Third Ward Could Get New Chicken Chain
Korean restaurant Char'd is no more, but owners tease a new business in recent announcement.
222 E. Erie St. Photo taken June 5, 2026 by Sophie Bolich.
Char’d, a modern Korean restaurant located in the Historic Third Ward, announced its closure last weekend after just over eight years in business.
In an online post, owners Choonghoon Lee and Lane Kim shared gratitude for customers who “embraced our food, our culture, and our little corner of this city,” while also teasing a new concept proposed for the restaurant space at 222 E. Erie St.
They plan to reopen next month as part of the Korean-style barbecue chain bb.q Chicken. “We’ve been cooking up something new, and we can’t wait to share it,” the owners wrote in the post.
The Korean chicken chain, whose name stands for “Best of the Best Quality,” was founded more than two decades ago in Seoul and now operates more than 3,500 locations across 57 countries, according to its website. The nearest location is in Waukegan, Illinois.
An online menu highlights Korean fried chicken, which is traditionally double-fried in a starch-based batter to achieve a shatteringly crisp exterior. The bb.q Chicken lineup includes whole chickens, wings and boneless wings in flavors such as honey garlic, spicy galbi, soy-based gang-jeong, and cheesling — a powdery, cheese-based dry rub.
Sides and snacks, categorized as K Food, could include kimchi fried rice, fried dumplings, pickled radish, and ddeok-bokki, a popular street food featuring cylindrical, chewy rice cakes tossed in a sweet and spicy sauce.
Despite the public announcement, Char’d operators declined further comment on the potential new business, with registered agent Jongsoo Kim telling Urban Milwaukee on June 1 that an agreement had not yet been finalized.
Though its Third Ward run has come to an end, Char’d remains influential in the city’s dining scene as the neighborhood’s first Korean restaurant. It was also among a wave of businesses helping to bridge the gap between strictly traditional Korean cuisine and more contemporary interpretations.
Tables at Char’d were often crowded with plates of dumplings, scallion pancake and salty edamame pods for guests to share before digging into entrees like bulgogi, stone pot bibimbap and soft tofu stew. The menu also incorporated non-Korean options such as stir-fried udon and Mongolian beef.
Lee, Kim and their family members have long been active in Milwaukee’s dining scene and are also involved in Maru Korean Bistro, Kanpai Izakaya, Sinabro and the now-closed Merge, which specialized in Korean-style chicken wings.
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