Business & Tech
New Sushi, Seafood Place Is Next Wave for North Ave.
Fish Cheeks will double the size of an East Tosa building and replace hair and nail salon with innovative seafood offerings.
A new restaurant coming to North Avenue in East Tosa will more than double the size of an existing building and completely overhaul and modernize what's already there.
Fish Cheeks, a sushi and seafood establishment, will make over what is now London's Healthy Hair & Nails at 6818 W. North Ave., next door to Rocket Baby Bakery.
The bones of the small commercial building will remain, but it will be built out on the east and north to roughly the same width and depth as Rocket Baby, filling in the lot.
"We're taking over the driveway and some space in back," said John Kesselman, commercial broker for the project. "We'll keep the basement and two of the walls, but everything else is new, a full makeover. The roof's coming up higher, and we're trying to bring it into keeping with the other new construction that's been taking place around it, like the bakery."
Kesselman said the timeline calls for construction to begin on Oct. 1 and to take from four to six months.
Kesselman said restaurateur John Steiner will be creating a boutique-style seafood place, with a Japanese chef who will feature some unusual dishes as well as both authentic and eclectic sushi.
"We're gearing to a Pacific style," Steiner said. "It's not a Japanese restaurant, so to say. There will be some very unique sushi, not what every other sushi bar has.
"We will have traditional Japanese dishes though, too, noodle dishes. Also some very high-end saki and martinis, designed for people who want high quality."
Steiner has several lounges and tried this restaurant concept once before, but he says it was in the wrong place.
"I had Hotaru in Okauchee Lake," Steiner said. "It didn't work! They only came in on Friday! It turned out it was a tough market out there."
East Tosa, Steiner said, is "an upcoming area, and this is right up their alley. People who love sushi, they need their fix, and there's nothing else around there."
Steiner grew up just to the east of East Tosa in Milwaukee's Hi-Mount neighborhood.
"It's kind of ironic that I'm coming back," he said, "but it looks like everybody is."
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Sign up for the Patch NewsletterLocals are thrilled at the redevelopment.
“This is very exciting news, and is further evidence that by fostering an environment that is supportive of small businesses, East Tosa is driving a revitalization that is unparalleled in metro Milwaukee,” said Ald. Joel Tilleson of Tosa's 5th District, where Fish Cheeks will reside.
Fish cheeks, for the uninitiated, are medallions of meat from the head of a fish, the dish made from them, and the title of an essay by Amy Tan.
Once thrown away by the fishing industry, made into soup with the rest of the head, or eaten only by the poor (sometimes the fisherman's own family), fish cheeks have been discovered by the culinary world as the tastiest and sweetest piece in the piscine world.
"My brother's wife is Japanese," said Ald. Bobby Pantuso, also of the 5th District, "and it was through them that I was first introduced to sushi. So, I have to say, Watashi wa matsu koto ga dekinai, which is, 'I can't wait!'
"This will be an excellent addition to East Tosa, which is rapidly becoming one of the top urban retail and dining destinations in metro Milwaukee."
The recent splurge of new and refurbished businesses, mostly restaurants but also moves and expansions such as Tosa Yoga, come in the wake of the adoption of the North Avenue Plan in 2011.
A consultant's study that led to the development of the plan found that $20 million a year in dining and entertainment dollars was leaving the 1st and 5th districts of Wauwatosa for lack of places to spend it.
That trend is reversing fast, Tilleson said, with discretionary income being spent at home and new money flowing in from outside.
"In the past, this stretch of North Avenue was a commuter route with little investment from outside the immediate neighborhood," Tilleson said. "Over the past two years, we've had several businesses not only locate to East Tosa, but also spend significant money rebuilding their spaces with new construction.
"As a result of this reinvestment and improvement, consumer dollars are staying in the district and everyone – from the existing businesses looking to expand their consumer base to homeowners looking to raise their property values – is benefitting from it.”
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