Relaxing in my seat at INdustri Café located in downtown Milwaukee late one Sunday morning sipping on a cup of delicious locally roasted coffee I checked through the pictures I had just shot of our meal. Though my stomach felt bloated the food shots flickering by on the screen rekindled my appetite. ‘Man that was tasty,’ I said with a sigh wishing for just a little more space to finish off the chips on my plate.
The seasonal menu with a large selection of locally cultivated and prepared foods had fed me well and the staff at INdustri Café had been attentive to the point of pampering. Though young at only two weeks old this restaurant seems well on it’s way to becoming a hit in Milwaukee. Chef turned owner Robert Klemm along with partner Chris Miller, making use of their combined experience of over 38 years, seem to know what they are doing as they raise this restaurant out of its infancy and into maturity.
For main courses at INdustri Café prices range from $8 for PB and J to $34 for their Surf and Turf. Sides, which are portioned almost like main dishes, hover around $4 for items such as Smashed butter-parsley red potatoes, fusilli pasta salad, and Maple baked acorn squash (highly recommended). Just reading the descriptions made our mouths water.
It was hard to chose but in the end our party went with the Maple baked acorn squash and polish sausage and fried white cheddar curd mini kabobs for starters, then the stout beer braised corned beef hash and eggs and 1/2# INdustri burger on sourdough roll for our main dishes.
The shoot itself was a fun challenge. With only a fluorescent bulb wand light and a short amount of time to shoot before the food cooled down my friend and I had to move like choreographed dancers. Being my first food shoot made things even more interesting but in the end we got some usable shots.
It had been a tough week, four shoots, and ending at INdustri Café was like tying the ribbon on to a Christmas present. Good food, good friends, and luckily good weather (though the forecast said a blizzard was coming).
