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MO’S MILWAUKEE

Plus: Israeli minister Netanyahu on fire!

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, May 31 – For the cigar lover, a civilized evening may consist of little more than some good friends, a big steak and a place to enjoy a drink and an after-dinner cigar.

If so, and you’re ever in Milwaukee, check out Mo’s, A Place for Steaks.

It’s part of the Mo’s empire on and around North Plankinton and West Wisconsin Avenues, which includes Mo’s, Mo’s Irish Pub, Mo’s Cucina and Mocha, a massive coffee bar. Of course, the proprietor is not named Mo, but John Vassallo, better known in town as “Johnny V.”

He took over what is now the steakhouse in 1999, inheriting a two-level restaurant previously known as the 720 Grill, which also welcomed cigars and had a private cigar lounge in what is now the second-floor private dining room. It’s adorned with framed cigar labels of local brands from more than a century ago, when hand-rolled cigars were made in Chicago, Milwaukee and throughout the Midwest.

The current set-up of Mo’s, A Place for Steaks is a statement for tolerance and grace. On the ground floor is a large dining room which allows cigarette smoking at the table. On the opposite side of the thick, polished-wood staircase is the bar and lounge, which serves the full menu, but allows cigar smoking.

Upstairs is a third dining area, which is smoke-free. Ironically, the previous owners created a Deco-style mural saluting cigars at the end of the room, which juxtaposes images of music and martinis against a late-90s salute to cigars based on an ad for Toraño cigars, picturing five brands: Toraño’s Grand Nica (twice), the no-longer-made Virtuoso Toraño, the also-defunct Montecruz Shade Grown series and the Carlos Toraño Nicaraguan Selection, plus the Honduran warranty seal and a partial F.D. Grave band. If you want to sit under the cigars, ask for Table 63!

The food is excellent and well-proportioned in the Midwest style, accompanied by lavish side dishes if you choose and a subtle sound system with Sinatra favorites on the box.

The downstairs lounge offers an impressive array of spirits, including seven types of Cognac and 17 single-malt and two blended Scotches. Plus the cigars!

You can enjoy a Macanudo, of course, but also Ashton, Avo Maduro, Cohiba. Davidoff, Montecristo, Partagas or Romeo y Julieta, all provided by Uhle’s, just around the corner. Prices are reasonable from $9 up to $25 for a Cohiba Churchill (7 inches by 47 ring). The best value is the Partagas Humitube for $10, a 6 3/4-inch Lonsdale (43 ring) encased in a glass tube.

The multiple-room program in which each type of diner can be accommodated is a model for restaurants everywhere. If you smoke cigarettes or cigars or don’t smoke at all, you’re well cared for in your area of Mo’s. What works in Milwaukee can work in the rest of the nation.

On, Wisconsin!

Netanyahu fired up!
Former Israeli Prime Minister and current Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is well known as an avid cigar smoker, but prefers not to be seen in public with cigar in hand.

Following the weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday, however, he was enjoying a smoke but as he was approached by reporters and photographers, he quickly placed the lit cigar into his jacket pocket.

Oy!

As Netanyahu explained to reporters why he was against a prisoner release, the cigar re-ignited and began burning the jacket lining!

After a lot of laughs from the assembled media, the cigar was quickly extinguished and the jacket was supposedly not ruined. But his spokesman Ofir Akones told reporters that “This just proves the Finance Minister knows how to operate under fire!”

Smicer celebrates with cigars:
Unless you’re a serious soccer fan, you’ve probably never heard of Vladimir Smicer. But the Czech striker was one of the heroes of Liverpool’s come-from-behind win on penalty kicks in the European Champions League final over AC Milan last week.

"I celebrated with the largest cigar you have ever seen. I went with the fans to dance in the streets," he told reporters.

"It was incredible to be with the fans. I just wanted to share with them what I felt. It was the greatest night of our lives.

"I didn't go to bed at all. There is no need for sleep after a night like this. I just wanted to go out on a high, and I am proud I showed I can play.

"I was told two months ago that I wouldn't be getting a new contract and I asked the manager if he'd need me, or could I go on holiday.

"He said that I was still needed, and that's all I wanted to hear. I love Liverpool, both of my children were born here, and it's very difficult to leave."

No doubt that it will be a long time before he will ever be forgotten in Liverpool.
~ Rich Perelman

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