Koppa’s Deli Adds Indian Cuisine
Plus: State Fair food, fresh-pressed juice and a dessert shop gone national.
Koppa’s Fulbeli Deli, 1940 N. Farwell Ave. Photo taken June 19, 2025 by Sophie Bolich.
Koppa’s Fulbeli Deli rolled out a new menu of authentic Indian food earlier this week, adding to its selection of sandwiches and sides as part of its ongoing revitalization under new ownership.
The corner store, 1940 N. Farwell Ave., now offers dal tadka, mutter paneer, chicken tikka masala and butter chicken—all available as combo plates served with basmati rice, sauteed vegetables, onion pakoda and dessert. A variety of sweets and snacks, along with drinks like mango lassi, chai and fresh lemonade, are also available.
The latest addition follows the business’s recent acquisition by 3 Eye, LLC.
Partners Ram Mohan Rao Chekkala, Paramjit Singh and Bhanu Partap took over the store earlier this year, and have already made a host of improvements, including aesthetic upgrades and a revamp of the deli department—a once-beloved neighborhood fixture that had declined in quality and even closed down—in recent years.
Sandwiches and paninis are now back in full force, with additional snacks, salads and desserts to come, based on customer feedback, Chekkala said. Customers have also cheered the store’s fully stocked shelves and ever-growing inventory.
The deli counter, now dubbed Koppa’s Indian Eats & Deli, announced new hours in early August. It’s now open daily from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. The retail section is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Grand Openings: New Bars and Restaurants That Opened in July
Three years after launching MKE Outdoor Indoor Exchange, owners John and Onamikii Cameron were feeling the squeeze at their their Bay View location, 3044 S. Delaware Ave. With more than 700 consignors and thousands of items ranging from hydration packs to vintage Patagonia, the store needed room to grow.
The couple made that leap in July, expanding their existing business and opening an in-house juice bar, The Canteen, along the way.
With a menu of fresh-pressed fruit and vegetable juices, wellness shots and energizing snacks, the business hopes to cater to a wide range of customers, functioning as a third space without the presence of coffee or alcohol.
Downtown Strip Club Building For Sale
An exotic opportunity has materialized at 144 E. Juneau Ave.
The 1,760-square-foot building, home to Silk on Water, is for sale. It’s priced at just under $1.2 million—almost three times the amount it was assessed for in 2025.
Touted in an online listing as having a “long, colorful history,” the tavern building has operated as a strip club for more than 50 years, with past tenants including Art’s Performing Center and Grand Prix Lounge.
Silk on Water took over in 2019 and continues under manager Craig Ploetz, with Scott Krahn as agent and Kyle Zubke as director of operations. The license notes that Sow Properties, LLC, with Zubke as registered agent, has 100% ownership of the business.
From GameStop To Wingstop on 27th Street
A popular chicken wing chain is continuing its expansion in the Milwaukee market with a new location proposed for the Southgate neighborhood.
Wingstop plans to open a fast food restaurant at 3266 S. 27th St.—its third Milwaukee location announced in less than a year.
The brand recently submitted permit applications to install signage at the southside storefront, part of the larger, multi-tenant building known as the Ohio Plaza Shopping Center.
Neighboring businesses include H&R Block, Papa John’s, Charley’s Cheesesteak, Western Union and No. 1 Chinese Restaurant. The future Wingstop space was once a GameStop store.
Lumpia City Sweeps Sporkie Contest
A Filipino-inspired dessert took top honors at this year’s Sporkies competition, winning over judges at the Wisconsin State Fair with an unexpected twist on traditional lumpia.
Ube Butter Banana French Toast Lumpia, created by second-time Sporkies finalist Lumpia City, features a brown sugar-coated banana, a strip of French toast and a pool of deep-purple ube butter—all wrapped like a spring roll and deep-fried.
“It seems like this is a good one, because everybody’s gone quiet,” emcee Dario Melendez quipped, as the usually chatty panel dove into the dish. “There’s no chatter, there’s no laughing, just focus.”
Though the dessert is anchored in authenticity—banana lumpia, or turon, is a popular snack in Filipino and Hawaiian cultures—co-owner Alexa Reyes saw an opportunity to further elevate the recipe with ube.
