Downtown Has New Indian Restaurant

Future home of India Palace Downtown, 228 W. Wells St. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Triciclo Peru and India Palace are both getting second locations, with Triciclo Peru moving into the Crossroad Collective food hall on the East Side and India Palace opening a downtown location called India Palace Downtown. The Journal Sentinel’s Carol Deptolla reports:

Triciclo Perú Express will sell Peruvian street food such as ready-to-eat empanadas as well as take-and-bake empanadas, salads, ceviche and desserts.

The restaurant is owned by Mario Diaz and Amy Narr, who opened the original Triciclo Perú at 3801 W. Vliet St. in December 2019. Previously, the couple operated a food truck.

Triciclo Perú Express is taking over the stall that had been Juana Taco’s.

Customers can place online orders for pickup or delivery through CrossroadsCollectiveMKE.com or stop in at the food hall, 2238 N. Farwell Ave., for contactless ordering. Distanced seats are available inside the food hall or on the heated patio.

Meanwhile, India Palace Downtown is open for quick weekday takeout lunches at 228 W. Wells St.

The restaurant, opening at a former Shah Jee’s Pakistani restaurant location, will have employees pack up items from a buffet for customers to take out, although some seats are available at the restaurant for dining in. Diners choose three entrées including curries from the buffet, which will be served with rice, bread and a soft drink.

Hours at the Wells Street restaurant are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Friday. Dinner hours could be added later, Dhiman said.

Toppers Pizza and Planet Smoothie Coming to Glendale

A new Toppers Pizza place and Wisconsin’s first Planet Smoothie location have been proposed for the multi-tenant retail strip located at 5464 N. Port Washington Rd. The Toppers Pizza would be taking over a former Subway space, while the Arizona-based Planet Smoothie would operate out of a space that was formerly an insurance office. The Biztimes’ Maredithe Meyer reports:

Toppers in Glendale would offer delivery and carryout, as well as indoor table seating for eight people, according to city documents. The company expects to hire a total of 30 employees, with about 10 employees per shift. Proposed business hours are seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., which requires an additional conditional use permit from the city.

Plans for the store are being proposed by Chuck Kappes, director of design-construction at Toppers Pizza, Inc. Construction would begin Nov. 30, with a target opening date of Jan. 28, 2021.

Planet Smoothie’s Glendale location is being proposed by franchisee Sherri Luckett of Luckeshe Holdings LLC, and is slated to open in May 2021. It will have limited seating and a total of five employees, with up to three working at one time. Store hours are 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and depending on foot traffic, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays, according to city documents.

The Vanguard Updates Menu

The Vanguard (2659 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.), known for its unique take on sausages, extensive whiskey offerings and broadcasting retro television shows and wrestling matches, has updated its menu. It has swapped out seven of its old menu items for a variety of new options, including several specials that the restaurant has been running during the pandemic. That includes some new sausage dishes: The Sartorelli (an Italian sausage with pepperoni, sweet marinara, red and green peppers, onion and mozzarella); Bangers and Mash (a bunless pork, brown sugar, sage and garlic sausage with cheesy mashed potatoes, onion gravy, pickled sweet peas and chives); and The Huntsman (a bunless venison, bacon, red wine and rosemary sausage served with mashed sweet potatoes, baked beans, braised pearl onions and zinfandel reduction.

A new sandwich has been added as well: The Morita, a take on the Japanese katsu sandwich with brined and panko-breaded fried pork chop with miso honey mustard, American cheese, shredded napa cabbage and sesame sauce served on Texas toast. The Vanguard has also added some new sides to the menu, such as a classic poutine, and a chicken wing special on Mondays.

Wood-Fired Pizza for West Allis

Flour Girl & Flame, a food trailer that made a name selling its wood-fired pizzas during the summer, has found a permanent home in West Allis at 8121 W. National Ave. The restaurant has been projected to open as early as spring of 2021. Deptolla reports:

Besides the pizzas, characterized by a slow rise for the dough but a quick bake at 900 degrees, (Chef Dana) Spandet is considering appetizers such as scallops, oysters and bone marrow.

She hopes to sell breads — challah, bialys and foccacia. Whatever’s made at the restaurant, be it pizza, appetizers or bread, would come out of the wood-burning oven, identical to the one on the trailer; it will be the only piece of cooking equipment in the restaurant, the chef said.

…She’ll be allowed to build raised beds at the city-owned green space next door for growing peppers, tomatoes, edible flowers and other produce for the pizzas.

The restaurant will have about 15 to 20 seats, including a chef’s table where diners can watch pizzas being baked at the oven, but Spandet expects most pizzas will be sold as carryout, and that a number of them will go to seating at the green space in good weather.

For Spandet, a bonus of the site is the smokehouse still in the building’s basement — it once was home to a butcher shop. She hopes to make use of the smokehouse again someday.

New Cafe and Cocktail Lounge in Franklin

A new cafe and cocktail lounge called Blend Coffee & Cocktails is now open at the Rock Sports Complex in Franklin. It will operate out of the space next door to the flagship Wheel & Sprockett location at 7044 S. Ballpark Dr. Meyer reports:

By day, Blend will serve hot and cold coffee drinks from Colectivo, Frothy Monkey, and Dark Matter, teas from Rishi Tea, and bakery items from Troubadour Bakery. In the evenings, the concept will transition its menu to specialty cocktails, martinis, wine, and beer.

Due to operational challenges brought on by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Blend will initially offer to-go cafe service and limited capacity for its cocktail lounge based on COVID-19 safety recommendations.

Customers can place orders for pick up via the Toast Takeout mobile app.

Wonderstate Coffee Closing Third Ward Cafe

Wonderstate Coffee has decided to indefinitely shut the doors at its cafe located at 232 E. Erie St. in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward. Formerly known as Kickapoo Coffee, the cafe cited the pandemic as its reasoning for closing. But the restaurant also faced an effort by staff to unionize the restaurant and its 10 staff, as Urban Milwaukee has reported. The staff were in the midst of holding a National Labor Relations Board election. The restaurant’s management did not respond to requests for comment, but several days later posted a message announcing its closing, as Deptolla reported:

“We have been working since the onset of COVID to find ways to remain open in Milwaukee in a way that was both safe for our staff and financially viable. Unfortunately, the reality is that staying open is not feasible at this time,” says the Instagram post announcing the closing.

It added that the owners were “hopeful that once the pandemic subsides,” the cafe will reopen.

…The Third Ward cafe has been selling coffee and food only to go during the pandemic. It will continue to sell its coffee, espresso drinks and pastries from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. until Dec. 21.