George Webb's

When I wrote yesterday that my ability to drink coffee and tour my gardens in the morning was upset by the strange-men-in-my-house-first-thing-in-the-morning, that was ridiculous. All that this invasion of workmen has done is make me get dressed to drink coffee and tour my gardens. Cabinet Werks is doing an amazing job of getting these workmen all coordinated. For a kitchen that was just demolished one week ago today, the amount of work that has been done is impressive. And the schedule (yes, I actually have a schedule of who is coming when) for next week is even more amazing. There will be inspectors and plumbers and carpenters and dry-wallers here every day. And if I am not going to be home, Cabinet Werks will be here to let people in.

I will be sure to let you know if the work continues to be as professional as it has been. So far, we are very satisfied. And neither The Engineer Who Brings Home The Bacon (figuratively only) nor I are related to Mike Wahlen. We just met him at our neighborhood block party this summer. I did threaten that I would kidnap his adorable children and hold them hostage if our kitchen remodeling project did not proceed at a reasonable pace. He replied, “When do you want them? This weekend?” I’m afraid that threat was ineffective.

Meanwhile, on Bluemound Road, we met OLD Friends (I’m talkin’ my Best Friend from fifth grade through ‘Tosa High School and her husband) at George Webb’s for dinner last night. As if our waitress, Julie, recognized me walking in as the arbiter of rest room cleanliness, she greeted us with, “I am SO upset. We are all supposed to clean the bathrooms when our shift is over, but when I arrived today, it was SUCH a mess! I just finished cleaning it, and my manager is going to hear about THIS!” How is it possible she knew I was coming?

I checked it out. She was right. It was immaculate. Nice work, Julie.

If you want breakfast anytime, day or night, George Webb’s is calling you. They are open 24 hours a day and serve breakfast at anytime. Seems that our friends, who are careful about their health, and thus never have eggs in their house, go to Webb’s about once a month to have eggs for dinner. They ordered scrambled eggs, hash browns and toast ($2.99). You can’t beat that for a bargain dinner! The Man Who Knew This Was Going To Be His Idea Of Good Food, ordered a Ruben sandwich ($4.99), a bowl of chili ($2.99) and a Sprecher Root Beer ($2.50). He admitted it was more food than he needed, but he couldn’t stop at Webb’s without trying the chili he remembered from his youth. Our Frugal Friends brought a coupon that we could use for a bacon double cheeseburger with hash browns for $3.59. I wanted to taste the hamburgers Webb’s are famous for, so I ordered the double bacon cheeseburger. Does that sound yummy, or what? I must admit, I enjoyed it immensely. The burgers are thin slabs of meat and the bacon is ample and very tasty. The cheese is pathetic, but probably pleases most tastes. I suppose that not everyone would enjoy aged cheddar on their burgers, so we all have to put up with tasteless American pseudo-cheese served with most hamburgers. The Man Who Loves Casseroles Of All Kinds If There’s No Funky Stuff Or Seafood In It loved the chili, though it was missing most of the beans that are the essential component of chili, if you ask me. There was lots of ground beef and enough chili powder to recognize which spice they were using. There is also some pasta, which MY chili would not be contaminated with – if I had a kitchen in which to cook such a dish.

George Webb’s is a local hamburger chain started in Milwaukee in the ‘40's. No longer owned by the Webb family (actually, it’s owned by a woman), it now has 41 stores, all in the Milwaukee metro area. My H.S. Friend and I remember when the chain first predicted that the Braves would win 12 games in a row, and Webb’s would give away free hamburgers at all their stores. Oh my goodness, we were Braves fans! As preteens, we took the streetcar to many games and sat in the bleachers for 50 cents, got autographs of Andy Pafko and Eddie Mathews (drool). We formed the Taylor Phillips fan club, because he so young and unknown that he would actually talk to us. Anyway, the Braves never won the 12 games in a row, but when they’d get close, everyone in Milwaukee was cheering for Our Team. The promotion was continued for the Brewers, and in 1987 the Brewers did it; they won 12 games in a row, and George Webb’s gave away 168,194 free hamburgers!

Such a great story. George Webb’s helped to make Milwaukee a “baseball town.” So drop in and have a bite to eat of Milwaukee history. Perhaps Julie will wait on you. She is vivacious and charming and made our dinner more enjoyable. With the prices here, I doubt that she is getting rich on tips. I hope George Webb’s recognizes what a gem such an employee is and pays her accordingly.

Actually enjoying being
Kitchenless in Brookfield