Set in Milwaukee's Bay View, a historic Italian enclave, Semolina MKE proudly carries on old-world pasta traditions while catering to an appetite for regional flavors and staples.
Owner Petra Orlowski's maternal grandparents were Sicilians from Chiusa Sclafani and Vicari. She credits her grandmother with teaching her how to cook pasta, among other things.
Today, Petra gives that knowledge back to her community, teaching pasta-making classes and showcasing high-quality Italian specialty items like olive oils, vinegar, honeys, salts, wine, and cheeses.
"I'm all about sharing," she says. "I want people to make food. I don't want to be a gatekeeper holding these recipes for myself. Everybody should be cooking."
Petra took time to chat with me about her journey to starting Semolina MKE, popular products and classes, and her hopes for her customers, many of whom she considers friends.
Tell us about your background and what inspired Semolina MKE.
I worked as a dental technician for years, and then I got married, got pregnant with twins, and stayed home with them for four and a half years until they went to kindergarten. Then, I wanted to get out of the house again, so I started working at Sanford Restaurant as a host. I worked there for about 15 years and did everything but the kitchen. I did two years as a pastry chef for a different restaurant. Then, I was managing another restaurant prior to COVID, and that shut down.
So, when I was sitting at home alone with no work to do, I started doing a really deep dive into pasta-making. I had always made pasta, but this was me making more intricate shapes and just kind of trying to keep myself busy. Then, I was making so much pasta that people started wanting to buy it.
I realized that pasta does not fall under the cottage food laws in Wisconsin. I had to actually find commercial kitchen space, and that's how Semolina was born.
You carry quite a few specialty items in addition to pasta. What are you particularly proud to showcase?
There's a brand, Bona Furtuna, in Corleone, Sicily. As far as I know, we're the only store that carries their products in Wisconsin. We actually just visited the farm, and the president of the company was there. We got to go out into the olive groves and pick wild fennel from the side of the road. Their olive oils are top-notch. They are a wonderful organic 1% for the Planet, B-Corp, the whole nine yards. So we're very proud to carry those products.
I also carry olive oil from a company called Mandranova, which is another farm in Agrigento that we visited.
Both farms are very modern. Everything is temperature-controlled, so the oil doesn't get too hot as it's being crushed and mixed. The polyphenols stay at their highest levels, and they are doing everything to make the highest-quality ingredients or products.
We also carry some fantastic honeys from Sardinia. It's a mother-and-daughter team, Maria and Daniela. Maria is around 80 years old. She was a little spitfire and yelled at me for not knowing more Italian.
I love working with these small producers we get to visit and get to know. Also, while we were there, we went to a winery called Quignones in Licata. I can't carry Alfredo's wines, but I can carry some of his food products. So we are able to go there and have a wonderful afternoon with him. It's so great to be able to build these relationships with producers, and they're so happy to have their products in the U.S., too.
What are the most popular products you offer?
Probably the most popular is the culurgiones [Sardinia's answer to the ravioli]. I make them every Sunday, and people have gotten used to having those available. My favorite is probably pappardelle, the simple egg pasta. I like the wide noodles.
How did you learn to make pasta?
My grandma used to make pasta. Not often, but it's one of those things that I took upon myself to learn. I didn't take any classes. I just started making it and just figuring it out on my own.
My husband and I went to Rome about six years ago and took a cooking class. It was about pasta-making and a bunch of other things, which really bolstered my confidence that I could do this myself and show other people how to do it as well.
Tell us about your pasta-making classes.
The classes in the shop are limited to a maximum of six people. I offer three different classes: classic egg dough, hand-shaped pasta, and ravioli.
Each class starts out with making the dough from scratch. While the dough rests, we go into the kitchen. I show everyone how to make a sauce, and then we cook up pasta I had made earlier in the day. Everybody sees how I cook, sauce, and serve it. Then, they get their bowl of pasta and a glass of wine or some Italian non-alcoholic beverage. When we're done with that, I answer all of their questions about olive oil and cheese and whatever. During that time, we go back to the pasta room and do all of the rolling out and shaping. They can see the salt I'm putting in the water to boil and how I'm not rinsing the pasta. They can see my method of cooking so that they can replicate that at home.
What do you hope participants take away?
I want people to actually learn and walk away feeling like they can do it at home. And I know a lot of them do because they come back and buy flour to make everything at home. So, I am confident that people leave with the knowledge they need.
I try to teach them about the ingredients we're using so that they know how to buy olive oil and how to use it. They don't let it sit in their pantry for a year because they want to save it for a special occasion. It's food; you use it.
I also just want them to feel comfortable and have a really fun time while they're doing it and that they can call me and ask me things. When they come into the shop, I want them to know that we have carefully curated, we have tasted things, and we have talked to the people who grow these things, so you can trust us when we tell you this is a good product.
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