Takeout Restaurant Coming To Water Street
Local industry veteran plans to open Breakin' Bread, serving breakfast and lunch to-go.
Site of future Breakin’ Bread, 628 N. Water St. Photo taken July 22, 2022 by Sophie Bolich.
A new, “urban-style diner” is coming soon to Water Street, with plans to offer quick and casual breakfast and lunch options to those along the bustling downtown thoroughfare.
The upcoming concept, Breakin’ Bread MKE, is the latest from industry veteran Gabriel Garcia; he previously served as executive chef and operating partner at Electric Lime Taqueria, executive sous chef at Merriment Social and head pizzaiolo at Salotto Zarletti, now known as Zarletti Mequon.
After years spent specializing in Italian, American, Mexican and a variety of fusion cuisines, Garcia’s new venture will take him back to basics. On the menu, guests can expect a variety of egg dishes, warm breakfast sandwiches, french toast, pancakes, salads and lunch sandwiches. The restaurant will also serve several variations of loaded french fries.
“It’s just convenient food,” Garcia said. “Something people can grab on the go at lunch or on the way to the office.”
The upcoming restaurant will occupy a commercial kitchen space inside of Bodega Nightclub & Lounge, 628 N. Water St., operating during the club’s off hours.
Guests will be able to place orders through Grubhub, Uber Eats, DoorDash and similar third-party platforms, or directly through Breakin’ Bread’s website, which is coming soon. The restaurant will also feature self-service kiosks for walk-up ordering.
And though Garcia is starting small, the chef said he hopes to eventually operate the restaurant on a larger scale, offering space for dining in and possibly expanding to multiple brick-and-mortar locations.
For now, Garcia is making the most of the limited space as he prepares for the business’s downtown debut, tentatively scheduled for late December or early January, he said.
Once open, the proposed hours of operation for Breakin’ Bread are Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
A full menu will be available ahead of the upcoming opening. Updates will be available via Facebook and Instagram.
The restaurant will share the building with Bodega, though the two businesses have no plans to collaborate at this time. The Latin dance club, opened in 2022, initially planned to operate as a full-service restaurant as well as a cocktail lounge and nightclub. The business still holds a food dealers license, but does not publicly advertise a menu.
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