Luther bemoans the absence of Waffle House in the North, but the Milwaukee area has its own nothing-else-is-open-and-I-want-some-cheap-greasy-food diner: George Webb.
I was going to title this post “Milwaukee’s Answer to Waffle House,” but it turns out that the first George Webb actually predates the first Waffle House by seven years. So, if anything, Waffle House is the South’s answer to George Webb.
Luther tells me that there used to be a George Webb in his city of Appleton, but it has since closed. (A 2010 comment about the Appleton location on FourSquare notes, “Pam is a GREAT waitress.” I’m sure she was.) George Webb now goes as far north as West Bend, as far west as Oconomowoc, and as far south as Racine, with Lake Michigan forming the eastern border of its territory.
What it may lack in geographic footprint, it more than compensates for with a one-of-a-kind dining experience. It is famously open for 23 hours and 59 minutes, seven days a week, supposedly to dodge a Milwaukee law that prohibited 24-hour operations. There are two clocks next to each other on the wall in every George Webb, intentionally set one minute apart, so that the restaurant can close for one minute on one clock while remaining open on the other.
George Webb is renowned for its burgers, although its all-day breakfast menu is also formidable. A long-running promotion says that if the Milwaukee Brewers ever win twelve games in a row, George Webb will give out free burgers the next day. Such a winning streak is rare in baseball, but in 2018 the Brewers pulled it off for the first time since 1987. George Webb honored its promise, and thousands of southeastern Wisconsinites lined up for their free burgers. One told his story to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Kent Brodie was 26 when he got his first free George Webb burger in 1987 at a George Webb in Bay View that closed a long time ago. He stood outside the restaurant on West North Avenue in Wauwatosa and reminisced as the delicious smell of frying hamburgers wafted out of the door.
“I’m basically here because I got one in 1987. I don’t think the burgers are all that great but it’s history,” said Brodie. “It was kind of dry but I didn’t mind.”
That’s the spirit!
Similar to Waffle House, George Webb is not all about the food quality. The Sunset Drive location in Waukesha, with 4.4 stars on Google reviews, is overperforming. The 3.3-star Mequon Road location in Germantown is just right. If you’re not at least a little suspicious of the staff and your fellow customers, you’re not getting the Full George Webb Experience.
There should be at least one customer sitting at the counter when you get there and when you leave, with little apparent intention of ever vacating his or her stool. There should be an aging waitress with a thick Wisconsin accent who both takes your order and yells at other members of the staff. And there should be coffee that’ll put hair on your chest, paper placemats with coupons on them, and enough grease on the food to soak through that placemat.
Waffle House is certainly great, but southeastern Wisconsin will do just fine so long as it still has George Webb.