Photo courtesy of Cafe Benelux
Cafe Benelux has opened the Lux Container Bar in the parking lot to the south of their building in the Third Ward.
Back in May, I wrote about restaurants getting creative with their business models in order to stay afloat while the pandemic had them shut down. Offering family meals, selling groceries and supplies, and creating cook-at-home meal kits were some of the ways restaurants pivoted during the first months of the pandemic.
Now that more time has passed and some dining rooms are open, restaurants once again have to come up with new ways to conduct business in an ever-changing safety situation. Navigating capacity restrictions, health precautions, and the trepidation of customers and employees about a pandemic that is not controlled have forced chefs and owners to get creative again.
There are new patios springing up everywhere. Cafe Benelux in the Third Ward, for instance, has turned a parking lot south of their building into a new patio space. It's called the Lux Container Bar, and it’s operated separately from the restaurant. A custom shipping container holds the bar where you place orders. Grab a simple sandwich and a beer, then find a spot on the 100-seat patio.
Another spot sporting a brand new patio is At Random, the retro chic cocktail bar in Bay View. While they've been offering cocktail kits, shakes-to-go and have opened for limited in-person drinking, they've created an outdoor space called Ice Cream Social. It’s modeled after a mid-century ice cream garden and will feature picnic tables, flowering plants, a walk-up window and more of the bar's signature twinkling lights.
Many restaurants are also reimagining what can happen in their spaces. At Movida, their operations were shifted to sister establishment Hotel Madrid, so they had an unused space to utilize. Now it's The Carriage House, an event space for small celebrations and gatherings like weddings, showers and rehearsal dinners with a complete catering menu.
Similarly, Honeypie in Bay View is allowing customers to "Choose Their Own Honeypie" adventure by renting out the full patio space for groups of up to 15 people. There are a number of food and drink packages to choose from, or you can work with the restaurant to create your own experience, something that's easier with small groups like this.
Fair Food
This week would have been the State Fair, and I don't know about you, but I'm missing eating the food as much as laughing about all the crazy concoctions. Lucky for us, the folks at the State Fair got creative too and have set up a fair food drive-thru.
Set to last four weeks, the drive-thru snakes through State Fair Park and on the Milwaukee Mile track. Fair vendors are set up around the park, and employees guide you as you drive to the next one. To order, a vendor employee comes up to your car, takes payment, and brings you your food. It's designed so you don't have to get out of your car, which is actually prohibited to keep everyone safe.
The vendors serve up everything from foot-long corndogs to cookie dough on a stick. Each week there’s a new crop of vendors, so check the website for your favorites. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that Saz’s and the Wisconsin Potatoes people are going to be pretty popular. And yes, the cream puffs will be available during the last 2 weeks.
While feedback for the experience has been positive, be warned that the lines for some of the vendors can be extremely long. Waits of an hour or more for just one vendor are common. So plan ahead and bring some car activities for the kids while you wait for that mozzarella marinara.
To read more New Restaurant Reality columns by Lacey Muszynski, click here.
