Fat Tuesday Opens in Deer District

The national chain Fat Tuesday has opened its first Midwest location in the Milwaukee Bucks‘ Deer District.

The bar, known for its frozen daiquiris, opened earlier this week at 333 W. Juneau Ave. in the same building as Good City Brewing, The Mecca Sports Bar and Grill and the event space Gather.

The Atlanta based chain started in 1984 and now has 60 locations across the U.S. and abroad. The concept grew out of a Louisiana-based company called New Orleans Original Daiquiris.

Fat Tuesday’s signature cocktail, a frozen daiquiri, is a sweet and slushy drink traditionally including fruit, white rum, sugar and ice. Milwaukee’s location, which opened Sept. 11, offers nine flavors including a variety of basic fruit flavors, plus pina colada, electric lemonade and margarita. Guests are free to mix and match flavors as they please.

Fat Tuesday is also noteworthy for its size options, which range from a modest “regular cup” to the comically large, tube-shaped container called a “yard dog.”

The front side of Fat Tuesdays is a retractable garage door wall that opens up to the plaza in front of Fiserv Forum where several tables are available for outdoor seating.

Unlike other locations on Bourbon Street or along the Las Vegas Strip, patrons of Fat Tuesday are not permitted to walk the streets of Milwaukee with Yard Dogs in hand; however, guests are free to bring their empty cups home as souvenirs. The cups can be presented at the next visit for discount refills.

The name Fat Tuesday has roots in New Orleans as the name of the annual Mardi Gras celebration preceding the beginning of lent, the Christian season for fasting. The celebration has mostly departed from its original religious significance and is celebrated by many as a secular holiday and party.

Darius J. Rowan, franchisee for the Milwaukee bar, said that “things have been going very well” so far at Fat Tuesdays. “Better than we even expected,” he said.

Fat Tuesday is open daily from 11 a.m. to midnight.