Blind Tiger Announces Closing Date
New bar serving cocktails and Mexican eats is proposed to replace the soon-to-close 'speakeasy.'
Site of Blind Tiger. Photo taken July 14, 2022 by Sophie Bolich
Blind Tiger will leave its speakeasy-style space on Bay View‘s main drag — but not before one last party. A two-day farewell event, set for Sept. 29 and 30, guarantees the bar will go out not with a bang, but with a roar.
Owner Marcos Ramos-Garcia announced the upcoming closure in a Thursday morning newsletter to customers. “It has been 3 amazing years here in Bay View, but it is now time for our final Roar,” he wrote.
The festivities will kick off Friday with DJ NuStylez at the helm. The longtime turntablist is a staple in the Milwaukee scene and beyond; he played the opening set for Lil Wayne at the rapper’s Madison show in April.
The bar will open its doors at 9 p.m. on Saturday for its final evening of service. Jay B. Fresh will act as host and DJ for the night.
Blind Tiger, 2242 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., started as a rentable event space housed within Makk‘n’Cheese. After two years of private service, the concept launched as a public cocktail lounge in the summer of 2022.
Modeled after a speakeasy-style tavern — and named for a Prohibition-era phrase — Blind Tiger required guests to give a password for entry. The keyword, which changed weekly, was usually accessible with a little social media searching, or by subscribing to the business’s newsletter.
The bar offered a menu of seasonally-inspired cocktails, tobacco-free hookah and a limited menu of small plates and sandwiches.
A new tenant is already lined up to replace Blind Tiger. Evalise Navarro, a longtime bartender, plans to open Pink Agave in the space. The new bar and restaurant would extend into the underutilized Makk‘n’Cheese dining room, adding greenery walls, aesthetic signage and pictures to freshen up the former fast-casual space.
Navarro told Urban Milwaukee in July that she plans to offer beer and a selection of craft cocktails, some of which will be sweetened with agave syrup in lieu of simple syrup or sugar.
In addition to drinks, Navarro said she plans to offer small bites including chips and salsa, Mexican corn and her boyfriend’s signature green pozole.
A liquor license for Pink Agave is pending before the Milwaukee Common Council.
Ramos-Garcia did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
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