New Pizza, Mexican, Pakistani Places

Future location of 2 Mesa, 4110 W. Martin Dr. Photo from the City of Milwaukee.

Those who know Milwaukee’s dining scene know all about chef and owner Michael Feker, whose ground-breaking Il Mito restaurant started in Walker’s Point years ago, then moved to East Town and is now located on 69th and North in Wauwatosa. Feker and his wife Maricela, will now be opening a Mexican restaurant called 2 Mesa  at 4110 W. Martin Dr., in the building that once housed Birdie’s Cafe and Highland Park Pies. The Fekers plan to serve breakfast, lunch and dinner at the new restaurant.

The food will include favorite dishes and family recipes from Maricela, who grew up in Jalisco, Mexico. The Journal Sentinel’s Carol Deptolla has more details:

In the morning, it would be a coffee and juice bar; afternoons and evenings, it would serve cocktails.

The restaurant, which Feker expects to open in late December, would serve what he calls “simple foods that are really sophisticated and layered,” with some recipes coming from his wife’s family. Mesa is Spanish for table; the name is a reference to the dining table at home and at the restaurant, Feker said.

Prices would range from about $2 for some tacos to about $17. The menu would include dishes such as carne asada and tacos árabes, a style of marinated pork cooked on a vertical rotisserie.

The building is currently undergoing reservations. The restaurant will be in walking distance of the Harley-Davidson headquarters and Miller Brewing plant and offices.

Korean Restaurant Coming to Erie St.

In August, The Hinterland Erie Street Gastropub closed its doors after a decade at 222 E. Erie St. In early 2018, a Korean fusion restaurant named Char’d is expected to take its place.

On Milwaukee’s Lori Fredrich reports on the paperwork filed with the city for the restaurant:

According to Jongsoo Kim, registered agent for the restaurant, details of the concept are still being developed…

Char’d plans to be open for both lunch and dinner.

Owners of Char’d are husband and wife team Lane Kim and Choonghoon Lee of goRi Food Entertainment, Inc.

Sweet Diner Opens

After a soft opening last week, Sweet Diner (239 E. Chicago St.) in the Third Ward is now open to the public. The owner is Chicago restaurateur George Prassas.

The atmosphere is upscale casual. The primary focus is on breakfast foods, with some brunch items and upscale diner food, such as sandwiches. Meals range from $9-$12, and the restaurant also offers a selection of beer, wine and signature cocktails. Milwaukee Magazine’s Ann Christenson offers more details:

With a bright, modern interior — an open dining room and bar area with high ceilings, exposed brick and wooden floors — it’s the antithesis of the old-school diner.

Menu options are sweet and savory. Of the diner classics, there’s the SD egg plate (three eggs, breakfast potatoes, toast), “famous” ham off the bone (with eggs, potatoes and toast), chorizo and scrambled egg tacos and classic avocado toast ($8-$17). Sweet offerings include cinnamon French toast, several kinds of pancakes (chocolate chip, caramel apple) and cornbread waffles (with optional Memphis fried chicken), $9-$11-plus.

According to their Facebook page, Sweet Diner is open from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Blaze Pizza Coming to Oakland Ave.

Blaze Pizza will take over the former Five Guys location at 2901 N. Oakland Ave.

According to Ald. Nik Kovac, Blaze Pizza operators have applied for a Food-Dealer Restaurant license, Class B Fermented Malt Beverage Retailer’s license and Class C Wine Retailer’s license. The applicants expect beer and wine sales to make up 1 percent of their total sales.

According to license applications filed with the City of Milwaukee, the proprietors expect to be open 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday, 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 10:30 a.m. to 12 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

If approved, this will be the third Blaze Pizza in the Milwaukee area. The other two are located in the Brownstone Shopping Center in Brookfield and at Bayshore Town Center in Glendale.

Shah Jee’s Adding New Locations

The Pakistani restaurant Shah Jee’s will be adding two more restaurants by the end of the year. The establishment at 770 N. Jefferson St. will be joined by a new location downtown and another in West Allis.

Azhar Shah owns Shah Jee’s with his son Khizar, and hopes to have both locations open before the end of December. OMC’s Lori Fredrich has more information:

The first new restaurant will be located at 228 W. Wells St. in the storefront that formerly housed a Subway. Shah says the Wells Street location will keep the same weekday lunch hours (11 a.m. to 2 p.m.) as the Jefferson Street location.

The location’s menu will be identical to the Jefferson Street location, he says, with dishes like daal masoor (spiced red lentils), chana masala (garbonzos cooked with tomato and onions), aalu palak (spinach and potatoes), saag paneer and chicken masala.

However, the second location, taking the place of Ling’s Chinese at 3933 S. 76th St., will also offer dinner service, thanks to a relatively large dining room. Shah says he expects the South Side location to be open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and will also feature a slightly expanded menu.

Now Closing: The Eastsider Bar?

While we learned last week that Von Trier would not be another closure on North Avenue, the same might not be true for The Eastsider (1732 E. North Ave.). An establishment named Baccanera could take its place, according to a liquor license application from Alex Sperry.

OMC’s Molly Snyder had this to say about the possible change:

OnMilwaukee contacted current owner Jason Growel who says it’s a possibility ownership and concept could change, but there were a few hurdles to hop first.

Growel purchased The Eastsider – which has been a tavern since the post-Prohibition days – about a decade ago. He remodeled the space in late 2009 / early 2010.

Vine Society Opening in Bay View

Two former All Purpose employees have found a new calling in the “exploration and appreciation” of wine. Calvin Anderson and Jordan Burich plan to open a wine bar and shop named Vine Society at 2481 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. in Bay View.

Burich talked to Tyler Maas of Milwaukee Record about the “whimsical features” the bar and shop will have:

“We were talking about pop-ups and Calvin and I were both like, ‘Hey, we should do a crazy wine shop where we do whatever kind of weird wines we want and can have pinball machines and play records, show movies, and have a shop that isn’t like a library,’” Burich says…

The space will exist as a retail shop and a cozy wine bar with an Italian-style happy hour snack buffet. As the name would suggest, Vine Society will also offer a subscription service with products the staff will curate to fit specific tastes. Some beer and cider will be available, but the store will focus primarily on a breadth of wine that suits any preference and all budgets.

And what could be better than a breadth of wine?

Vine Society aims to open in spring of 2018, with a soft opening planned for Valentine’s Day.