Pilot Project to Host Beer Festival
Plus: New bakery, new throwback bar and Who's on Layton hosting anniversary bash.
Pilot Project Brewing, 1128 N. 9th St. Photo taken Feb. 15, 2024 by Sophie Bolich.
Pilot Fest is getting its wings in Milwaukee next month.
The fourth annual beer festival, hosted by Pilot Project Brewing, is coming to the city for the first time on Saturday, Sept. 7. from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
The event was previously held at the brewpub’s flagship location in Chicago. Milwaukee’s Pilot Project opened in November 2022 at 1128 N. 9th St.
Nearly 30 local breweries and distilleries are set to participate in this year’s Pilot Fest, serving a wide variety of beer, hard kombucha and cocktails. The indoor/outdoor event will also feature food specials and live music.
Featured companies include Pilot Project’s incubated brands — Brewer’s Kitchen, Azadi Brewing Company, Funkytown Brewery and others — as well as various Milwaukee businesses and representation from Chicago.
General admission tickets ($37) include drink samples from all vendors for the duration of the festival, as well as a custom glass. Food and full-sized beverages will be sold separately.
VIP tickets ($47) include early admission at noon, plus a Pilot Project grab bag, custom glass and a 20% food discount.
Designated driver or N/A tickets are available for $15 and include three non-alcoholic beverages.
For more information, to purchase tickets or to view a full list of participating breweries, visit the event website.
Who’s on Layton Anniversary
Forget raising the roof. Who’s on Layton is hoisting “the big tent” for its one-year anniversary, with plans for a weekend-long party featuring food and drink specials, live music and giveaways.
The sports bar, which opened its doors at 512 W. Layton Ave., last summer, will kick off the festivities on Friday, Sept. 13 with a performance from Rebel Grace. The celebration will run from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Sons of Sconnie, billed as a “party-rock band,” is set to perform on Saturday, while guests enjoy discounts and other perks from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Who’s on Layton will host a Green Bay Packers watch party on Sunday, offering “cheap beer,” 85-cent wings, free touchdown shots and more from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
More information on the anniversary bash is available on Facebook.
Silver City Fest Returns in September
Come September, Silver City Fest will transform a three-block stretch of National Avenue into a vibrant celebration of global cuisine, local talent and community pride.
The festival, now in its 13th year, brings out the best of the southside neighborhood, home to some of the city’s most beloved restaurants. The neighborhood is located adjacent to the Menomonee Valley, with which it has long had a symbiotic relationship.
The upcoming festival invites attendees — whether or not they hail from Silver City — to experience the neighborhood in a new way.
Silver City Fest will take place on Saturday, Sept. 7 from noon until 5 p.m. The open-air festival is held along National Avenue between 32nd and 35th streets.
Brisa Do Mar Is Very Mediterranean
Brisa Do Mar opened on May 1 this year and just in time for summer al fresco meals on its riverside deck in the Historic Third Ward on Erie Street. This is a prime location on the river and chef Ramses Alvarez has taken full advantage of the view by placing many awning-shaded tables close to the river where diners can enjoy a steady parade of pleasure boats.
Diners also have an unobstructed view of the Historic Milwaukee Swing Bridge, which was constructed in 1915. It operated like an 800-ton turntable and in its heyday, the bridge carried up to 100 trains a day, or one every 15 minutes, 24 hours a day. On top of the bridge, a bridge keeper’s house was the place where a railroad employee watched for trains and managed its controls.
The first thing you see when you arrive at Brisa do Mar is the name of the restaurant in large letters on the brick exterior and the word “Mediterrano.” That designation, according to my conversation with Alvarez, opened possibilities for a variety of cuisines associated with the region including specialties from Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Northern Africa, and many more countries located in the Mediterranean Basin.
Because he inherited two pizza ovens from the former tenant Riverfront Pizza, Alvarez features pizza on the lengthy menu. My companion’s Funghi Con Formaggio, local mushrooms, fontina, and roasted garlic cream sauce, was a classic Napolitana style from the wood burning oven. Our server described the crust as “fluffy” and that turned out to be an accurate description. The mushroom and cheese filling sunk into the dough which was lightly charred and quite tasty. If you favor Napolitana pizza, you know it is as much about the dough and the crust as it is about the filling. Other choices from the wood burning oven include Pesto Chicken, a Margherita, Da Brisa, which has shrimp, kalamata olives, and soppressata, and La Vert, with pesto fontina, zucchini, hazelnuts, and edible flowers.
Fruit-Carving Business Coming to Teutonia Avenue
Imani Raiyne has been mastering the art of fruit carving since she was 11 years old. Her business, Kreative Fruitz, serves as both an artistic outlet and a community outreach tool, offering catering and classes to educate Milwaukee residents about the benefits of fresh fruits.
Since 2017, she’s been slicing away at the city’s barriers to healthy foods, connecting with children and adults from all walks of life—many of whom have never tried the fruits featured in her creations.
Soon, Raiyne will move the business from Glendale into a new location in Milwaukee that will serve as a hub for catering operations and provide space for hosting events. Kreative Fruitz could open as early as October in its new home, 4115 N. Teutonia Ave.
Raiyne’s passion for fruit carving runs deep. In fact, it began even before she was born, when her mother prepared a decorative, carved watermelon for her baby shower.
