Anticipated Mediterranean restaurant Purslane opens on Milwaukee's east side

Yahoo

3 days ago

A highly anticipated restaurant in the former Ardent space on Milwaukee's east side is officially open for business.
Purslane, which announced in December that it would take over the space at 1751 N. Farwell Ave., opened June 4. The restaurant is serving farm-driven fare inspired by flavors of the eastern Mediterranean, focusing on mezze (small plates), larger dishes meant for sharing and an expertly crafted beverage program.
The restaurant comes from chef-owner Mary Kastman, former executive chef at Driftless Cafe in Viroqua, where she was named a semifinalist for Best Chef, Midwest in the 2022 James Beard Awards. Kastman started Purslane in 2024 as a pop-up concept in Viroqua before opening the brick-and-mortar space in Milwaukee.
'We're ready and excited to bring a different type of hospitality and a different concept of food to Milwaukee,' Kastman said. 'We're so thankful for the support, and really excited to show everybody what we've been up to.'
Since moving into the restaurant space in February, Kastman's been hard at work transforming the space, developing the menu and working on the beverage program to deliver a unique and communal dining experience in Milwaukee.
It includes a 25-seat restaurant, a casual lounge space for snacks and drinks, a curated food menu featuring seasonal ingredients, and an extensive bar program inspired by the eastern Mediterranean region, with small Wisconsin flourishes incorporated.
Kastman, who has traveled extensively in Turkey and worked in the kitchens at celebrated Boston-based Mediterranean restaurants Oleana and Sarma, said a recent visit to Istanbul let her know Milwaukee is ready for her restaurant concept.
'This is where my heart is and my passion is, and I am so ready to bring this to another community,' Kastman said. 'Seeing a lot of my dear friends who live in Turkey be excited about this idea and give it their blessing has been pretty incredible.'
Purslane is open 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday and 5 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
The restaurant is currently accepting reservations via Toast up to 30 days in advance. Limited walk-in seating is available at its seven-seat bar on a first-come, first-served basis. For parties of eight or more, call the restaurant at [phone] to make a reservation.
The debut menu features 13 curated dishes, including snacks, small plates, larger plates and desserts made with seasonal ingredients sourced from local farmers.
Snacks include a Persian spiced bar snack mix ($3), olives with preserved lemon and chios spice ($9), and deviled eggs with trout taramasalata, smoked trout roe and bar pine nuts ($13).
Among the small plates are harissa chicken wings with preserved lemon aioli and green papaya slaw ($19), and Fattoush salad with fennel, cucumber, rhubarb, red onion, radish, pomegranate vinaigrette and sumac topped with crisped Juusto cheese ($17).
Also on the small plates menu is the tuna naya ($23), which Kastman said is a favorite of hers and an homage to Ardent's signature beef tartare dish. Her rendition features raw tuna dressed in yuzu and strawberry charmoula marinade topped with crunchy togarashi rice and served with pita chips.
There's even a Mediterranean take on the classic fish fry. At Purslane, cooked walleye is folded into a classic chickpea falafel base and fried up like fritters. They're served with lavash bread. tahini remoulade and brown butter pickle with fresh lettuce for wrapping the fritters like sandwiches ($21).
Larger plates include sea scallops with katayifi, muhammara and strawberry shatta ($43), and oyster mushroom shish with white bean, asparagus, bok choi, spicy feta, kalamata olive and breadcrumbs ($33).
The Ali Nazik beef kebab, made with smoky eggplant yogurt and shishito ($37), is especially close to Kastman's heart. Inspired by chef and mentor Musa Dağdeviren, author of 'The Turkish Cookbook,' the dish from the Gaziantep region of Turkey is what Kastman called 'a holy trinity of Turkish cuisine,' featuring smoky yogurt, eggplant and beef, served terrine-style with a shishito and roasted red pepper sauce.
For dessert, expect olive oil cake with sour cherry and tahini mascarpone ($11), and Kaymek semifreddo made with clotted cream and served with strawberry, rhubarb and pistachio bohsalino ($9).
Kastman said guests are encouraged to share with their dining partners, as the Purslane experience is enhanced by the feeling of communal dining.
