All photos by Lauren Kirsch
Walker’s Point was once known as a purely industrial neighborhood, with the Allen Bradley clock tower overlooking a mix of warehouses and factories populating the city blocks. What some may have seen as just a passage from the Third Ward to Bay View has seen exponential growth over the years, with many thriving small businesses, bars and restaurants popping up nearly everywhere. One of the newest and most interesting additions to this burgeoning Milwaukee neighborhood has been Camino, a bar and grill owned by Casey Rataczak.
“It was great to find a gem like this right in the middle of an area that’s really on an uptick right now,” said Casey.
Camino specializes in elevated bar food and American craft beers, with 20 rotating selections on tap.
“When it comes to my lineup I like to represent as many styles as possible,” Casey said, while pointing at the strip of tap handles lining the long wood bar. “I don’t want too many IPAs or too many stouts. I want to appeal to as many people that come in here as possible and have everyone find something that they’ll enjoy.”
The latest edition to Casey’s diverse lineup is Three Floyd’s “Live a Rich Life,” a Belgian style double IPA, which is a collaboration brew between Indiana’s Three Floyd’s and the Belgian brewery De Struise.
Before Casey was running one of the most talked about new bars in Milwaukee, he began his career in the industry in what is now the Lowlands Group then moved on to become a wholesale salesman at Beer Capital. After many years of contemplating starting his own establishment, and an additional year laying the groundwork, he opened Camino in October 2015.
Rataczak has developed a deep understanding of Milwaukee’s bar and restaurant landscape and appreciates the amount of quality dinging options in the area. He cites Morel, Movida, Shakers and La Merenda by name when explaining how much of a food renaissance the neighborhood is experiencing.
While he acknowledges the abundance of amazing restaurants in the area, he saw a lack of casual dining establishments in the area, and used this void as an opportunity to differentiate himself.
“I wanted to do something that was a little more accessible to people who were visiting or living in the neighborhood, hence the bar and grill atmosphere, but I wanted it to be more creative,” Casey said.
Balzac’s head chef Rebecca Berkshire collaborated with Casey on the menu.
While reading over Camino’s menu you can expect to find customary bar fare such as burgers and wings, but Rataczak and the Camino staff hold these dishes to the highest standard. The beef for the burgers is brought in fresh four times a week and is ground in house.
Rataczak and Berkshire also took their time in creating interesting menu items like the Beet Reuben, that comes with everything you would find on a traditional Reuben, except the meat is replaced with roasted beets, as well as the Kimcheese Sandwich, a grilled cheese sandwich on sourdough bread with kimchi in the middle.
“We’re trying to keep the menu fresh and offer something a little more interesting than your average bar and grill,” Casey said.
While the menu reflects an air of the never before seen, the atmosphere will have guests feeling comfortable as if they’ve been a regular for years. That’s because the layout of the bar is the same as previous establishments that have called 434 S. 2nd St home in the past.
“As far as the bar layout, the kitchen layout and everything else it is exactly where it was before, but we stripped it down to its skeleton and rebuilt it,” said Casey.
The bar’s interior features exposed brick walls, a long wooden bar and a stainless steel hood beam behind the bar where the food is cooked. Rataczak noticed that people enjoy seeing their food cooked right in front of them.
The wood that covers the bar was bought from Wisconsin Reclamation Project, a company that bids on barns and homes, scraps the wood, refinishes it, and then sells it to commercial and residential builders. The wood covering Camino’s bar came from a few barns in the Marquette County area.
A unique alteration that was made out of necessity was a garage in the back of the bar that they framed in and built into a food preparation area. This required getting the new building up to code from the city.
As a nod to nostalgia, Camino leases arcade games through a company called Mitchell Novelty located on National Avenue, just minutes away from Camino. The games are placed in the back corner of the bar, and are available to be played by patrons. Corner bars in Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood that Casey frequents inspired the idea.
“Every corner in Chicago has a bar with a bunch of craft beer on tap and a bunch of old school video games,” said Casey. “I thought it was a cool nostalgic thing for people to do.”
Camino currently has Ms. Pac Man and Burger Time. Casey is currently waiting on the classic arcade game Dig Dug, which he especially excited for.
“I’ve been in bars before where there was a line to play it,” Casey said of the game.
For the future, Camino is working on their permits to build and expand on their patio, which will act as a beer garden in the spring and summer. It will add about 40 community style seats, and will be a benefit to Rataczak’s plans to host more special events.
The expansion is exciting for Casey, but what’s most important is still his original mission of adding something new and exciting to an already thriving neighborhood.
“I just want to keep cranking out quality food and drinks, and just offer something different for the neighborhood,” Casey said.
