(Edited: Wife thought of couple more that belong for future reference, though probably too far away for Op's purposes on this trip. Rearranged.)
That really depends on your tastes and where your travels take you. But, FWIW, if you choose to look these places up, they please the discerning palate.
If you haven't been, one of the local "fun" places to go, not necessarily the best food, is the
Safe House. (downtown)
BBQ
Iron Grate BBQ (just reopened at their new location. Voted best BBQ in state. Have to agree.)
Milwaukee Smoked BBQ (South Side, near iron grate. Good meat, sides nothing to write home about, no seating except one picnic table)
Smoke Shack (downtown, good brunch)
Ramen
Tochi Ramen (West Bend, but the best in ramen. If you like ramen, worth the trip)
Red Light Ramen (North of Downtown)
Brunch/Breakfast
Engine Company 3 (Downtown, Breakfast/Brunch)
McBob's (West/Tosa, open all day, good brunch and Bloody Mary's)
Tapas
Odd Duck (near south/KK neighborhood)
La Merenda (near south)
Good Kind (Bay View)
Story Hill BKC (west of downtown, stadium area, Good brunch, good food all day, mid afternoon only fingerfood)
Pizza
Pizza Man (upper east side. Roman style pizza, extensive wine selection)
Ian's Pizza (couple locations. open late. quick slice. unusual flavors)
Brick 3 Pizza (Downtown by Maders. quick slice)
Thai
Thai A. Kitchen (north of downtown. Thai)
Thai-Namite (North of downtown. Thai)
Thai Bar-B-Q (southwest of downtown. Thai)
Burgers
Kopp's (Northshore and Brookfield. Burgers, custard, awesomeness.)
Crafty Cow (KK/near south. Stuffed burgers.)
Misc
Benji's (Shorewood. If you like corn beef or pastrami...hard to beat)
Cafe Corazon (Riverwest or Bayview. Get the mechada. Only Mexican I will eat aside from the mexican food trucks on the south side)
ono kine grindz (Tosa. Hawaiian)
Le Reve (Tosa. French)
Seoul Restaurant (North of downtown. Korean)
Cubanitas (Downtown. Cuban)
Mason Street Grill (Downtown. Known for steak)
Northpoint Custard (On Lincoln Memorial. Literally a shack on the lake. American.)
Jack Pandl's (Northshore. German)
Bavarian Bierhaus (Glendale. Sunday brunch. serve food all day, beers made in house)
Comet Cafe (North of Downtown. American. Bacon specialty.)
Maxie's (West of Downtown. Carolinas, Creole and Cajun cooking of Louisiana; southern comfort food.)
County Clare (Downtown. Irish.)
Outside Town
the cheel (Thiensville. Himalayen/Idaho fusion, Friday fish fry. Stellar.)
Falafel Guys (Thiensville. Middle Eastern. Awesome. Only disappointment is they do not carry Ayran.)
Chen's Gourmet Chinese Restaurant (Menomonee Falls. The only Chinese in the area that deserves to use the word gourmet. We are not talking Din Tai Fung level, but it's good.)
Tochi Ramen (West Bend, but the best in ramen. If you like ramen, worth the trip)
And on and on. There are some good places here. There are also some "trendy" places like
Cafe Hollander, or anything from the
Lowlands Group,
Bel Air Cantina, etc. They're good too I guess. Not in our normal rotation. If they don't rank at least a 7 out of 10 in our records, not on this list. (Ironically, we started rating places to eat when we were in Ireland and we were comparing the Irish breakfasts at the B&Bs that we stayed at.)
Wisconsin is known for Friday Fish Fries too, but I can't really comment. Don't eat anything fishy. I have heard
Lakefront Brewery and the
Bavarian Bierhaus have good fish fries. North of town in Thiensville,
Chuck's Place is locally known for their all you can eat Friday fish fry. My wife says Chuck's is good too.
I'd extend some Wisconsin courtesy and buy you a beer or three since you will be in my hood, but not sure where we will be this weekend ourselves yet. My wife indicated she wants to try to go to Iron Grate tonight, but she hasn't let me in on the rest of the weekend plan yet.
ETA: Wife reviewed list and commented it was missing
At Random. South side, nearish. They only do alcoholic ice cream drinks. Place is old school. Fun. Call before going in to make sure they are open, but recollection is they are open late.
And Iron Grate was awesome. Even though they were sold out of half their menu by the time we got there.