Carnevor won't be your father's steakhouse when it opens in December. Say good-bye to your typical notion of what a steakhouse looks and feels like.
The restaurant, in the former Frauchiger's Cheese Store & Tavern space at 724 N. Milwaukee St., is a collaboration between Milwaukee Street business owners Omar Shaikh (Sake Tumi), Tom Wackman (Eve, Kenadee's, Tangerine), Demetri Dimidropolus (Eve, Kendadee's, Tangerine) and Marc Bianchini (Cubanitas, Osteria del Mondo), who say they've been friends for a long time.
"We saw the direction of the street, (and it was moving more toward) restaurant," says Shaikh. "Cubanitas has been tremendously successful, Hotel Metro, Sake Tumi, Zarletti ... so it made sense for all of us to put a new restaurant here and combine all of our talents. We're always working together on the street, promoting and planning."
"What's nice about it is that each person is doing the thing that they are good at (at Carnevor)," says Wackman.
Bianchini won't be an owner of the venture, but he and his new super star chef Brandon Wolff will be responsible for the food creations. The group has hired John Roberson -- who helped open 14 Morton's Steakhouse around the country -- as Carnivore's operations director. The face of the place will be the owners, of course, and new general manager John Kelm, most recently of Monsoon.
Bianchini says that everything in the place will revolve around the restaurant's name.
"The entrée side is going to be traditional. We'll have all the main cuts of meats, but jazzed up, with twists on your regular steakhouse items. The sides are going to be seasonal vegetables and starches. There will be appetizers for the entire table as well as small plates. You are going to see a marinated rock shrimp with tarragon and basil and mint -- coated, fried golden -- with a Thai sauce. Exotic soups, too."
A new building being erected behind the restaurant will feature two bars, one on the main level and a second upstairs. Carnevor also will feature an open air dining area, a first for a Milwaukee steakhouse.
"The design is coming together very nicely," Wackman says. "It's not stuffy. It's very comfortable."
The group says it spent some time on the West Coast putting together ideas and design concepts and hired Chicago's Slick Design and Manufacturing as interior developer and designer.
"This is a dining and entertainment district, and it's just getting stronger and stronger," says Bianchini.
Contact Carnevor at (414) 223-2200.
A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.
He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.
Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.
He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.
He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.
