New Downtown Steakhouse Opening

Rendering of the future home of RARE Steakhouse. Rendering by Kahler Slater.

Rare Steakhouse

Milwaukee will have another steakhouse option when Rare Steakhouse opens on Saturday, June 4. The restaurant is located at 833 E. Michigan Ave. and will be open seven days a week, including weekday lunch hours. Lori Fredrich of onmilwaukee.com adds more details:

“The restaurant, which specializes in USDA Prime steaks aged in-house from Meats By Linz of Chicago, will also feature a menu including raw fresh seafood, entrees featuring poultry, seafood and a vegetarian market plate along with classic steakhouse sides and appetizers.

Rare Milwaukee will be open for lunch Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dinner will be served Monday through Thursday from 5 to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturdays from 5 to 11 p.m. and Sundays from 5 to 9 p.m.

Reservations can be made online at raresteakandseafood.com, through OpenTable and by phone at (414) 273-7273.”

Like Minds Brewery

Back in April the news broke that Like Minds Brewing Company would open a brewery in Milwaukee. The new brewery, co-owned by Sanford’s Justin Aprahamian, will be located at 823 E. Hamilton St. and will even have a food menu to compliment Like Minds beer. If construction falls into place, Like Minds is aiming for a late June opening. Ann Christenson of milwaukeemag.com adds more:

“Aprahamian and his sous chefs, Jimmy Cababa and Paul Funk (the former of Sanford, the latter of the University Club and Hinterland) – will be implementing a food program that complements and incorporates Like Minds beer and that isn’t dictated by hard-and-fast rules.

Without any concrete promises on what specifically you’ll be able to eat, Aprahamian expects to have 14-15 items – a “really good” soup, salad, and vegetable dish, maybe a burger! With Funk on board, charcuterie is almost guaranteed.

The partners will also utilize the patio. As for beers, Aprahamian hopes to open with some 10 varieties of Like Minds beers.”

Hello Falafel

A new player in Bay View at 2301 S. Howell Ave. is Hello Falafel, serving mostly vegan Middle Eastern-style food. The small menu consists of salads, sandwiches and side dishes, and the restaurant is even equipped with a juice bar. Carol Deptolla of jsonline.com adds this:

“Besides serving a classic falafel sandwich, the restaurant has variations like one with salt-roasted beet spread, fennel, cucumber salad, sumac onion, green tahini and goat cheese. It makes two hot sauces that diners can apply to their sandwiches, one red (harissa) and one green (zhoug). Sides include lentil soup, eggplant fries and fried cauliflower with herbed labneh and date-walnut chutney.

Hello Falafel will announce on Facebook or Instagram when it will begin taking phone orders for carryout.

For those who dine in, the restaurant has about 20 seats; the patio is unlikely to open before next year.”

Miss Molly’s Cafe & Pastry Shop

Molly Sullivan, the owner of catering company Miss Molly’s Pastries, is buying a building in Washington Heights where she will open Miss Molly’s Cafe & Pastry Shop. The building, at 5901 W. Vliet St., last housed the restaurant Nouri, and before that, Cafe Perrin, but for more than two decades was the home of Suzy’s Cream Cheesecakes, which might bode well for a bakery. Sullivan, who has also worked as the pastry chef at Braise restaurant, will be getting the ingredients for her cafe menu through Braise’s RSA, which connects area farmers with restaurateurs. “So it will have a focus on local, healthy ingredients — seasonal,” she told Deptolla, who adds more details:

“Miss Molly’s would be open for breakfast and lunch six days a week, Sullivan said, with counter service. It would sell quick, healthful options, like quinoa salad with roasted sweet potatoes or an egg sandwich with arugula and house-made mayonnaise. The cafe would have grab-and-go sandwiches for commuters or diners on a quick lunch break…

‘Then I’m going to have a full bakery, which is in contrast to that,’ she said, laughing.

She plans to have morning sweets, such as scones, muffins, cinnamon rolls and cookies, as well as patisserie, such as tarts, eclairs and individually portioned cakes.”

Northpoint Custard

Summer is coming up quick, which means Northpoint Custard, located at 2272 N. Lincoln Memorial Dr., is open for business. The lakefront drive-in gave away 150 free burgers to the first people in line on opening day (May 21). Ann Christenson of milwaukeemag.com adds:

“The shop’s regular hours are 11 a.m.-8 p.m. (through Labor Day, weather dependent). Besides frozen custard cones, sundaes, malts and shakes, the shop offers various burgers, grilled cheese, fish sandwich, fried cheese curds, onion rings, fries and more.”

Goodbye Times Square Pizza and Atomic Chocolate

Fans of Atomic Chocolate and Times Square Pizza were sad when this unusual but delicious dual operation in Walker’s Point shut down in 2014. Owner Sean Henninger closed his combined pizzeria and chocolate shop with the idea of relocating in town, but told Deptolla that relocating in Milwaukee proved too costly and he will instead to be opening far far away: in Mineral Point, WI. His new pizzeria — to be called Popolo Pizzeria — will open soon. As Deptolla reports:

“The location, at 20 Commerce St., already had a wood-burning pizza oven from its days as MP Dining Co. and was virtually turnkey, Henninger said. It also has living quarters over the restaurant.

‘This is exactly the restaurant I’ve always wanted,’ he said.”