! Welcome in to the brewery, what can we getcha? With over 20 beers on tap and a taproom that’s huge without losing an ounce of personality, Ope! Brewing Co. is the place to be. The hop-inspired bar lighting, plenty of dartboards and décor that pays homage to Milwaukee’s corner bar roots without getting stuck in the past make it easy to see why it’s a local favorite and a hangout for West Allis residents. Tack on the fact that the whole place is pup-friendly, has a massive patio, a packed events calendar and a menu that also includes seltzers, sours and cocktails, and you’ll wonder why anyone ever leaves. Find your pint, grab a seat and raise a glass to the perfect evening.
Day 2
Breakfast: Natty Oaks Pub & Eatery
This bar and restaurant claims they’re a “small bar, big attitude,” and they’re not wrong. Known best for their bright, unmistakably Scooby-Doo-inspired shuttles to Brewers games, Summerfest and beyond, Natty Oaks also serves a pretty mean brunch. Start with a Bloody Mary (with a beer chaser, of course) before getting your fill of their menu of breakfast delights ranging from eggs and bacon to a buffalo chicken hash with hollandaise and bleu cheese to an Egg-Voc-A-Do burger, which is exactly what you think it is. No matter what you choose, you won’t leave hungry.
West Allis Farmers Market
Milwaukee’s farmers market scene flies under the radar. For the most part, each neighborhood has its own, and each has a unique vibe and atmosphere. The West Allis Farmers Market is one of the best around, though, and a weekly staple for locals from May through October. With nearly 40 vendors from across the state of Wisconsin, here you can pick up fresh produce, local honey, meat, plants and artisanal goods to take home with you. Stroll the market to take in the energy of a busy farmers market in motion and tick a few things off your grocery list all at once.
Lunch: Nice Sandwich Shop
Nice Sandwich Shop is a deli that puts the bread first. Each sandwich starts with a signature, scratch-made jalapeño cheddar and sesame seed bun made fresh daily, meaning you may actually want to save the crust for last. Each sandwich is toasted to perfection, adding a little extra heat to the menu, which spans deli standards as well as Italian beef, smoked BBQ brisket and a rotating selection of specials. You can dine in or take it on the road as a little picnic to our next stop.
McCarty Park Stroll
Like the rest of West Allis, there’s so much more to this park than meets the eye. What looks like a small neighborhood park unfolds into sprawling green space that invites you to uncover a scenic pond, explore bridges and walk the winding paths through the 52-acre park. It’s a peaceful place where people walk their dogs, kids play, and ducks glide along the water’s surface. You can spread out and enjoy your picnic or bring a book and read on a park bench or get a little exercise.
Kegel's Inn
In Milwaukee, Fridays are for fish fries, and Kegel’s Inn does it as well as anyone in the city. From its humble beginnings as a speakeasy “soda pop parlor” back in the 1920s, thirsty guests used to come here to get their “prescription filled,” but today, the fish fry is just what the doctor ordered. The stained-glass windows that used to obscure faces from the prying eyes of the outside world are now part of the ambiance, adding to the German murals and beer menu throughout the dining room. Served with cod, walleye or perch, the fish fry here is flaky, crispy and only available on Fridays. Just one bite of this meal will turn you into a Friday fish fry convert. Welcome.
Sweet Treat: Oscar's Burgers & Frozen Custard
One local staple deserves another, and frozen custard is on the menu. You could wander to the ends of the earth, sample every flavor of every ice cream shop and still not find a sweet treat that satisfies your sweet tooth quite as well as this frozen delight. Opened in 1984, Oscar’s Burgers & Frozen Custard is now a local chain, with three locations throughout the area, but their West Allis location was here first, paving the custard trail for future generations. The scoops are massive, flavors rotate by the day, and the old-school ambiance gives you the chance to experience frozen custard as it was meant to be tasted.
