For being one of the city’s most bar-dense neighborhoods, Bay View doesn’t offer much in the way of late-night food. That will change a bit this summer when The Vanguard opens at 2659 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., in the former Home Bar location.
The bar and restaurant will specialize in gourmet sausages and bratwusts, says co-owner and manager Chris Schulist, the gregarious longtime Cactus Club bartender who left that bar to focus on this new venture. The Vanguard plans to serve food from lunchtime to bar close, offering fast takeout.
Chef Shay Linkus, formerly of Odd Duck, will create all the sausages. “We have a rough draft of the menu, and right now it looks like it will have a good amount of traditional options, maybe eight to 10 classics where you can put your own toppings on them, as well as a lot of fancier options, like curried lamb or alligator, or Korean or Jamaican bratwursts,” Schulist says.
The restaurant will also offer multiple vegetarian sausages—as many as five to start—and a host of side options. The owners have begun a complete remodel of the bar, which includes a patio, and are shooting for a late May or early June opening if all goes well.
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“We want it to be a comfortable place,” Schulist says. “It’ll work as a quick stop for people who just want to pick up some sausages on their way home or on stops between bars, we but we really want people to hang out and drink here, too. I’m a bartender: That’s what I know, and that’s what I’m good at. It’s going to be a fun bar.”
