Friday, April 19, 2013
Former North Avenue sports bar transformed into a classy, North Woodsy, Quebecois kind of place, with art on the walls and game on the menu. Shepherd's is open now.
Pere Marquette would be proud. Wauwatosa is home to the Milwaukee area's newest French Canadian dining spot. Shepherd's reopens Friday night, but it's nothing like the Shepherd's you knew – if you knew it at all. Formerly a sports bar festooned with memorabilia, Shepherd's, 6715 W. North Ave., was bought over the winter by Marty Beaudoin, owner of the Red Dot on Milwaukee's east side, and transformed into a casually up-scale restaurant and lounge. It doesn't look any different on the outside – yet – but inside is another story. The walls have been stripped to the brick and building tile, and fine art hangs where sports posters once did. Suspended ceiling – gone. Now, it goes all the way up, and features some nice exposed beams. Sconce …
43.06075
-87.996457
Shepherd's Sports Bar
6715 W North Ave, Milwaukee, WI
Now open for business
/articles/the-poutine-is-served-all-new-shepherd-s-open-for-business
1578903
/locations/9282802
Thursday, January 31, 2013
New restaurant could open in just four months, owner says, as contractors tackle demolition work and are "amped" to push forward.
Work has commenced on BelAir Cantina, and its owners are still hoping for an opening as early as May despite a little delay in getting started. The new restaurant at 68th and North will be a major overhaul of the former auto garage building, most recently occupied by an Aqua Terra tropical fish store. Much of the initial work is demolition, said co-owner Scott Johnson of Mojofuco Restaurants, which also owns a Water Street BelAir Cantina in Milwaukee and cafes in Riverwest, Bay View and on Milwaukee's East Side. "It started last week," Johnson said, "and it's starting in earnest this week. We're going gangbusters and hoping for May (to open). We definitely want to be open for that bike race." The last day's race in the Tour of America's …
Friday, January 4, 2013
Restaurant will close for about two weeks after next weekend while longtime cook at John's Sandwich Shop makes a few changes; he says, though, he'll keep the same focus.
Come mid-January, there will be a new captain at the helm of Wauwatosa’s North Avenue Grill. Partners Jon Anne Willow and Patti Wenzel have sold the nascent New American diner to kitchen veteran Mike Topolovich. Opened in the spring of 2012 by Willow, Wenzel, Mehrdad Dalamie and Michael Gull, North Avenue Grill was designed to be a casual, neighborhood mainstay offering classic diner fare with a New American flavor and a diverse, gluten-free menu. Topolovich says he will stay true to the original idea, adding his own expertise and creative thinking and focusing heavily on classic comfort food. Topolovich has been the kitchen engine behind nearby John’s Sandwich Shop for the last 15 years, with the exception of a five-year engagement with …
43.06075
-88.002912
North Avenue Grill
7225 W North Ave, Wauwatosa, WI
/articles/new-owner-taking-over-north-avenue-grill
2085542
/locations/8525317
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Cafe One24 on the Wauwatosa border in Brookfield is up for sale — that is, for the right food-conscious buyer.
Renee Shecterle wanted to open a unique restaurant — a dining establishment offering health-conscious customers new and delicious menu choices. It would be a "clean eating" restaurant. Her idea blossomed into Cafe One24 at 3705 N. 124St. in Brookfield, south of Capitol Drive and just across the street from Wauwatosa. She hired as Executive Chef Sarah Dusseau who had a Menomonee Falls fitness studio and take-home meal business for her customers who were trying to lose weight. "(Dusseau) had done this for a couple of years and I said, 'Why don't we open up a clean eating restaurant?'" Shecterle said. "That's how it evolved and we added a wine bar and a grill instead of just a cafe. We were just going to be open for breakfast and lunch but we…
43.084946
-88.066503
3705 N 124th St, Brookfield, WI
Cafe One24 is for sale – to a buyer with the right food philosophy
/articles/clean-eating-restaurant-seeks-new-owner-to-keep-food-philosophy
/locations/8162196
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
New owner coming in, with a plan in his head if not in his hand, to upgrade sports bar setting into something more like what BelAir Cantina has in mind.
Some East Tosa advocates have been saying for more than a year that the day was coming when business people would be climbing over one another to get into reviving North Avenue before commercial real estate prices skyrocket. No one much listened until the popular Mojofuco Restaurants group announced it was buying the former Aqua Terra tropical fish store property at 68th and North to rehabilitate it as a trendy Cali-Mex restaurant called BelAir Cantina. Now, Shepherd's Sports Bar, at 6715 W. North Ave., is being sold to another east side Milwaukee restaurant owner who is quickly buying in to the property with a business plan that's down the road and, so far, all in his head. Martin Beadoin, owner of the Red Dot, 2498 N. Bartlett Ave. on …
43.06075
-87.996457
Shepherd's Sports Bar
6715 W North Ave, Milwaukee, WI
New restaurant and tavern to take over in December
/articles/north-ave-renaissance-continues-as-shepherd-s-bar-is-sold
1578903
/locations/8142361
Friday, October 5, 2012
With only a couple of small concerns and a good deal of admiration, Design Review Board unanimously approves plan for Mexican restaurant at 68th and North.
