Daiquiri Lounge Offers Year-Round Taste of Summer
Plus: Three new restaurants planned and where to score big on restaurant equipment.
Site of S’Lush Daiquiri Lounge & Events. Photo taken Nov. 7, 2022 by Sophie Bolich.
A new, upscale daiquiri bar and restaurant is about to open in a coveted location along the Milwaukee riverfront.
S’Lush Daiquiri Lounge & Events will welcome its first customers on Dec. 9 at its new location in the Riverfront Plaza, 1110 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. The approximately 7,000-square-foot space was last occupied by Ale Asylum Riverhouse.
The new business is the second location for S’Lush. The first opened in Kenosha in August 2020.
The spacious lounge is outfitted with luxe pink and yellow sofa seating, hot pink accent lighting and neon slogan signs. Support columns throughout the room are overlaid with white roses, while sconces add warm lighting.
New Domino’s Pizza At 35th And Capitol
The franchise group behind all of Milwaukee’s 14 Domino’s Pizza locations is planning a brand new outlet at a busy intersection.Doug Baretz, agent for Milwaukee-based Brew City Pizza Inc., recently submitted a license application for a new restaurant at 3500 W. Capitol Dr.
Baretz and partner John Theisen co-founded Brew City Pizza in 1995. Since then, the two have acquired all of Milwaukee’s Domino’s, as well as several suburban locations and others throughout the Midwest.
The new location is being constructed on a lot near the corner of W. Capitol Dr. and 35th Street. A long-vacant, 1,044-square-foot building on the property formerly operated as an auto loans business.
SlyFox Announces Holiday Pop Up
Brady Street‘s newest cocktail bar is gearing up for the holiday season and finally answering the pressing question: what does the fox say?
The answer? Ho, ho, ho — at least for the rest of December, as SlyFox Cocktail Bar transforms into SantaFox for the holidays.
The bar, located at 1692 N. Van Buren St. in the same building as Sticky Rice, will be outfitting its space with festive decorations and a tree, a perfect complement to the bar’s forest green decor and gold accents.
SlyFox’s bartenders have been busy workshopping an exclusive holiday menu, which will include both hot and cold drinks. In keeping with its inclusivity to non-drinking patrons, the bar will offer a seasonal craft mocktail menu as well.
Meet Falcon Bowl’s New Operators
It’s been a year since Riverwest Investment Cooperative purchased Falcon Bowl for $500,000, saving the neighborhood fixture from an uncertain fate. Now, new operators are poised to take over the beloved Riverwest tavern and bowling alley, 801-803 E. Clarke St.
Daniel Gnadt, one of three new operators, also owns South Shore Bowl in Cudahy and Castle Lanes in Racine. He purchased the latter just over two weeks ago.
“We did everything at the same time,” he said with a laugh. “It’s great.”
Gnadt will operate Falcon Bowl alongside partners William Desing and Russell Grabczyk. Ownership is split evenly between the three.
New Bars and Restaurants That Opened in November
Paper Plane Pizza
Paper Plane Pizza officially touched down at 3rd Street Market Hall on Nov. 12, making its Milwaukee debut as the food hall’s newest vendor. The slice shop keeps things simple — offering five signature pizzas and a rotating daily special, plus sandwiches and salads.
1700 Pull Up
Though 1700 Pull Up has been offering carryout for a number of months, the restaurant had its official soft opening on Nov. 1 at 1848 W. Fond du Lac Ave. The restaurant’s rotating menu centers on Turkey Leg Thursdays and Soul Food Sundays, with specials posted to Facebook each week.
Milwaukee Record Presents N/A Beverage Festival
Participating in ‘Dry January’ — a challenge that requires giving up alcohol for the first month of 2023 — doesn’t have to mean foregoing interesting and flavorful beverage options.
In celebration of the new year, Milwaukee Record will invite beverage enthusiasts to raise a glass to peace, prosperity and zero-proof drinks with its second annual N/A Day, a ‘Dry January’ beverage festival.
Scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 7 at The Cooperage, 822 S. Water St., the event will offer attendees the chance to sample non-alcoholic products from more than a dozen vendors including Lagunitas, Athletic Brewing Co., Stella Artois, Lakefront Brewery, Soul Brew Kombucha, Untitled Art, Visitor, System Seltzer, Sprecher Brewing, Top Note Tonic, Guinness, Ceria, Two Roots, ZOA Energy, Liquid Death, Hoplark, Sierra Nevada and more.
DJ Christreater of WMSE will provide entertainment throughout the afternoon, and The Cooperage bar will be open, serving both non-alcoholic and alcohol-based beverages.
