D.P. Dough Closes East Side Restaurant
Calzone restaurant that catered to college students closes sole Wisconsin location.
Site of former D.P. Dough, 1515 E. North Ave. Photo taken April 4, 2023 by Sophie Bolich.
The Milwaukee location for calzone-focused restaurant chain D.P. Dough has closed.
Michael and Georgina Styke opened the late-night restaurant in 2019 at 1515 E. North Ave., catering to nearby UW-Milwaukee students and other residents of the Lower East Side neighborhood.
Along with 32 varieties of calzones including barbecue chicken, cheeseburger and Hawaiian-inspired flavors, the fast-casual establishment sold traditional and boneless chicken wings, and sides such as tater tots and flavored breadsticks.
After four years in business, the restaurant is marked as permanently closed. Its most recent review was posted one month ago. An April 2022 license renewal application noted that the restaurant occasionally operated with reduced hours due to staffing shortages.
Milwaukee’s D.P. Dough was the national chain’s sole Wisconsin location. The restaurant shared a 2,620-square-foot building with Essentials Smoke & Vape, which remains open. Previously, Open Pantry convenience store operated at the address. The building is owned by Michael Styke.
The surrounding neighborhood has seen plenty of change throughout the past several years, including the 2018 closure of Buddha Lounge. The site of the former restaurant was sold in 2021 to developers for a four-story, 56-unit apartment building. The former Buddha Lounge building and the neighboring structures at 1518 and 1530 E. North Ave. have since been demolished.
Mother-son team Dan and Penny Haley opened the first location for D.P. Dough in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1987. The American chain is now headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, and operates 53 locations throughout the country, according to the company’s website. The brand was acquired by Calios Restaurants, a competing calzone chain, in 2019.
Neither Michael Styke nor Georgina Styke responded to a request for comment by the time of publication.
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