Story Hill BKC (Bottle, Kitchen, Cocktail/Cup) is a medium sized wine and spirit shop that also serves upper-midwest inspired cuisine in brunch, lunch and dinner formats.   Lunch is a smaller menu but gave us a good idea of what they are capable of producing – and it’s a good pronouncement for those who are around Milwaukee.  There is a small parking lot behind and lots of street parking around this corner spot.  Music is in the background and lots of windows let in much natural light.  On one side of the room is the retail shop with wine, spirits and beers for sale.  You can also purchase a wine to drink with your meal there for a small corkage fee.  The bare blond wood table was nice sized and set with a cloth napkin.  Two daily specials were listed on the menu.  Service was friendly and very helpful.

Facility and sales area

 

Food

Burger on the Hill was a half-pound Niman Ranch burger with Hook’s one year cheddar, jalapeño mayo, lettuce, tomato and red onion with a pickle on a seeded bun and one side.  We chose the side of roasted marble potatoes with shallot butter and coffee seasoning.  The burger was a mouthful when fully dressed.  The tasty meat was cooked more medium than medium rare but that didn’t mess with the fine taste.  Lots of garden was fresh and tasty and the bun was very soft and nicely toasted.  It was a fine burger.  The side of potatoes was more mixed with some of the potatoes earthy and other fine. The cauliflower salad was much better – as potential sides.

 

Shakshouka was 2 local eggs baked in a cumin-spiced tomato sauce with smoked lentils, cilantro, goat cheese, sumac mayonnaise and flatbread.  The eggs were more cooked than I’d have liked as their runny yolk could have added to this dish.  Either way though the lentils, cheese and sauce were just fine and delicious when mixed together.  The flatbread was a bit on the dry side but when used for dipping that was just fine.  The tomato sauce was particularly tasty.  Even though they sent out a spoon with the dish, this was thick enough to easily eat with a fork.

 

The Roasted Cauliflower salad contained dried tomatoes, arugula, pesto, almonds, chile flakes and Montamore with a citrus vinaigrette.  The browned cauliflower was cooked nicely, as it still had a touch of crisp to it.  The sun dried tomatoes were particularly flavorful and it was well dressed with a tasty vinaigrette.  Lots of textures in this bowl and they all blended well.

 

For dessert we split the Upside down cherry cake with a port wine reduction and ice cream.  It was huge and could have fed 4.  There were lots of really tasty cherries baked into the top (bottom?) that blended perfectly with the ice cream and buttery cake.  It was a very satisfying dessert – sweet but not overly so and filled with fun fruit flavor.