2856 N. Oakland Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53211
414-964-2850
http://www.oaklandtrattoria.com/
My first visit to Oakland Trattoria was in the year 2000 for Tami Hooyman’s 19th birthday party. Our group sat in a private room with a large table that is opposite the restaurant’s wood burning oven. It was that night that I realized that all my then current girlfriend’s friends were douchebags. Oakland Trattoria seems to attract a lot of douchebags. Mostly, UWM students who want to go somewhere nicer than The Gasthaus when their parents are in town. My lunch was no different. We were seated near a douchebag with his parents who didn’t utter a single word throughout their lunch. I thought it was weird.
I allowed Man of The Year (my friend and possibly yours, Chris Stingl) with me since he had finally found a little bit of money after being unemployed for a little over 14 months (and counting). We were greeted by our waitress promptly and his 1:00 PM Jack & Coke order caught me off guard so I decided on a Budweiser and we were on our way to fun. Man of The Year, as well as myself, hadn’t been to “The Tratt” in a few years but he definitely remembered the focaccia bread and oil that they start you off with. He was overjoyed to find out that they still maintain this practice.
An extremely good friend of mine, Jim McGurk, spent a summer (2002: The Summer of Gin, actually) as a prep cook here. This meant he was in charge of salads and pizza. He would rave about how fantastic the wood fired pizzas are but I never tried one. It turns out JR McG was no liar. I was immediately impressed with the selection upon opening the menu (which is available on their currently under construction website) to the pizza section. Each house pizza sounded better than the next. I, finally, locked in on the Rustica (with pepperoni, roasted red pepper, mushrooms, garlic, and topped with four Italian cheeses). Our orders were placed and more drinks were brought to our table.
Rustica
Oakland Trattoria has recently done a little remodeling. It used to be one big restaurant with multiple dining rooms and a bar. Oakland Trattoria now has one large dining room and one smaller seating area. The other half of what used to be their other large dining room, bar, and the room I spoke of earlier with the other end of their wood burning oven is now called Black Rose and is supposedly an Irish pub. I was also unhappy to see that they got rid of the large paintings of vegetables that decorated their walls. During The Summer of Gin McGurk and myself decided to use a couple of them as salutations. It was not uncommon to see us saying “Peas” or “Eggplants” instead of “Peace” or “Later” or even the popular “Goodbye.” We still use these to this day and I wish I could have stolen those paintings before they decided to get rid of them. After reminiscing about peas and eggplants enough to bore the hell out of Man of The Year, our food was delivered.
The Good: The wood burning stove gives their pizza a somewhat smokey flavor and a crispy crust without it being a traditional thin crispy crust. The toppings were phenomenal. The red pepper was cut thick and the garlic punch you in the face like most places like to do. The cheese wasn’t overbearing. It was a really good mesh of flavor. They definitely don’t try to hide anything with their style of pizza. Everything is there for you to taste and it works out great. The house pizza selection is fantastic and you could definitely get creative if you wanted to build your own, as well.
The Bad: One size is offered. It is served on a plate and if I really wanted to I could destroy it easily by myself without thinking twice. While I was eating I noticed something was missing. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but there was definitely something
Rascal's Bar. 19 years old. I told you.
different. I continued to eat and it hit me in face like that guy outside Rascal’s when I was 19. There was no sauce. I swiped the toppings off a slice to double check. There was nothing. I didn’t want to insult them so I didn’t ask but have decided that there is either no sauce or very little sauce. My particular pizza, after inspection, was definitely sauceless.
Try: A house pizza and having a couple drinks at the Black Rose next door. It looked pretty decent.
Rating: Worth putting up with college aged douchebags with parents for.