Riverwest Restaurant Plans ‘Huge’ Equipment Sale
Restaurateur Russ Davis has owned the building at 2730 N. Humboldt Blvd. for nearly 20 years, but now, he said, it’s time to move on.
“I love the neighborhood and I love Riverwest, but it was time,” said Davis, who previously operated Milwaukee Beer Bistro and Rio West Cantina at the site.
In closing this chapter of his business, Davis has sold the building and plans to hold a restaurant and warehouse sale on Monday, Dec. 5 with hopes of distributing the kitchen items that were previously stored there. The sale is scheduled to run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 2730 N. Humboldt Blvd.
The sale would include ovens, fryers, stainless steel prep tables, grills, flat-tops, ventilation hoods, commercial pasta equipment, mixers, food processing machines, tables, chairs, shelves and organizing racks, plates, glassware, coolers, commercial tapper systems, a compressor, air dryer, convection oven and more.
New Bar and Restaurant For South Side
A new bar and restaurant would offer authentic Mexican dishes, drinks and entertainment in the Clarke Square neighborhood.
La Playa Mariscos y Bar is set to open at 721 S. Cesar E Chavez Dr., just north of National Ave., at Jenny’s Plaza, a strip mall-style building that also houses National Liquor Mart and Cigarette Depot.
The restaurant would serve mainly seafood dishes, said co-owner Juan Manuel Cabral Dorado, who would run the business alongside Guadalupe Cabral Villarreal and Felipe Martinez.
Originally from Mexico, Cabral Dorado refined his culinary skills while working in local restaurants. Most recently, he worked at China Gourmet in downtown Milwaukee. After 15 years in the Milwaukee restaurant scene, Cabral Dorado decided to open his own establishment.
New Fast Food Restaurant for North Side
A new fast food restaurant slated to open next month would bring a convenient, mostly grab-and-go meal option to Milwaukee’s North Side.
Dorsey’s Pizza & Chicken would open at 2627 W. Burleigh St., on the edge of the Amani and Franklin Heights neighborhoods.
The upcoming restaurant would occupy a portion of a 5,278-square-foot building at the corner of 27th Street and Burleigh. The previous occupant, JJ’s Food and Tobacco, closed in 2018. The space also formerly operated as Pop’s Deli, a meat market and restaurant. The building has space for multiple tenants on its ground floor. The second story is residential.
As its name suggests, the counter-service restaurant with limited seating plans to offer an assortment of pizzas and chicken dishes. Full pizzas are available in four sizes, while chicken is offered by the piece: 4, 6, 10 or 20. A license application indicates the restaurant would also serve breakfast items such as pancakes, omelettes and sausage. The fast food restaurant has no plans to serve alcohol.
Downtown Food Hall Adds Peruvian Fare
A new restaurant concept by the owners of C-viche and Kompali is coming soon to 3rd Street Market Hall, 275 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Edgar Aispuro Garcia, Karlos Soriano and Paco Villar would open Criollo Rotisserie Chicken, a Peruvian-style restaurant serving chicken, pork, fries, rice and salad. The menu would also draw inspiration from other Latin American cuisines.
The new restaurant will give the owners an opportunity to experiment with new dishes and styles of cooking, which Aispuro Garcia said offers an exciting chance of pace.
“Since we opened C-viche, we’ve always wanted to open the rotisserie,” he said. “But it just didn’t fit” with the seafood-focused restaurant, he added.
Grace Coffee Expanding to Milwaukee
Madison-based Grace Coffee Company has set plans to open its first Milwaukee cafe early next year.
The fast-growing cafe and roastery has expanded to six locations since opening its now-closed flagship cafe on State Street in 2019. Grace Coffee has two locations in Madison, as well as in Middleton, Sun Prairie, Cottage Grove and Verona.
Carlos Falcon is the owner of the company.
Milwaukee’s cafe is planned for a 2,752-square-foot space at 102 N. Water St., in the same building as The Starling event venue. SURG On The Water, an event venue operated by SURG Restaurant Group, previously occupied the space.
Jalapeño Loco’s Moles Are Memorable
If you crave Mexican food and want to go beyond tacos and tortas, make a run to Jalapeño Loco across from the airport on S. Howell Ave. I think Jalapeno Loco serves the best moles and some of the most unique Mexican cuisine in the greater Milwaukee area.
Owner Hugo Saynes hails from Oaxaca, known as the land of seven moles, and his expertise in the creation of the moles served at his restaurant is not to be disputed. I ate those moles back in the 1990s when Jalapeño Loco was a hole-in-the-wall eatery in Cudahy. It’s the classic story: “make good food and they will come.” By 2000, with more customers than seats to accommodate them, Jalapeño Loco moved to its present location on S. Howell Ave.
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