Key West Accents

Shepard Express (online)
May  27, 2005
By: Jeff Beutner

Restaurants can be a tricky business. Example: Konohana.

When the Japanese restaurant first opened, customers mobbed it. But the restaurant closed several months ago in spite of its early success. The place recently reopened under a new owner, Michelle Green, and a new name, Bosley on Brady. Although this is Green’s first restaurant as an owner, she has extensive experience in the business, notably managing Helen and Craig’s Bistro in Racine. The layout at Bosley is the same as Konohana with a front bar and separate dining room. The furnishings are new with warmer wood chairs, white linens and artworks from the Florida island town of Key West.

The menu could be described as generic bistro with the same ahi tuna, steamed mussels and the mandatory veal chop. However, it too is touched up with a few Key West accents. This is the place in Milwaukee to order Florida grouper, a favorite fish of mine. The menu is divided into “Small Plates,” “Cold Plates, ” “Main Plates” and “Side Plates.” Though served cold, the carpaccio ($10) is among the small plates
as a slimmed-down version of this dish of thinly sliced raw beef. The beef is topped with arugula covered under a tent of paper -thin slices of Asiago cheese. A light drizzle of white truffle provides the only additional flavor to a dish that succeeds because of the freshness and quality of the ingredients. One side plate suitable for an appetizer is the onion sticks ($5), a haystack of thin sliced onions coated in an ultra-thin batter. It’s perfect finger food to accompany a Blue Moon weiss beer.

The calamari ($8) is simply prepared with thin batter seasoned with salt and pepper. It ’s very tender and neatly separated into halved groups of squid rings and tentacles. As this is a bistro, naturally there is a side of aioli. Watch for the daily specials. A recent option was a delectable lobster risotto ($10), the short grains perfectly textured and the small chunks of lobster bathed in creamy richness.

Among the main plates is an interesting gnocchi ($16) with a Key West twist. The potato dumplings are lighter in texture than normal and served in a delicate cream sauce with blue cheese. This lightness is offset by the addition of chunks of fish, resulting in a very nice entree. By all means do try the Florida grouper ($21). The price is not cheap, but is well worth it. So often in our local market, grouper ends up being a small filet with little flavor. This is a thick, firm slice from a larger fish with a texture more like a Chilean sea bass on the tender side. The presentation includes sides of a sprightly mango-lime salsa and a lesssprightly, durable potato pancake. Grouper rarely gets this good even in Key West.

The backside of the menu is devoted to the wine list, an interesting group of West Coast and international vintages. The 40-plus bottles have a clever numbering system: the larger the number, the fuller the body. Beyond the Blue Moon weiss, the beer list currently is weak but should improve in the future. As Bosley on Brady is new, this is a good time to stop in. At my first visit only a few tables were in use. Yet at every subsequent return the place gets busier and busier. Word is getting out.

full article at: http://www.expressmilwaukee.com/review_dining.htm

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