Pfun at the Pfister
Written: Oct 19 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent service, fine dining, opulent setting.
Cons: It's haunted.
The Bottom Line: Milwaukee's nicest hotel.
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| Lobstergirl's Full Review: The Pfister Hotel |
Milwaukee's downtown is an odd little place (little, that is, when you live in a city like Chicago) that, no matter what time of day or year I happen to be there on business, seems just on the verge of being deserted. It's too bad, because it has a nice collection of muscly late 19th-century rusticated stone and Romanesque revival buildings that would do any street corner proud.
The Pfister Hotel, designed in 1893, is one of these, a handsome, sturdy limestone and brick structure just a few blocks from Lake Michigan. Whoever designed the giant, stumpy brick tubular 1965 addition and attached 60's mod-grotesque parking garage, however, should be taken out back and shot, although the tube form does endow each room with a pie-slice shape and ample, curved bay window, and creates some interesting angles in the bathrooms. When it was built, its in-house electrical power plant made it America's first hotel to have individual thermostats in each room (although mine seemed to be mostly for decoration, as I was never able to fully shut off the air).
The 3-story lobby is fabulously lush and opulent, with shitloads of gilding and a large, Tiepoloesque ceiling fresco. At one end an ornate white marble staircase leads to the original hotel rooms (although I've stayed here several times, I didn't realize there were older rooms with the original high ceilings and 19th century decorations). At the other end is the attractive Lobby Lounge with its massive, French hunting lodge style fireplace and overstuffed chairs and sofas. The lobby is filled with Victorian paintings from Charles Pfister's collection (the world's largest hotel collection of Victorian art -- not even close to Econolodge's).
The Spooks
Rumor has it that Charles Pfister's ghost, described as "portly, older, smiling and well-dressed," hangs out on the 9th floor and has been spotted surveying the lobby from the grand staircase. In fact, when L.A. Dodger 3rd baseman Andre Beltre stayed here while playing the Brewers, he told Sports Illustrated his room was so haunted, he only got two hours of sleep over three nights. First, he heard knocking in the hallway and on his door. Then his TV kept turning off. So did his air conditioning. Finally, he started hearing pounding noises from behind his headboard.
Former Dodger Devon White had another explanation: "We tell them (visiting teams) at the Pfister there's real ghosts. It seems a lot of Latino players -- they believe in those things. They tend to not get any sleep."
The Amenities
In addition to a chocolate, the Pfister leaves the next day's weather forecast on your pillow with the high and low temperatures, and a Sweet Dreams prayer: "Because this hotel is a human institution to serve people, and not solely a moneymaking organization, we hope that God will grant you peace and rest while you are under our roof. May the business that brought you our way prosper. May every call you make and every message you receive add to your joy….may this room and hotel be your "second home.""
Rooms have mini-bars, but no coffeemakers (with so many restaurants in the hotel, I guess why bother). My room had two double beds, a nice sized writing desk, an armoire, a large TV, and two comfortable armchairs. Bathrooms have phones, hairdryers, magnifying mirrors, and tiny, cheesy black and white TV's. The shower and toilet are in a separate little room from the vanity area, which is nice because it keeps the mirrors from fogging up. My only beef with the bathroom was that while the lighting in the vanity area was good, the shower light could not have been much dimmer.
The Food
The Pfister has five restaurants; Celia, the Café, Café Rouge, Blu (new on the 23rd floor, offering "flights of wine, classic cocktails, and sassy martinis"), and the Lobby Lounge. We chose Celia, on the lower level. It used to be very gentlemen's clubby, with burled English walnut walls, leather booths, and manly surf 'n turf type fare, but has since undergone a makeover. Everything is lighter and brighter, including the neo-EurAsian-American (?) cuisine. Portions are delicate without being stingy, and ingredients verge on the exotic without being ridiculous.
How could you resist appetizers like seared day boat sea scallops with roasted corn ragout, light tomato cream sauce and white truffle oil ($8), or seared foie gras with caramelized apples and port wine reduction ($10)? I did, because I didn’t want to run up the bill too much on my paying colleagues. Instead, I started with the Salad Celia, mixed baby greens with poached pear slices, gorgonzola cheese and crystallized walnuts in a fragrant zinfandel vinaigrette (at $5, a nice bargain). Certainly I wanted to sample the poached fig salad with warm goat cheese and prosciutto cracklings ($6), but who wants to look like a glutton? Don't skip the rolls, with their crunchy crusts and piping hot innards. I passed up cocktails for hot tea, which comes in a silver pot and your choice of about 12 flavors.
The entrees were no less enticing; what young girl would willingly eschew a roast rack of lamb with creamy goat cheese polenta, fire roasted peppers and mint oil ($27), grilled quail with bacon spoon bread, summer bean succotash and port wine sauce ($20), or yellowtail snapper with salt cod potato cake and sweet pea sauce ($17)? A girl who is saving the limited acreage of her entrails for prosciutto-wrapped day boat sea scallops with kalamata olive-basil mashed potatoes and balsamic glaze ($21), that's who. The generously sized scallops were tender and succulent, surpassed in their palate-tickling pleasingness only by the olive-basil mashed potatoes. Another of my companions enjoyed the miso glazed sea bass with stir fried vegetables and cilantro oil ($19).
Like every other part of the menu, the desserts are constantly changing. The teaser menu in my room had tantalized me with the promise of apple crisp with buttermilk sorbet ($6), but it was unavailable that day, as was the blueberry clafouti with red wine peppercorn chantilly cream ($7). I was forced to content myself with a warm chocolate macadamia nut tart with cardamom ice cream, topped with chopped pine nuts ($7), but only after I had considered and then rejected the key lime tart with coconut and (I'm not kidding) Tazo Chai ice cream, which the waiter warned us, contained enough caffeine to keep us up all night. My companions dug delicately into their cylindrical molten chocolate cake with hard crust, which was also delicious. None of the desserts are bigger than about 3 inches across, which is to your advantage when you are trying to leave some room for the superb post-prandial coffee.
Altogether, including wine, one cocktail and tax, our bill for three came to $149. Celia is open Tuesday to Saturday 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Closed Monday.
The Pfister is at 424 East Wisconsin Avenue, (414) 390-3832. The 307 rooms start at $199; suites cost between $265 and $990. We got a special rate of $115, I guess because we are so sexy.
Complimentary shoe shine and morning paper (USA Today), valet service, concierge, men's and women's clothing shops and gift shop, indoor swimming pool, fitness center, conference room seating up to 1,500.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Lobstergirl
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: Distressa Bologna-Cohen
Location: The Northern District of Illinois
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Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas.
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