Lowlands Restaurant Group announced today that the Cafe Hollander, at 7677 W. State St. in Tosa Village, will close from Jan. 2 to 13 for a quick refresh.
Seems like yesterday that the place opened to a hungry west side crowd, but that was, in fact, in 2009.
The riverfront cafe will undergo upgrades much like the original location on Downer Avenue got this past autumn.
"We’ve been planning an update in Tosa for a while and with the Village streetscaping project nearing completion, the timing just made sense," said Dan Herwig, director of brand and marketing at Lowlands Group, in a statement.
"We’re excited to emerge this spring with an updated look inside and a re-energized Village right outside our front door."
Herwig is referring to the spit and polish that Tosa Village has been undergoing this year, getting new decorative pavers, more decorative lighting and a more pedestrian-friendly design that aims to slow traffic along State Street and the village streets that intersect. The plan also included some back-in-only angle parking, of which many folks have been debating the merit.
Inside the newly refurbished Hollander, Herwig says the cafe will have refinished floors, a reconfigured bar area, 31 draught lines (up from 23, and including a nitro line), some new seating options (just don't do anything to obscure kids' view of the passing trains, please), kitchen and bar equipment upgrades and mechanical improvements.
"While it was a painful summer for many of the businesses here, we see the long-term benefits this project will bring to the Village," said Herwig, "which is precisely why we’re making this investment when we are. In our minds, the Village is just starting to be what it’s capable of becoming, and we’re happy to play a role in its transformation."
The improvements coincide, too, with news that the Chancery next door will be transformed into a Jose's Blue Sombrero, though the timeline for that project is still being ironed out.
In the meantime, if you're hungry in Tosa in the first half of January, there's still Firefly across the river, Cafe Bavaria and Ristorante Bartolotta directly facing Hollander, Le Reve just a stone's throw away and other options, too.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
