Comet Cafe/Diner

By Lu

The Comet Cafe

I'm super tired as I'm writing this. I didn't even know if I'm writing this using the right tenses. However, I know some of you have forgiven me for any grammatical errors you may have found in any of my posts. I never claimed to be the expert in English grammar. I just like to write. I try my best to proof it, but I have warned you to not expect so much of me when it comes to grammatical perfection. Tonight in particular, please excuse me for anything in that fashion. Yet, I really want to write this post before I forget of how good the food was.

Last Sunday, I went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to visit my friend, Heather. We went to see her son, Parker, performed with his high school in the musical, "Grease." How fun that was! I was quite shocked because I didn't expect a high school musical to be that professionally done! It was fantastic and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was proud of Parker who shook his booty and sang in front of so many people. Bravo, Parker!

It reminded me of my old love of singing. I was in choir my whole life until high school. In my senior year here, I was in a musical, "Anything Goes." It was a lot of fun too. I remember thinking when I saw "Miss Saigon," how cool would that be if my high school would have done that. I thought to myself..."I could be Kim." LOL - yeah, right. Yeah right for the fact I didn't have the voice for it; and, another yeah right that a high school would do a musical about a prostitute in Vietnam who fell in love with a GI.

Anyway, it was fun watching the musical and being at Parker's high school. It brought me back to my high school days when things were less complicated and life was just all about fun and new things. Coming back to reality, I was glad that the day didn't end there.

Heather had been wanting to take me to try Comet Cafe. This cafe is quite famous in Milwaukee because it was featured at "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives." Guy Fieri was there and since then, the place is so popular. We tried a couple of times to go there, but there was always a long line out the door. This time, we were lucky. Well, also it was rather early for dinner. I didn't care since I'd rather not wait in line outside in the month of February in Wisconsin. Mild winter or not - it was still cold that day!

The place definitely had that diner look and feel to it; yet, it was super trendy. The diners' employees all had that artsy quarky look (hopefully that made sense). Heather and I chose to sit by the diner counter to get the full diner experience.

It took me awhile to ponder on the menu. It wasn't a big menu but I couldn't decide what I wanted. Parker was going out with his friends for some chicken wings; and, I had that thought in my head. They didn't have any wings in the menu. The menu consisted of mostly sandwiches. They had about 4 dinner items which were their famous meatloaf, turkey dinner, fish-fry, and mac and cheese. The lady that sat next to me got the mac and cheese and it looked wonderful. Yet, it was so big and I couldn't imagine just eating carb and cheese for a whole meal. I was torn between the Comet's Meatloaf, the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich (for the obvious wing obsession), and the Comet's Cuban Sandwich. After several minutes of flakiness, I settled on the meatloaf though I didn't really want it. I'm not really a meatloaf girl; but, I  thought I needed to try their specialty. I had a sense of obligation to report that to my readers here. See, I put you all first over my own desire.

The Chipotle Chili Soup

The meatloaf dinner came with a cup of soup. I had their soup of the day which was the chipotle chili. I really enjoyed the soup. At first, I was expecting just a cup of chili. However, I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't like a regular chili. It wasn't thick and filled with meats and beans. It was rather watery - like a broth base soup. The broth was super flavorful of beef stock that has been nicely spiced. It had a pronounced tomato taste for the acidity. Then, the heat from the chipotle pepper hit me. It was spicy! I didn't think I have ever tasted a chili that was actually really spicy like this! Oh, if you don't know what chipotle is, it is basically a Jalapeno pepper that has been smoked. I thought the soup was really good and I didn't think I could finish the cup due to the heat; but, I did!

While we were waiting for our entrees to arrive, the girl who sat next to Heather was welcoming her food. She ordered the meatloaf sandwich. When I saw that, I thought I made the right choice for ordering the meatloaf. The sandwich looked fantastic. It was a tower of goodness as I saw from where I sat. On the bottom, there were two slices of bread. Then, the bacon wrapped meatloaf was sitting on top of it. Then it was topped by a ball of bacon chive mashed potatoes. Then, two strips of crispy bacon were placed criss cross on top. Then, some grilled onions. Then, it was doused by their beer gravy! Amazing! I couldn't wait at that point for my meatloaf to grace my countertop.

Meatloaf Sandwich...

Finally, our entrees arrived! Heather is a vegetarian, and she ordered the artichoke melt. One thing about Comet, they really cater to the vegans and vegetarians. Many of the menu items can be made into a vegan and/or vegetarian option. Heather tried the vegetarian version of the meatloaf sandwich in the past and she loved it. 

The Artichoke Melt

Heather's artichoke melt looked phenomenal. It was a good size sandwich and it was served with ample of fries. My meatloaf also looked delish! It was neatly wrapped in bacon to keep the meatloaf moist and at the same time flavoring it with the yummy bacon taste. I took a bite of the meatloaf and it was moist and tasty. They mixed the meat with a little bit of veggies and of course some ketchup. The beer gravy tasted perfect paired with the bacon chive mashed. Oh, they also served my arch enemy: Brussels Sprout. Well, one of the reasons I didn't really want the meatloaf was because of the Brussels Sprout. Yet, I also realized as I grew older, things that I didn't like in the past all of a sudden became okay to me. I didn't like mustard before. Now, I don't mind it a bit. Turned out, Brussels Sprout wasn't so bad after all. Maybe because they were cooked in bacon fat! That was a guess but I wouldn't be surprised if they did. They really love their bacon in this diner. According to their website, they serve homemade bacon!

The Meatloaf Dinner

Overall, I enjoyed my meal at Comet Cafe. I can always appreciate made from scratch food anytime. They claimed to be a cafe that serves slow food - all homemade foods cooked in their little kitchen. At times, when a restaurant was featured on a TV show, the hypes were bigger than what it is actually. I couldn't say the same about Comet Cafe. It was quite good. Plus, their logo is a rabbit. I love rabbit. It's my Chinese Zodiac sign. Perfect.

We have to come back and try their homemade desserts. We opted for Kopps Custard that night. If you're in Milwaukee area, stop by! They won so many awards not for nothing. They got some coveted titles like best brunch, best diner, best restaurant for vegetarian, and best hangover breakfast!However, be prepared to wait in line. If it's winter time, dress warm!

The Comet Cafe
1947 N FARWELL AVE
MILWAUKEE, WI 53202
(414) 273-7677