This is as real as Wisconsin gets, tucked away in the heart of downtown Bayview area stands Van Guard, located at 2659 south Kinnickinnic avenue. Vanguard opened in 2014 and is locally owned. This restaurant strictly sells all sausages and with the deep Italian, polish and German heritage in Milwaukee this place doesn’t need to sell anything else – besides beer of course.
As you enter, to left is the grill and a long bar with many different types of spirits. Scattered on the walls are pictures of old-time wrestlers from the American Wrestling Association. Some of the sausages are named after famous wrestlers like Guerreo named after Eddie Guerrero who has since passed away many years back.
Looking to the right, you’ll see a picture of the Crusher claiming to make Milwaukee famous. What I didn’t know was that the Crusher was the mainstay of my family when he wrestled because he was my dad’s cousin. I remember watching him wrestle and granny saying “give it to him good Crusher.”
Fun helpful knowledge here: if you go for lunch you’ll receive free fries with any order. But, if you come after lunch, you’ll be paying for those fries.
I ordered a duck sausage – yes, you heard me correct the one and only duck sausage. The duck sausage had bacon and lettuce on it which gave it a tasty topping.
Both my son and wife ordered a chili cheese dog. They were very busy so that might be a reason for our fries and sausages being slightly over cooked; his dog was charred on the bottom, probably because of how its cooked on the grill. The chili cheese dogs are topped with jalapenos so if you do not like spice have them leave it off. Both of them were indifferent to the chili cheese dogs and will be ordering a different item next time.
Besides having many different beers, the owners set out to make a real Milwaukee restaurant and by George they have done so.
By: Phillip Kowalski