Milwaukee Dessert Shop Expanding to Mississippi
After humble beginnings in Bay View, Gordo’s Bubble Waffles is taking its desserts to the national market, with plans to launch its first franchise in Oxford, Mississippi.
The development marks a longtime goal for founders Omar Daher, Mohammed Otallah and Suhib Badwan, who created the brand in 2022 with future expansion in mind.
“From the boxes and cones to all the marketing we’ve been doing, we wanted to be very professional with the hopes to soon become an actual franchise,” Daher said.
The founders, working with franchise lawyer Adam Wasch, are now partnering with a franchisee to open the first out-of-state location. Inquiries have also come from markets including California, Florida and several areas throughout the Midwest, according to Daher.
Pabst Theater Group Names Backstage Barista
Performance art meets latte art in a new collaboration at the heart of Milwaukee’s theater scene.
Pabst Theater Group (PTG) is partnering with Discourse to bring “narrative-driven” beverages behind the curtain at six of its core venues, spotlighting artisan coffee while building on PTG’s long-standing tradition of hospitality.
Discourse, now official backstage barista for PTG, will join in-house chef Kevin Sloan and pastry chef Julie Thorsen in serving touring artists and staff at the Pabst Theater, The Riverside Theater, Miller High Life Theatre, Turner Hall Ballroom, The Fitzgerald and Vivarium.
“Since our first days in Milwaukee, we saw the potential of this collaboration, as two organizations dedicated to creating cultural experiences through indelible storytelling,” said Ryan Castelaz, partner and CEO of Discourse, in a statement. “It’s an honor and a privilege to serve as a touchstone to the magic of our city to hundreds of visiting acts each year.”
Heat Waves Prompt Menu Change at Lakefront Brewery
There’s an old adage: “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”
That may hold under normal circumstances. But with temperatures spiking to nearly 90 degrees Fahrenheit early this week, a revision may be in order: “If you can’t stand the heat, change the menu.”
Lakefront Brewery, 1872 N. Commerce St. is doing just that with its Heat Advisory Menu, a pared-down version of its daily lineup focused on chilled and deli-style items.
Executive Chef Kristin Hueneke introduced the change in June after a particularly hot weekend sent kitchen temperatures soaring to dangerous levels, despite the use of both dual and window air-conditioning units.
Former Promises Building For Sale
A historic Walker’s Point building is for sale following the January closure of its latest tenant, Promises.
Dieter Wegner owns the property, 726-734 S. 6th St., which has housed a series of taverns over the past decade, including Felipe’s Place and Gibraltar. The latter has since reopened in the Historic Third Ward.
Originally constructed in the 1890s, the Italianate-style building contains 7,428 square feet total, with a first-floor commercial space and upper-level apartments.
It’s priced at $895,000.
New Restaurant Opens on Fond du Lac Avenue
Rise Kitchen has achieved liftoff in Sherman Park.
The new restaurant opened earlier this month at 4610 W. Fond du Lac Ave. It features a preliminary menu of burgers and fries, with plans to expand the selection as it continues to gain traction in the neighborhood.
“It’s been going really well so far,” owner Jonathan Springfield-Burnett told Urban Milwaukee, noting that the restaurant offers on-site dining, though delivery orders have mostly buoyed the business through its early weeks.
For now, the operation is a one-man show, with Springfield-Burnett handling the front-of-house, the fryers and the flat top—where he feels most at home.
Five Ingredients With a Foodie: Soua Chang
Editor: This is the first installment of a new series in which Urban Milwaukee will explore five ingredients and how to use them with Milwaukee chefs, growers, and caterers.
It’s the height of summer and farmers markets are in full swing—vendor tables straining under pints of rotund blueberries, golden loaves of sourdough and wayward zucchinis swollen to twice the usual size.
If you’ve strolled through any Milwaukee-area markets, there’s a good chance you’ve encountered Soua Chang, whose family has been on the circuit for more than a decade.
They started at South Shore Farmers Market more than 10 years ago and still vend there today, but have since added locations including New Berlin, West Allis, Fox Point, Pewaukee, Walker Square Park and Enderis Park.
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