'My dream is that everybody would come in and their tables would be full of all of these little plates and they're all eating and trying new things and experiencing all of these different flavors,' Kastman said. 'If somebody can walk out of here saying, 'I've never had carrots like this or I've never tasted something like that,' that's the greatest compliment — for somebody to see something in a new light.'
Purslane takes its bar program as seriously as its food. Beverage Director Kyle Yost, formerly of 2025 James Beard Award finalist Agency cocktail lounge, has created a variety of handcrafted beverages ($15 each) inspired by classic cocktails, including a white negroni made with gin infused with toasted pine nuts, a Spanish gin and tonic garnished with fresh herbs, a Manhattan with fenugreek and caraway-infused rye whiskey, and a spin on the daisy cocktail with strawberry, lime ancho verde and arak, a Levantine spirit similar to Greek Ouzo that's made with anise seeds.
Nonalcoholic beverages include spirit-free cocktails ($12 each) like a sage gimlet and spicy honey tonic with amber chili honey, as well as drinks from Milwaukee-made Rishi Tea and Sugar Leaf Coffee Roasterie.
Russell Tinsley, former general manager at Ardent, worked with Kastman to create the extensive wine list, featuring varietals from Greek, Turkey, Lebanon, France and Spain. Wines are available by the glass ($13 to $16) and the bottle.
The restaurant also will serve a selection of Spanish, Turkish and locally made beer.
Kastman said she wanted Purslane to capture the comfort and community culture she's come to love in her many visits to the eastern Mediterranean region. On a recent visit, she met up with Dağdeviren, who took her group shopping at the Grand Bazaar, one of the oldest and largest covered markets in the world. Along with inspiration, she brought back textiles, lighting fixtures, ceramics and plates to use and display at the restaurant.
'I wanted to keep the cozy nature the space already had, but give it a bit more of a Mediterranean feel,' she said.
The main dining area kept the terracotta-colored ceiling from the space's Ardent days, but now also has vibrant, Mediterranean-inspired teal paint on the walls. A large floral mural on a wall at the back of the main dining room was created by Viroqua artist Audra Grosz of Tattoo Zuzu, a tattoo shop.
The left-side space at Purslane, which was most recently home to Ardent's tasting room, acts as an informal lounge for those who want a snack and a drink — either while waiting for a table or as a casual pop-in, no matter if you're dining next door.
Dubbed the Meyhane lounge, the space has seating for 20, including at tables, the bar and a small couch. The area is open for walk-ins during Purslane's regular business hours Thursday to Saturday. Anyone is welcome to order snacks, sip a glass of wine and maybe play a game of backgammon on one of the provided sets.
In the lounge, Viroqua-based artists Gabriela Jiménez Marván and Ryan Rothweiler of Marván Art & Design designed and painted a wall mural featuring the restaurant's namesake plant, the purslane.
In the same area, Purslane has a retail space, selling items like Milwaukee's Sugar Leaf coffee, spice blends, hats and, in the coming weeks, grab-and-go food options like hummus and mezze offerings.
The Meyhane lounge also can be reserved for private parties and events.
Kastman, her husband, Erik, and their two children have been settling into their Shorewood home since moving from Viroqua in December.
'With our two little ones at home, he's really been the number-one super dad, and has been incredibly supportive, helping me fix things up and make all of the aesthetic changes,' Kastman said, adding that he also serves as Purslane's official 'tech guy.'
Kastman is grateful for local friends like Amilinda chef-owner Gregory León, who's been supportive from the start, offering feedback and opening his restaurant for Purslane pop-ups.
Her friend and mentor of 20 years, Justin Carlisle, former chef-owner of Ardent, has played an integral role in making Purslane a reality. Aside from traveling with her to Istanbul, Kastman said Carlisle was always there to help with his institutional knowledge about the kitchen, the restaurant space and the community.
'The whole evolution of how this came to be is really meaningful to me,' Kastman said. 'Coming in to this space and ushering it into a new chapter of interesting culinary things happening on Farwell Avenue, it's so special. If I can help change the conversation or just make people have a conversation — that's what it's all about.'
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: New Milwaukee restaurant Purslane now open in old Ardent space