Electric Lime Headed For Former Mikey’s

After a little more than a year in business, Electric Lime Taqueria is temporarily closed as it prepares to reopen at a new, larger location. Its final night was Sept. 7.

Though the taqueria is yet to announce an address for the new location, it appears it won’t be moving far — its signature pink and green decor recently appeared in the former Mikey’s space, 811 N. Jefferson St., a few blocks north of Electric Lime’s previous location.

Mikey’s, a restaurant and tavern, operated for more than a decade before closing in 2018. The building’s storefront windows overlook Cathedral Square Park, a view that matches up with a recent photo posted to the Electric Lime Facebook page, captioned “NEW ViEW.”

Electric Lime initially opened in August, 2021 at 730 N. Milwaukee St. Ostensibly a modern Mexican food restaurant, Electric Lime also occupied the second and third floors of the building, where things got zestier after hours at the taqueria’s late-night dance club, dubbed Electric Lime at Night on social media.

The taqueria portion of the business served a menu of tacos, tortas, snacks, bowls and desserts, including options for vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free eaters. Cocktails made with fresh juice and house made infused liquors, plus beer, wine and hard seltzer were also available.

Before Electric Lime moved in, the Milwaukee Street building was home to Dick’s Pizza & Pleasure. Similar to the taqueria, Dick’s had a ground-floor restaurant space and a not-so-secret upstairs nightclub.

In 2017, Dick’s was the site of a goat incident that nearly cost the establishment its license. Alderman Bob Bauman that year followed up on complaints about employees allowing a live goat onto the premises, Urban Milwaukee previously reported. Saleh Salem, co-owner at the time, asserted that the incident was exaggerated, adding that the goat was domesticated and that promotional photos of the goat with a beer in its mouth weren’t created by the bar.

The business enjoyed another few years of hot pies and hotter tracks before closing permanently during the 2020 lockdown.

According to a liquor license previously on file with the city, Dick’s co-owner Adam Kirchner had a 50% share of the restaurant-bar, which he expanded to 85% when the establishment reopened as Electric Lime under the ownership of Jessica Orr, who now runs the business with Gabriel Garcia, operating partner and chef.

There is currently no liquor license application on file for Electric Lime, and the business has yet to file for a new license or occupancy permit for the Jefferson Street space.

A representative of Electric Lime did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

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