Fool’s Errand to open in ex-Fauntleroy site
The owners of the former Fauntleroy in the Third Ward will open Fool’s Errand in that space, a casual restaurant serving comfort foods.
The pandemic forced the closure in July of Fauntleroy, a modern French restaurant at 316 N. Milwaukee St., and it’s shaping the sort of restaurant Fool’s Errand will be. But progress against COVID-19 helped persuade the owners to try a new restaurant, even if it seems like a fool’s errand, they said.
“With the vaccines rolling out and the positivity (case) rate dropping, it feels like there’s hope in the future,” said Dan Van Rite, who’s opening the restaurant with business partner Dan Jacobs.
At first, Fool’s Errand will open for takeout on Friday and Saturday nights starting March 19. Customers should be able to order online beginning March 14 through the website, foolserrandmke.com, and reserve times through the website for curbside pickup.
Then, on April Fool’s Day, the restaurant will open for in-person dining. Dinner will be served Thursday to Saturday as of April 1 and brunch served on Sundays, with reservations available now through Tock.
“We wanted something that’s a neighborhood spot,” with a neighborhood-bar atmosphere that would appeal to nearby residents, Van Rite said. The dining room is being lightly redecorated with images of “snipes,” as in a snipe hunt, another term for fool’s errand.
“None of us wanted to close Fauntleroy; we both loved what we did there, we loved what the staff did there,” Jacobs said. But people perceived Fauntleroy as a specialoccasion restaurant, he said. So Fool’s Errand is built to draw customers a few times a month with a lower-key atmosphere and a menu that a friend told Jacobs “reads like a warm hug.”
“My favorite food groups are fried chicken and cheeseburgers,” Jacobs said, and he likened the menu to a “greatest hits” compilation of comfort foods that the chefs enjoy. “We want to have a good time with it.”
The restaurant, which marks the return of Fauntleroy chef de cuisine Blair Herridge, will serve almost as many sandwiches as entrees, a mix of old school (fried bologna and battered-and-fried Monte Cristo) and new (avocado toast), with a couple of burgers and tweaked classics, such as BLTs with thick slices of house-cured bacon and hydroponic tomatoes, sparked with celery vinegar on Texas toast.
Main dishes run the gamut from fish fry, potato pierogi and smoked-gouda mac and cheese to steak Diane, crabcakes with mustard butter, and salmon with bearnaise sauce. Sandwiches are $8 to $14, and entrees mainly $14 to $24.
Entrees largely are a la carte, so customers could order fried chicken to share with sides of their choosing, like heartier braised greens, potato salad, hash brown fingers or coleslaw, or lighter charred snap peas with pea butter or mixed greens. Sides are $3 to $6.
The menu also has smaller plates for snacks or a first course, such as deviled eggs, matzo ball soup, broccoli salad, chicken liver toast with peach jam, and wedge salad with an “everything” crumble of sesame and sunflower seeds, garlic and shallot. Those prices span $3 to $10.
Capacity will be limited when the restaurant opens, and other precautionary measures against COVID-19 include air filtration, servers in masks and dividers between tables.
“We had a lot of success at Dandan” with the measures, Jacobs said. At his and Van Rite’s American Chinese restaurant at 360 E. Erie St., employees have been tested for the coronavirus weekly, and none has tested positive since the restaurant returned to indoor dining, Jacobs said.
“We’ve been able to weather the storm,” he said.