New places to eat are in the works
An office tower on Mayfair mall property in Wauwatosa will be torn down and replaced by the Tex-Mex chain Uncle Julio’s and a rustic-cooking chain and wine bar, Seasons 52, according to plans by the restaurants and the mall’s owner.
The restaurants would be the first in Wisconsin for each chain. They would be built at the southwest end of the Mayfair property, off W. North Ave. near N. Mayfair Road. GGP Inc. owns the mall and the office building.
Uncle Julio’s and Seasons 52 are seeking conditional-use permits from the City of Wauwatosa to open at the mall. Their requests go before the city’s Plan Commission on May 8.
Seasons 52 roasts some menu items in brick ovens and grills others over open flames, using oak and mesquite. Entrées, including items such as grilled salmon salad and coffee-crusted rack of lamb, range from about $14 to $30.
Uncle Julio’s, founded in Dallas, bills itself as an upscale Mexican restaurant. It serves guacamole made tableside, fajitas, mesquite-grilled items and Tex-Mex dishes; its drinks include a frozen margarita swirled with frozen sangria. Dinner entree prices range from about $11 to $30.
Uncle Julio’s is based in Irving, Texas, and has restaurants in seven states.
Seasons 52 is owned by Darden, which also operates Capital Grille, Longhorn Steakhouse and Olive Garden in the Milwaukee market, among other chains. Seasons 52 has restaurants in 19 states.
Each restaurant is expected to hire about 100 workers and would be open seven days for lunch and dinner, documents filed with the city show.
The plans would mean three new restaurants for Mayfair. Last month, plans to add the Brazilian steakhouse chain Texas de Brazil in the former McCormick & Schmick’s building at Mayfair became public.
New Valentine
The new Valentine Coffee cafe opens Monday in Oak Creek’s Drexel Town Square, and this location for the roaster will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, with craft beer and wine on tap.
It’s a big expansion for Valentine, which has its roasting plant on Milwaukee’s west side and an attached tasting room. The west side tasting room is a fraction of the size of the new location, which has two floors. Seats indoors number more than 40; the large patio has seats for 70.
The mezzanine has a shop where customers can buy wine by the bottle, from a selection of 80 to 120 wines. Valentine’s partners, founder Robb Kashevarof and managing partner Joe Gilsdorf, both have backgrounds in wine.
The new place also has breakfast, lunch and dinner menus, whereas the tasting room at 5918 W. Vliet St. sells only baked goods to go with pour-over coffee and espresso drinks.
Breakfast, served until 10 a.m., will have items that customers can order at the counter, including the Sconnie ($8), a brat patty and fried egg with aged cheddar on a pretzel roll, and Greek yogurt parfait with berries and granola ($6).
The cafe will have table service for the lunch and dinner menu of soups, salads, sandwiches and shared plates, served starting at 10 a.m. Some of the dishes are fattoush salad, greens with pita chips, herbs, feta, cucumber and tomato in lemon vinaigrette ($7); flank steak sandwich with caramelized onions on baguette ($10) and the Vietnamese sandwich banh mi with tofu ($7), or a choice of chicken, salmon or steak for an extra charge; and cheese or charcuterie boards ($14) and roasted bone marrow with grilled bread ($10).
The chef is Bruce Badke, formerly of Distil lounge downtown.
The cafe will have four wines on tap, 20 wines by the glass, sold by the “splash,” glass, half bottle or bottle. Gilsdorf said the focus for wines is “fun and out-of-the-way stuff.” One of the first wines on tap will be Arriviste rosé from Blackbird Vineyards in California’s Napa Valley; it’s a sentimental favorite for Gilsdorf, who used to bicycle past the winery when he worked in California.
Eight craft beers will be on tap, too. “Draft beer, to me, is all about freshness,” Gilsdorf said, so the beers will all be from Wisconsin, and most will be from Milwaukee’s growing roster of craft brewers.
Kitchen hours will be 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday; the cafe will stay open later for customers stopping in for drinks.
The Oak Creek cafe eventually will have wine tastings and coffee events, Kashevarof said.
The building faces the park in the Drexel Town Square development; three garage doors will open in warm weather. The original west side tasting room is decorated in white, like a coffee laboratory; the Oak Creek cafe has a more rustic modern look, Kashevarof said, with glazed brick on the walls, wood, black steel, a brass bar top and abundant windows.
May 6 will be the Oak Creek location’s grand opening, when commemorative glasses will be handed out with samples of sparkling wine, and Kashevarof and Gilsdorf will be on hand to meet customers.
Customers will be able to phone in carryout orders; the number for the new cafe is (414) 405-2280.
Donut Squad coming
Donut Squad, a shop specializing in doughnuts with toppings and doughnut sandwiches made with ice cream or whipped cream, is opening on the east side in May.
The takeout shop will open at 2264 N. Prospect Ave., a small storefront vacated by Goldcoast Subs.
Bobby Kaid, who is opening the shop with friend Moe Dakwar, said the menu was being finalized, but it will have both cake and yeast doughnuts.
Some will have toppings, such as Oreo cookie, Kaid said. The shop also will sell ice cream sandwiches made with doughnuts, and doughnut sandwiches filled with whipped cream.
Donut Squad also will sell coffee, juice and milkshakes, Kaid said.
“We’re trying to have something special for the east side area and UWM students, as well,” Kaid said, noting that the closest doughnut shop is in the Third Ward. The shop will be near offices and Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital, he noted.
Kaid himself is a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee student, set to graduate in May with a degree in health care administration; he already works in his field three days a week, he said. Dakwar, the shop’s other owner, was a marketing major who graduated from UWM in December. Another friend from UWM, Jafar Amin, was the architect for the space and designed the shop’s logo; he, too, is graduating in May.
The shop’s opening is planned for the end of May, after Kaid’s graduation.
It will be open daily and have delivery; hours are expected to be 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., with the shop seeking to stay open until 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday for the nearby late-night bar crowd.
Donut Squad is on Facebook and Instagram.
Author talks Saturday
For fans of culinary figures: Joan Reardon, the author of biographies of Julia Child, M.F.K. Fisher and Alice Waters, among other works, will talk about those women, cooking and more on Saturday at Alverno College.
Alverno alumna Reardon — speaking with Jennifer Bartolotta, the director of strategic partnerships for Bartolotta Restaurants — will talk and take questions from the audience from 3 to 4:30 p.m.
After the talk, attendees can take part in a tasting of four dishes inspired by Child, Waters and Fisher. The talk is free with registration; the tasting is $20. To register, go to alv erno.edu/alumweekend.