The design plan for the BelAir Cantina won unanimous approval Thursday night for its design plan, with no more than a couple of nitpicks – and a lot of praise from an area expert. "It's a beautiful building," said Ed Haydin, Commerical Design Review Board member, architect and a leader of the East Tosa Alliance. "It's going to establish some style on North Avenue." Haydin especially liked what's being done with the outdoor seating spaces, he said. "It's going to be a place to see and be seen," he said. "That's become a common theme in urban planning, to not only see from the inside out but to be seen from the outside in." Interestingly, the only concerns shown by board members were associated with that space. "One of the things that came …
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Plans going before Design Review Board as restaurant group prepares to get under way with transforming car dealership into a trendy Mexican place.
- GOVERNMENT
- Jim Price
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Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Many people look at the building on the southwest corner of West North Avenue and North 68th Street and see an outdated eyesore. Owners of the Mojofuco Restaurants group saw it and thought it was "a super-cool old building." The former Aqua Terra tropical fish store at 6817 W. North, before that a used-car dealership, has a '60s look with a low-slung, angular, glassy retail space jutting out to the sidewalk from a flat-topped, blocky garage in back. Mojofuco's owners saw in that a lot of opportunities for bringing light and air into a modern Mexican restaurant setting with a comfortable, broken-in feel – "a great vibe," in the words of co-owner Scott Johnson. Mojofuco will go before the Wauwatosa Commercial Design Review Board on Thursday …
43.06075
-87.997879
6817 W North Ave, Wauwatosa, WI
Future site of the BelAir Cantina
/articles/belair-cantina-design
/locations/7956265
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Two former workers at Ginza Japanese say they were given no base pay whatsoever, only tips, and often worked more than 40 hours a week but still couldn't get by.
- GOVERNMENT
- Jim Price
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Saturday, September 22, 2012
Two former servers at Ginza Japanese Restaurant in Wauwatosa filed suit Friday in federal court in Milwaukee against Ginza PZW Corp. and Ping Xiao Fang, who operates the business, alleging violations of both state and federal wage laws. According to one of the plaintiffs, Ginza initially paid her no wages at all, only letting her keep tips. Later, both of the servers assert, Ginza did begin cutting paychecks, but then simply demanded they pay the restaurant back the after-tax portion of their pay. “This is one of the most blatant violations of federal and state wage laws we have seen,” said Larry Johnson of Cross Law Firm S.C., one of the attorneys for the former employees. Neither of the defendants could be reached for comment. Ginza, …
43.067948
-88.047947
2727 N Mayfair Rd, Wauwatosa, WI
Ginza Japanese Restaurant
/articles/ginza-restaurant-sued-over-employee-pay
/locations/7890980
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Twenty Tosa-area restaurants are offering discounts through Sept. 19 to benefit the services of the Chamber of Commerce – and introduce newcomers to the Tosa dining scene.
- BUSINESS
- Jim Price
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Saturday, September 8, 2012
When Tosafest winds down late Saturday night, thousands will have sated themselves on food, drink and music in the Village. But save some room. Bright and early Sunday morning, the second annual edition of the grand revolving food-fest known as 10 Days In Tosa begins. In fact, what better way to brush off the morning-after blur of staying out shouting for encores from Greg Koch and Buckwheat Zydeco than by having someone else make you a fabulous breakfast? Through Sept. 19, 20 great restaurants will offer selected menu items at breakfast, lunch and dinner for just $5, $10 or $20. As before, this year's version of 10 Days in Tosa is organized as a fundraiser for the Wauwatosa Chamber of Commerce, and it is even simpler to enjoy than last …
Monday, August 27, 2012
No coupons, cards or certificates needed this year – all you have to do is show up hungry.
Whet your appetite, Wauwatosa. Coming soon is the 2012 installment of 10 Days In Tosa, a second annual discount dining extranaganza intended to make sure everyone is familiar with the broad spread of great restaurants the area has to offer. From Sept. 10 through 19, 20 restaurants will offer selected menu items at just $5, $10 or $20. This year's version of 10 Days in Tosa, organized as a fundraiser for the Wauwatosa Chamber of Commerce, is even simpler to enjoy than last year's. "We've made it as easy as it can be," said Kari Miller, the associate director of the chamber. "You don't need any certificates this time. All you have to do is show up." Here's this year's lineup of restaurants and their basic discounted offerings (an asterisk …
Sarah
8:07 pm on Sunday, May 12, 2013
It would be fairly easy to research the original fenestration on the building and restore it if the city ponies ip with a grant. It would be lovely. The facade Is more detailed than a typical early 20th century commercial facade. Good luck! more ›