Sanford

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

A Restaurant Built on a Grocery Store's Foundation

Sanford occupies a particular place in Milwaukee's story. The building at 1547 N. Jackson Street once housed a neighborhood grocery store run by Sandy D'Amato's father and grandfather for nearly 80 years. In 1989, Sandy and his wife Angie transformed that same space into a restaurant — and the instinct to source carefully, know your producers, and respect what the land offers has never left.

Sandy D'Amato came to the work seriously trained: the Culinary Institute of America, a stint as the first American cook at Le Veau d'Or in New York, time under Chef Roland Chenus at Le Chantilly. Back in Milwaukee, he built a reputation that drew attention from Bon Appétit, Gourmet, Food & Wine, and Esquire, earned a James Beard Foundation Best Chef: Midwest award, and cooked for Julia Child's 80th birthday celebration and the Dalai Lama. Wine Spectator recognized the restaurant with its Award of Excellence — a distinction the restaurant has held since 1990.

Justin Aprahamian – Chef/Owner

In December 2012, Sandy and Angie passed Sanford to the person who knew it best. Justin Aprahamian had been in the kitchen since he was 12, helping his uncle's catering company. He walked into Sanford in 2002 as a prep cook, worked his way to Sous Chef by 2005, and was named Chef de Cuisine in 2008. In 2014, the James Beard Foundation awarded him Best Chef Midwest — the same honor his mentor had received before him.

Justin's cooking carries Sanford's founding philosophy forward while adding his own voice. Most notably, his reconnection with his Armenian heritage has brought family recipes and flavor traditions into the menu, giving the globally inspired American cuisine here a personal dimension that goes beyond technique.

His wife Sarah serves as General Manager, and the team around them — including Pastry Chef Brian Reed, Chef de Cuisine Josh Mendiola, and Operations Manager Anne Torinus — reflects the continuity that has defined Sanford across both ownerships.

The Food and the Menus

The guiding principle is straightforward: start with the best ingredients available, sourced as close to home as possible. Menus follow the seasons without compromise. As the restaurant puts it, when fresh tomatoes arrive, they use them — and when they're gone, they wait until next year.

Guests can experience this seasonal American cooking through three formats: a four-course Prix Fixe Menu, an Exploration Menu (a three-course format built around an idea, tradition, person, or place, available Tuesday through Thursday), or the seven-course Surprise Tasting Menu, where the kitchen takes full control of the experience, available Tuesday through Friday. The kitchen also maintains an expanded beer program featuring a rotating seasonal selection alongside a cellar list of aged beers — an addition Justin introduced after taking ownership.

The atmosphere is intentional. Sandy and Angie's years of travel shaped an approach to hospitality that aims to feel like being welcomed into someone's home, and that warmth carries through to the present.