New Throwback Bar Coming to King Drive
Until this point in their careers, industry veterans Seth and Jake Dehne have focused on creating new memories for customers. Their latest venture, 90s2K Cafe, aims to leave patrons fondly remembering old ones.
The new business, slated to open Sept. 13, is designed with nostalgia in mind.
And though its still a work in progress, the space is already jam-packed with throwback items, from old-school gaming equipment and salvaged payphones to retro band merch and rows of cassette tapes.
“It’s about the conversation,” Seth said. “It’s triggering an emotional response — times in your life that you think back to and remember … that’s what we’re trying to go after.”
Menomonee Falls Bakery Plans Bay View Location
Batter & Mac‘s four-year journey has been one marked by constant growth, and its latest expansion will introduce the bakery to a new audience with a second location set for Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood.
Sisters Brittany Wohlfeil and Kasey Gusho, both successful hobby bakers, joined forces to open Batter & Mac in 2022, operating the bakery out of a tiny storefront in Menomonee Falls.
The business rapidly outgrew its original space, prompting the sisters to expand with an ambitious buildout at N89 W16750 Appleton Ave., also in Menomonee Falls. The location remains open today, offering a full range of sweet treats, along with a seating area and space to host cooking classes and events.
Earlier this summer, the sisters were presented with an opportunity to expand once again, this time into the former home of Canfora/Lakeside Bakery at 1100 E. Oklahoma Ave.
Nothing’s Ordinary at Bavette La Boucherie
The first thing we noticed at Bavette La Boucherie was a display of pottery. If you are like my companions and me, frugal consumers, you may not come to shop, but those gorgeous plates and bowls are hard to resist. There is also a nice wine selection and a limited number of packaged foods in this small market that might persuade you to open your wallet.
Bavette relocated from their original butcher shop/restaurant location on Erie Street in 2022 and as a fan of the former, I was delighted with the new digs. Except for the small market, it is all restaurant now in a long narrow space with a Milwaukee Cream City brick wall, a high ceiling, and distressed wood rafters. An open kitchen dominates one side of the restaurant and in front of the kitchen are shelves stacked with plates and bowls just like the ones in their marketplace.
A concise menu lists a few choices in several categories: Starters; Breads and Spreads; Cheese and Charcuterie; Salads; Soup; and Sandwiches.
You will not find anything ordinary or dull on the sandwich menu. The burger, for example, had a smear of pea pesto and was loaded with feta cheese. To add a contrasting sweet/sour component to the thick beefy burger and the salty feta, the chef added pickled mushrooms and sliced red onion. Unlike most restaurants that serve medium to well burgers, Bavette gives you a choice as to how you want it done, which pleased my companion.
Red Sun Cafe is Closed, New Business Planned
After just under a year in business on the South Side, Red Sun Cafe has closed its doors for good.
The sports bar and hookah lounge, led by Touly Vang, opened in September 2023 with the goal to extend the bustling atmosphere of Milwaukee’s downtown to a new area of the city.
Red Sun Cafe did just that during its approximately eight-month tenure at 4350 S. 27th St., hosting a wide variety of themed events, karaoke nights and DJ sets, as well as viewing parties for the Green Bay Packers, Milwaukee Bucks and other sports teams.
The business also served a full range of alcoholic beverages, nicotine and tobacco-free hookah and a menu of American comfort foods including chicken wings, burgers, sandwiches, garlic bread, fries and desserts.
Sip on Savory Cocktails at The Mothership
The Mothership may be best known for its playful gags, including flippant social media posts and critic-trolling letterboard sign, but antics aside, the Bay View bar delivers on a serious menu of craft cocktails designed with inclusivity and sustainability in mind.
Ricky Ramirez, the owner and creative force behind The Mothership, opened the business in 2019.
Now more than five years in, Ramirez and his diverse team are expanding their efforts to offer first-class cocktails without pretense and promote Milwaukee whenever possible — whether by hosting Milwaukee Bucks viewing parties or bringing in guest bartenders from around the country to experience the city.
A new menu, released earlier this summer, doubles down on the bar’s commitment to sustainability while maintaining a tradition of advanced mixology techniques — or, in Ramirez’s words, “fancy wizard bar sh*t” —that he picked up while working at other local hangouts like The Vanguard and Strange Town.
Pop-Up Cocktail Bar Relocating to Dubbel Dutch
A pop-up cocktail bar that got its start inside a downtown cafe will soon have a home of its own.
Agency, touted as the nation’s first fully hybrid cocktail lounge, is set to open at 817 N. Marshall St. on Aug. 31, filling the tavern space at Dubbel Dutch hotel.
The cocktail bar first gained a following at Discourse, 1020 N. Broadway, operating after-hours and serving all of its cocktails in both alcoholic and non-alcoholic formats.
Agency’s dual menu has been a pillar of the business since its inception in early 2024.
Grant Program Aims to Uplift Black-Owned Restaurants
Running a business is challenging; doing so as part of a historically marginalized group can feel insurmountable, especially in the restaurant industry.
Heinz, with The LEE Initiative and Southern Restaurants for Racial Justice, is stepping in to change that through the Black Kitchen Initiative (BKI) grant program.
Since 2020, Heinz has donated $1 million annually to support Black restaurant owners in dealing with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as long-standing systemic barriers and inequalities.
This year’s program, which is accepting applications through mid-September will bring the company’s total donation to $4 million.
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