When the corner restaurant is also the corner grocer
Milwaukee spots offer specialty foods and essentials
Milwaukee diners can turn to a favorite restaurant not only for ready-to-eat entrees but increasingly for groceries to prepare later, like beef, rhubarb, eggs and butter.
With revenue still below the pre-coronavirus era, restaurants are exploring other ways to make money. One is to sell provisions, often Wisconsin products and items they’ve made themselves, like salads and and charcuterie.
Selling specialty items to take home was something of a trend well before the pandemic — think of places like Bavette La Boucherie in the Third Ward and Birch + Butcher at downtown’s northern edge, with select, packaged items on their shelves.
But more turned to selling groceries, usually online, once the pandemic hit. At that time in mid-March, not all grocers offered online ordering with curbside pickup for shoppers leery of entering stores, and the ones that did often couldn’t fill orders for days because of high demand.
Don’s Diner, 1100 S. First St., drew attention when it turned itself into Don’s Grocery & Liquor, selling everyday necessities — such as bleach, canned soups, snacks and the ever-elusive toilet paper — through online orders in the early days of Gov. Tony Evers’ stay-athome order.
Co-owner Andrei Mikhail said what the restaurant had used as a private dining room has been given over to the grocery and liquor business. It will remain even after the diner fully reopens, so customers can stop in to pick up grocery items and also get carryout while a 1951 jukebox plays.
“Life goes on, and there’s a lot of positive things to
take from a difficult time,” like the chance to try new ideas, Mikhail said.
Customers’ shopping has shifted from the early days of the pandemic, he said, from a focus on essentials like cleaning supplies to more of what they want and can afford, like the restaurant’s burgers and boozy shakes to go, or a bottle of bourbon from the liquor store. Still, he said, the cocktail kits were just as popular in the pandemic’s early days, and toilet paper still is a big seller.
Braise restaurant, 1101 S. Second St., has long offered its Braise on the Go, delivery or now curbside pickup of the ingredients it has on hand.
That means produce from local farmers such as potatoes and asparagus as well as foraged items (ramps, most recently, with morel mushrooms to come), and
state products such as cherry juice, cheeses, jams and maple syrup.
It sells flour (grown and milled in Wisconsin) as well as yeast — items that frequently were sold out at grocery stores. Braise even sells 5-year-old sourdough starter for experienced bakers. (Many new bread bakers have created their own sourdough at home during the pandemic, but older starter translates into more flavorful bread.)
Various kinds of meat, such as lamb, goat and high-demand beef are stocked at Braise, too, and because of the owner’s network of local producers, he can supply quarter and half animals, as well.
Chef-owner David Swanson said he began Braise on the Go partly to sell harder-to-find products for students of his cooking classes. Now, he said, “we’re trying to save people another trip to the grocery store for the more common items.”
Now that even beef is harder to find in grocery stores because of coronavirus outbreaks at large meatpacking plants, Braise is selling items like ground beef. Customers have wanted to buy his entire stock — say, 80 pounds.
“Our farmers are supplying stuff, don’t panic,” Swanson says.
Besides basics, Braise sells items like its demi-glace for customers who are cracking open their Julia Child cookbooks
“Just like everyone else right now, we’re trying to pivot to see what works. Right now, fine dining-ish French food isn’t going to lend itself to takeout.” Dan Jacobs Fauntleroy co-owner
while quarantining.
“It’s fun things like that that we can offer to people,” Swanson said.
Groceries can be ordered online through Braise’s website. Swanson is planning to open a physical marketplace in the building next to the restaurant on Washington Street, although the pandemic has slowed progress on that.
Meanwhile, Fauntleroy, the Frenchish restaurant at 316 N. Milwaukee St., will open a market where shoppers can
pick up items starting June 2, from noon to 6 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays.
It’s converting the lounge at the front of the restaurant to a shop, complete with a freezer, cooler and shelves. The main dining room will remain, for when table service can resume.
Customers will find locally produced items such as bread from Rocket Baby Bakery, coffee from the roaster Anodyne and produce from area farmers, including greens and mushrooms. Frozen seafood to cook at home will be sold, as will prepared foods such as frozen dumplings from sibling restaurant Dandan, baked goods from the Batches wholesale bakery and roasted-carrot salad from Fauntleroy.
“It’s kind of us curating a collection of our favorite stuff,” co-owner Dan Jacobs said.
Online ordering with curbside pickup will be available through Tock, via the Fauntleroy website. Customers who want to browse will find a shopping format with elements of Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s — a limited number of shoppers at a time (six to eight) who must wear masks and leave their reusable bags at home. Hand sanitizer will be available at the door, and staff will keep frequently touched spots, such as cooler and freezer handles and the checkout area, clean.
“Just like everyone else right now, we’re trying to pivot to see what works,” said Jacobs, who now is offering a takeout menu of ready-to-eat Middle Eastern items at Fauntleroy. “Right now, fine dining-ish French food isn’t going to lend itself to takeout.”
Other restaurants now offering groceries for pickup:
• Engine Company No. 3, 217 W. National Ave., online ordering for Wisconsin products, such as fresh mushrooms, bok choy and other produce, locally grown and milled flour, chickens, eggs, locally roasted coffee and prepared foods to heat such as quiche.
• Little Duck Kitchen, 2301 S. Howell Ave., online ordering for a weekly market basket selected by the Little Duck and Odd Duck crew, for pickup between 3 and 5 p.m. Saturdays. The $150 basket includes locally grown produce, cocktail kits, wine, cheese, charcuterie, fresh flowers and Odd Duck favorite items such as jams and roasted nuts. The basket also includes recipes.
• HoneyPie Cafe, 2643 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., online ordering for items such as sliced ham and turkey, Wisconsin dairy products, Breadsmith bread, HoneyPie Bakeshop’s dinner rolls and granola, Wisconsin honey and toilet paper.
• Rare Steakhouse, 833 E. Michigan St., has a “butcher shop” menu for callin orders of steaks such as filets, ribeye and porterhouse, plus a few seafood options.
• Ardent, 1751 N. Farwell Ave., will begin selling cuts of beef from the owner’s father’s farm and other items starting June 11, available Thursdays and Saturdays. Online ordering will be through Tock at the Ardent website. Besides rotating cuts of beef, ground beef, hot dogs and charcuterie will be available.