Photo by Lauren Kirsch
The new apartment and condo neighborhood along Commerce Street just north of the Milwaukee River between Humboldt Avenue and Pleasant Street is named for a long-gone railroad spur, the “Beerline B,” that once brought supplies to the great Downtown breweries.
The new Beerline Café (2076 N. Commerce St.) is something else entirely: a friendly, cosmopolitan, casual, inexpensive, all-vegetarian restaurant specializing in sweet and savory crepes, panini sandwiches, salads, soups and creative specialties, with a full range of coffee and espresso drinks, hot and cold teas, smoothies, juices, wines from the bottle or on tap and an excellent selection of Milwaukee craft beers. At least half of the menu is also available in vegan or gluten-free versions. I can heartily recommend the delicate spring roll crepe with spicy Asian peanut sauce.
This is the first Milwaukee café to earn a Green Restaurant Association three-star rating for low environmental impact. Open 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday, the spacious, sun-filled café features Wisconsin’s largest “living wall,” a giant tapestry made of growing plants. This café shines.