Day 3
Breakfast: Grebe's Bakery
Grebe’s is a donut dynasty, and that’s not a phrase to take lightly. For four generations, and the better part of a century, this place has been churning out the fried, sweet, doughy treat to morning crowds looking for a pairing to their A.M. coffee. Their specialty—found at around 200 locations across the area—is the cruller: dense, crunchy on the outside, soft and crumbly on the inside, and so good it will change the way you see donuts. On Sundays, Grebe’s honors another longtime tradition: hot ham and rolls. The bakery may not have seating, but you can pick it up, grab a coffee at Lake Effect Coffee Co., and take your brunch to a park like McKinley or Kopperud Park for a relaxing morning picnic.
Hank Aaron State Trail
Named after Milwaukee Braves legend, home run king and trailblazer, the Hank Aaron Trail cuts through the city and takes you past some of Milwaukee’s most iconic landmarks, connecting the lakefront to Brookfield as it passes through West Allis. The best way to take it all in is on two wheels, via bike. Bublr Bikes, Milwaukee’s bike share program, has plenty of stations on National and W. Greenfield Avenues, just a few minutes from the trail. In about 90 minutes, you can really see a ton of Milwaukee–sights like American Family Field, Old Soldiers Home, the Mitchell Park Domes, the Harley-Davidson Museum, the Summerfest grounds, the Pierhead Lighthouse, the Milwaukee Art Museum and some of the best views of the skyline from Lakeshore State Park. If you’re looking to add a little more time on the bike, you can even explore more by connecting to the 135-mile Oak Leaf Trail.
Lunch: West Allis Sausage & Cheese Shoppe
When you picture a classic deli, you’re imagining a place just like the West Allis Sausage & Cheese Shoppe. Known for, as luck would have it, sausage and cheese, their café is a great place to get a deli sandwich. There’s the classic Reuben and a turkey club, but the Stallis Stack is everything you’re looking for. It’s a hefty handheld loaded with ham, turkey, bacon, provolone, goat chevre, and really a smattering of everything that makes this sandwich shop a favorite of West Allis residents and a magnet for visitors.
Shopping on Greenfield Ave.
Shopping in West Allis flies under the radar, but Greenfield Avenue is loaded with cool finds, vintage goods and unexpected treasures all over the place. There’s Record Head, an emporium of vinyl, CDs and all things music that has been around for over 50 years. There’s ALL GOODS, a vintage clothing store with a deep sportswear collection. There’s Imperial Collectibles, a shop dedicated to fandom and gaming. There’s even a store dedicated solely to fixtures at Hawking Brass & Clocks. And there’s more, with bookstores, novelty shops and antique stores dotting the thoroughfare. You could easily spend a day here, and you’d still have more to check out.
Camino West Allis
Along your shopping spree path is Camino West Allis, a restaurant that takes bar food seriously. The second location of a Walker’s Point eatery, this one has tons of seating, TVs covering every angle and garage doors that let in a nice breeze when the weather cooperates. Their menu consists of a lot of familiar dishes: burgers, chicken sandwiches and chicken wings alongside adventurous bites like the ahi wrap, the vegetarian beet Reuben and the Phat Tony, an Italian beef sandwich made with Korean beef. A can’t-miss, though, are the fried cheese curds. They’re a crowd-pleaser that consistently ranks among the best in the city.
Perspective Brewing
Life is all a matter of perspective, and no one knows this better than the good folks at Perspective Brewing Co. One of the newer additions to Milwaukee’s brewing scene, Perspective opened in 2022, just a short walk away from Camino. They have over 10 brews on tap, ranging from the light, crushable French pilsner (Ooh Lala) Ah Oui Oui to the imperial pilsner Soulstice Warmer, as well as house cocktails and NA drinks like Hop Water. It’s a cozy place for a post-dinner drink, and on Sundays, pitchers and flights are just $10. Here, the brewery invites you to drink fresh, feel inspired and toast to the ultimate West Allis getaway.
It doesn’t end here, though. The Brew City Trail extends beyond West Allis, and the best way to understand them is to experience them for yourself. Walk through the home of a beer baron, raise a stein in a beer garden, tour a historic brewery, sip a craft root beer or follow the trail from the city’s brewing past to its future. However you explore it, Milwaukee beer history is alive, pouring and ready to give you a taste of the true Brew City.