Press

Neapolitan pizzas from a gas-wood oven are dished up alongside pastas, salads and antipasti at this homey Bay View Italian also serving beer, wine and inventive cocktails. The cozy interior features lots of wood furniture, vintage photos and Fellini films playing on the TVs, and there's a heat-lamp-equipped patio out back.

Nothing remains of the dive bar on the Bay View corner now occupied by the newly opened Santino’s Little Italy, 352 E. Stewart St. Owners Santo Galati, Greg Huber and Nick Anton had the place gutted, installed a new bar and a gleaming new kitchen with an Italian-made hybrid gas-wood pizza oven capable of baking five pies simultaneously over fragrant cherry wood. That the results are delicious is no surprise...

There’s always something to celebrate in Milwaukee. And I’m not just talking about the music, food and art festivals that fill the summer, or the azure views of Lake Michigan, or even the city’s beer-steeped history. I’m talking about the jovial bands of people walking the streets of downtown every time I visit — bachelorette parties (so many bachelorette parties!), bachelor parties, wedding parties, father-daughter dances. Really, any occasion is good there to pack the flask and break out the party gear...