February 2022 Restaurant News

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Several new restaurants are in the works throughout the Milwaukee area, so this spring and summer should bring a bounty of new openings.

Saffron, a new restaurant featuring Indian cuisine, will open at 223 N. Water St., along the Milwaukee Riverwalk. Owners Fatima and Hanish Kumar state that the restaurant will have an “upscale twist” with farm-to-table, organic, vegan and gluten-free options.

Many people were dismayed by the closing of Caitlin Cullen’s Tandem restaurant (1848 W. Fond du Lac Ave.), which focused on providing meals to those in need in the Lindsay Heights neighborhood. But chef Rosetta Bond will continue Cullen’s community service legacy with 1700 Pull Up, a restaurant that will feature a soul food menu including stuffed turkey legs, macaroni and cheese, greens, yams, dressing and more.

Milwaukee Acting Mayor Cavalier Johnson helped celebrate the grand opening and ribbon cutting of AN OX Café, 7411 W. Hampton Ave. AN OX Café, named after owners Sia Xiong’s and Johnni Sihavong’s birth year, the Chinese zodiac year of the ox, serves Lao and Thai specialties. Look for the Larb meat salad with thin-sliced beef, rice flour, fresh lime juice, red onion and fresh mint, soups such as pho, made with rice noodles, beef soup, beef, meatballs and tendons, and volcano chicken, a lightly breaded chicken breast served with sautéed cabbage, carrots and the restaurant's signature volcano sauce. The restaurant also has private event space.

La Crema, (3431 E Plankinton Ave., Cudahy) a breakfast and lunch restaurant, opened this past week in the historic Queen Anne style building that formerly housed Samano’s Mexican restaurant. La Crema’s menu features breakfast favorites, pancakes, French toast, skillets and omelets, along with sandwiches, burgers and salads. They’re open daily from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Benson’s Restaurant Group (formerly Hospitality Democracy) entered a joint venture with Becher Development, LLC, the firm behind the Harbor District’s R1VER campus, to build and launch a new restaurant in that space. The indoor/outdoor restaurant will be located on the Kinnickinnic River. The name and menu concept will be announced at a later date.

The Wolf on Broadway, the second venture by Uncle Wolfie’s Breakfast Tavern owners Wolfgang Schaefer and Whitney McAllister, is planned for the new Kinn boutique hotel, 600 N. Broadway, in downtown Milwaukee. The restaurant, which will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, is expected to open by midsummer.

A new café, The Boiler House, is planned to open this spring in the former Pabst Brewing Co. complex, 1243 N. 10th St.

A new café specializing in Ethiopian-style coffee is planned for 7629 W. Greenfield Ave., in West Allis. It’s proposed for a 978-square-foot space formerly occupied by Schroeder Used Books & Music. In addition to Ethiopian coffee, known for bright fruited and floral notes, the café would serve teas, pastries, soup, salads, cold sandwiches, fruit and snacks.

This and That

On Feb. 1, Pizza Shuttle (1827 N. Farwell Ave.) became employee owned. Long-time owners Mark Gold and Louie Siecinski had considered selling for several years but wanted to keep it local. They teamed up with New York-based Teamshares to implement an employee-owned model. The employees will be eligible to own their stock after one year, and they will have access to a portal that can show them stock worth and opt to receive dividends from the company.

Kudos to Solly’s Grille, in Glendale, for being one of six restaurants to receive the 2022 America's Classics Award from the James Beard Foundation. Known for their butter burgers, Solly’s was one of the locally owned restaurants honored for its "timeless appeal" and "beloved regionally for quality food that reflects the character of its community,” per the foundation’s announcement.