Casera Cafe & Bakery Opens in Harbor District
New addition to River One offers breakfast, lunch, coffee and tea.
Site of Casera Cafe & Bakery, 20067 S. 1st St. Photo taken Aug. 15, 2024 by Sophie Bolich.
Opening a new business amid the Wisconsin State Fair — a notoriously slow time for Milwaukee-area restaurants — is a delicate maneuver. But Casera Cafe & Bakery decided to whisk it.
Despite a quiet start, one employee noted that Casera has since seen a steady stream of customers as word of the new spot spread throughout the neighborhood. The bakery officially opened its doors at 2067 S. 1st St., the border of the Harbor District and Bay View, on Aug. 1.
The cafe was in full form Thursday, as a diverse group of patrons — families, friend groups, remote workers — sipped, snacked and took shelter from the rainy elements.
Casera, a sister establishment to Sugar & Flour Bakery Cafe in Greendale, is owned by George and Karen Herrera, who began work on the business in October 2023. It occupies a 4,200-square-foot retail space at the southeast edge of the River One (or R1VER) campus, below the Tribute Apartments.
“Everything is going well and we couldn’t ask for a better team to open up Casera with,” George said in an email.
The cafe serves breakfast, lunch and baked goods, operating as a casual counterpart to The Bridgewater Modern Grill, a Benson’s Group restaurant located on the opposite side of the building.
A current menu includes customizable omelets; avocado toast and a Greek yogurt parfait layered with lemon curd, berries, banana and mint. Savory power bowls, morning bun French toast and hoppel poppel, a Midwestern breakfast casserole, are also available.
For lunch, the cafe offers a variety of sandwiches and salads including a portobello torta, chicken bacon club, harvest salad and more.
The bakery case, meanwhile, is stocked with scratch-made turnovers, bread loaves, scones, muffins, focaccia and other sweet savory bites.
Casera offers a full range of coffee and espresso drinks, including seasonal specials like tangy turmeric lemonade, cinnamon cream cold brew and matcha infused with strawberry syrup and toasted coconut.
Non-coffee drinkers can opt for a selection of herbal teas, turmeric lattes or a mushroom mocha featuring homemade Rishi mushroom tea.
Casera also operates a small marketplace stocked with local goods, where customers will find Valentine Coffee, honey, maple syrup, wine, matcha, Indulgence Chocolatiers chocolate bars and pottery by Fiddle and Futz. Refrigerated and frozen items including Purple Door Ice Cream, Juiced beverages, Mama’s Boy salsa and canned beer are also available to purchase.
The Herreras tapped RINKA to design the interior cafe space, which features tiled floors, a wraparound coffee bar and a variety of seating options including low-top tables, street-facing banquettes and spacious booths.
Large retractable garage doors, live plants, copper light fixtures and a wall of vintage and embossed rolling pins adds additional character to the cafe, which gets a healthy dose of natural light — even on cloudy days — thanks to an abundance of floor-to-ceiling windows.
The architecture firm also designed The Bridgewater and Tribute Apartments.
Casera Cafe & Bakery is open Monday and Thursday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., with food service ending at 2 p.m., and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Photos
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