A Second Screaming Tuna Comes to Tosa

Screaming Tuna, 106 W. Seeboth St. Photo from Facebook.

After its success at 106 W. Seeboth St. in Walker’s Point, Screaming Tuna is expanding its reach. Screaming Tune Restaurant LLC has designs on the 3,000-square-foot Harwood Ave. building at 7954 Harwood Ave. near Wauwatosa’s Village area, according to the JS.

The proposed restaurant will have around 100 seats with an additional seasonal patio seating 50 extra patrons, similar to the Walker’s Point location’s 140 seats. The new location will also have 20 to 22 full-time employees. What it won’t have is that cool view of the river at its current location.

The Wauwatosa Plan Commission will consider the request for a conditional use permit for Screaming Tuna at its meeting on Jan. 11^th.

Stone Creek Coffee is also planning a location at the same building in late summer or fall of 2016, as we reported back in December.

Kabana Grill & K2 Grill

Kabana Grill at 869 W. Layton Ave. closed quietly last week and is merging with its sister restaurant, K2 Grill, at 1828 N. Farwell Ave. The two businesses will be combined into a brand new restaurant at this location.

K2 Grill is operated and owned by Uzma Nadeem and Kabana Grill was owned by her business partner and sister-in-law Tina Akbar, so I guess you could call them sister businesses. Akbar told OMC that the current restaurant is operating with the K2 Grill menu and name but a new menu is planned to launch by the end of this month. The new menu may include a daily lunch buffet as well as a Sunday brunch offering, which was offered at Kabana Grill.

The merged restaurant will have regular hours from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday with a lunch buffet available on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Both takeout and delivery are available. In the meantime, diners can still enjoy the regular K2 Grill dinner menu, weekend buffet and Pronto lunch menu with combination plates starting at $9.99.

A grand opening celebration is expected to launch in the next couple of weeks.

Drink Wisconsinbly Pub

Wisconsin and beer go hand in hand, but not always responsibly. Three-year-old merchandise brand Drink Wisconsinbly with all that in mind and will now be starting Drink Wisconsinbly Pub at the former location of Blue Jacket, 135 E. National Ave. in Walker’s Point.

As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports, the new bar and restaurant sprang from a partnership with former Blue Jacket co-owner Laura van Heijningen and Nebi Torbica formerly of the late bar Moct. Joining them are chef David Sapp, former sous chef at Movida, and menu creator Kevin Sloan, chef for the Pabst Theater Group’s venues and former owner of The Social.

There will of course be many drinks available, with the focus on mixing old fashioneds and pouring Wisconsin craft beers and spirits. The menu is made up of typical Wisconsin tavern and supper club fare along with staples like sausages and state cheeses. Not only will there be a fish fry, but the pub is grinding its own beef for burgers.

The bar and restaurant expects to open sometime this month.

Easy Tyger

When we last covered Easy Tyger, we expected them to open sometime early this month. But as OnMilwaukee reports, the business officially opened last Saturday. They also celebrated their opening with a New Year’s Eve party.

The menu features a variety of internationally-inspired small plates priced $9-$16. Items include Vietnamese Banh Mi, Japanese ramen, Peruvian scallop ceviche, Chinese steam buns with char siu brisket, Mexican-style lamb tacos el pastor, African-style chicken wings tossed in a piri piri (Swahili for pepper) glaze and more. Beverages include $5-10 cocktails, an international wine list, eight taps made up of four domestic brews and four imports as well as a bottle list of 40 to 50 options.

The restaurant serves at their location at 1230 E. Brady St. on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to midnight and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for brunch and 5 to 9 p.m. afterwards. Happy hours specials are from 3 to 6 p.m. daily as well as during the final hour of every shift to accommodate service professionals. The restaurant is closed on Tuesdays.

Safe House

The spy-themed Safe House will close from Jan. 30^th to March 1^st for renovations including a new coat of paint, new tables and chairs, kitchen upgrades, new carpeting, new heating and air conditioning systems and other improvements, newly appointed senior vice president of SafeHouse Restaurants Peggy Williams-Smith told the Milwaukee Business Journal. Other renovations may include new secret compartments and an examination of the walls for any wire taps from the enemy.

We can confirm that the “alibi booth,” which allows patrons to lay down a cover story while calling friends with audio of warzones and more playing in the background, is getting some upgrades. People will be able to take photographs while in the booth to reinforce their alibis.

The SafeHouse was bought by Milwaukee-based Marcus Corp. last June after the retirement of owner and founder Dave Baldwin, who died last December. Marcus hopes to expand the restaurant to new locations outside of Milwaukee. They already identified another Midwestern location, which will be announced soon.

The Newsroom Pub, located right in front of the alleyway housing the SafeHouse at 137 E. Wells St., will remain open during the renovation, but will not serve food as the kitchen being upgraded serves both restaurants.

North Avenue Grill

North Avenue Grill, a restaurant inspired by classic American diners at 7225 W. North Ave. in Wauwatosa, is getting an expansion and a remodeling. The restaurant is expanding to a next door space formerly occupied by a laundromat.

Mike Topolovich, who took over the establishment in 2013 from former owners Jon Anne Willow and Patti Wenzel, told OMC that he plans to update the interior while doubling its seating capacity and adding a larger and more comfortable waiting area. He also plans on adding long bench seating on one wall and additional table seating overall. The kitchen is “moving from a seven-foot cooking hood to a 20-foot hood to nearly triple out cooking capacity,” said Topolovich, adding that the expanded kitchen will allow for an expanded dinner menu.

Topolovich has already filed a request for a conditional use permit with the City of Wauwatosa and hopes for construction to begin by the end of the month. The restaurant will be closed for a while to accommodate the construction, but Topolovich hopes to keep downtime to a minimum.

The restaurant is currently open Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Now Selling: Fast Foodie

Want to buy a food truck for a half million or so?

Fast Foodie, a food truck business and creator of the global taco (or Globaco™), is selling its food truck business to focus on their Love Dust spice blends, according to their Facebook page. They encourage patrons looking to start their own food truck business or who own a craft brewery and don’t want to spend $100,00 building a kitchen for their tasting rooms to consider the offer.

The food trailer went on sale last Sunday on Craigslist for $450,000. The 24-foot trailer includes two fryers, a flat top, oven, three-compartment sink, large fridge, large freezer, two serving windows and a fully-functional half bath. The seller is also offering a five-year-old pick-up truck with only 45K miles to turn the trailer into a full food truck.

Now Closing: Simmer

Popular food truck, café and caterer Simmer has closed its two locations at 718 N. Water St. and at a kiosk at the food court of Mayfair Mall, according to a Monday post on their Facebook page.

Owners Steve Perlstein and Jennifer Block told OMC that the kiosk at Mayfair drained too much of their resources and didn’t amount to much business. They eventually decided to change their direction and close the business. They’re not sure where they’re headed, but are seeking food-related positions around the Milwaukee area.

“We really gave it a good effort.” Perlstein told the publication. “It was a great three years, and I definitely don’t regret it. It was hard, but really rewarding. And now it’s just time to try something new.”

Did you enjoy Simmer? Give us your thoughts in the comment section below.