cheese boards, venison osso buco, wine- braised pot roast with duck-fat potatoes, and Strauss free-raised veal (wonderfully flavorful). My inclination is to call this real food. Entrées $16-$44. (Iron Horse Hotel,

500 W. Florida St., 414-831-4615)

THREE BROTHERS

Restaurants tell stories. When you look into octogenarian Branko Radicevic’s eyes, you can almost see the years flip back. He and wife Patricia are James Beard Award- winning restaurateurs who’ve run their iconic Serbian restaurant since the 1950s. Branko, the often-told tale goes, escaped Eastern Europe during World War II. When you look around at the warm, ruddy faces of diners seated inside the quirk- ily decorated old Schlitz tavern, it’s hard to imagine anything but joy, judged by the plates scraped clean of roast lamb or beef burek, amid wine glasses sucked dry.

Entrées $12.50-$20. (2414 S. St. Clair St., 414-481-7530)

MR. B’S: A BARTOLOTTA STEAKHOUSE

Mr. B’s should be living in it new digs – the former Agavé Southwestern Grille – as you’re reading this. Te adobe-like struc- ture is a far cry from the colonial facade at Stonewood Village, the steak joint’s home for 11 years. But the less-than-2-year-old building has everything the original spot doesn’t – visibility from Capitol Drive, a patio, adjacent parking and plenty of seating on one level. Bartolotta Restau- rant Group will make generous use of all. Head chef Brent Perszyk, there from the beginning, will fold more Italian into the menu. I had begun to think the steakhouse had peaked a few years back, but Mr. B’s keeps the concept strong with its quality: enormous steaks (tender bone-in filets to well-marbled Angus rib-eyes), and good seafood, including the lump crab-avocado appetizer and breadcrumb-dusted shrimp de jonghe. Entrées $19.95-$63.95, plus

market-price selections. (18380 W. Capitol Dr., Brookfield, 262-790-7005)

CRAZY WATER

Peggy Magister was one of 20 semifinal- ists for the 2010 James Beard Founda- tion’s Best Midwest Chef award. A tremendous honor, but not one she let go to her head. Magister focuses on the

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here and now. Soon, she hopes to have a screened-in, landscaped back patio – more of a comfy-cozy al fresco setup than Crazy has ever had. And this alum of the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco – a chef who knows the tricky balance to a successful menu – makes menu changes sparingly. When she and then-husband Tony Betzhold opened Crazy Water, the bar-side cooking station was just getting a lift from nearby Te Social. Crazy Water survived while Te

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Social didn’t. Again, it’s that focus. If she travels, it’s to bring some spice to her small cook space inside the late-1800s building with dark wood galore, funky lighting and tables close enough you can ogle your neighbor’s food. And what food: a wonderful warm Swiss chard and goat cheese tart, a grilled flat-iron steak with blue cheese grits, and oven-roasted pork shoulder with dried fruit, smoked bacon and apricot mustard. Entrées $19-$29.

(839 S. Second St., 414-645-2606) n

Any fresher, you’d have to catch it yourself.

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