Glass + Griddle will open in August
Restaurant will seat 200, have party room
The restaurant that will operate at Milwaukee Brewing Co.’s new complex has a name and a proposed opening date: Glass + Griddle, projected to open Aug. 15.
Owner Scott Lurie of F Street Group said he wants the restaurant, at 1130 N. Ninth St., to be open in time for the Harley-Davidson anniversary party, which starts Aug. 29. The restaurant is in the Brewery development, the former site of Pabst Brewing Co.
Glass + Griddle will be operated by Pizza Man restaurant partners Sarah and Zach Baker. The menu is still being developed, Lurie said, but Glass + Griddle will be open all day, and he is considering offering breakfast at any time. It would have brunch on the weekends, with Bloody Marys and other drinks beyond beers from Milwaukee Brewing and elsewhere.
The restaurant is in the center of the massive building, on the first floor below a glassed projection. Glass + Griddle is around 10,000 square feet, Lurie said, with a room for private events that’s 3,800 square feet.
Milwaukee Brewing will be in 46,000 square feet to the south, where truck bays are visible; to the north of the restaurant will be 60,700 square feet of offices.
A rooftop patio, a beer garden and a huge skylight
The makings of a pergola can be seen on the roof. Lurie doesn’t expect the rooftop patio will be open before May 2019, however.
Glass + Griddle also will have a ground-level beer garden, with a wall of live hops enclosing it.
“We’re going to program the space to be a venue for sporting events,” Lurie said.
It will have a wall of 18 flat-screen TVs that can be tuned to different events or merged to show a single event, like a Packers game or the World Series. More TVs will be inside, at the bar.
Other features of the restaurant, designed by Rinka Chung Architecture, include a glass skylight covering 85% of the restaurant and an event space.
The building is on a hill that rises just west of downtown; it’s 60 feet off ground level, across West Highland Avenue from Trinity Lutheran Church, and it will have retractable windows with views of the city.
Lurie noted that the restaurant has a parking agreement with the 900stall structure that’s kitty-corner from the restaurant. “We’ll have ample parking,” he said.
It’s estimated that the restaurant will have 200 seats with 20 seats at the bar, and a room for private events would seat another 200.