Le Reve is the name of a new patisserie and café under construction in the former Streff building on the west side of Harwood Avenue in the heart of Wauwatosa's village center.
Located directly across the street from Ristorante Bartolotta, at 7610 Harwood Ave., the space is still under construction but there is already a sign posted outside.
The café is owned by Therese Hittman and Andrew Schneider. Le Reve is French for "the dream." Schneider, a graduate of MATC's culinary apprenticeship program, has worked in a number of restaurants, including Sanford, Coquette Café and Blue Agave in Mequon. He most recently worked with Coquette owner Sandy D'Amato at the adjacent Harlequin Bakery.
In their request for a conditional use permit from Wauwatosa Hittman and Schneider said Le Reve "would be a French style similar to Panera Bread. They would be serving pastries, sandwiches, salads, crepes and coffee."
Le Reve will be open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Word on the street is that Le Reve is due to open sometime in spring, which means soon.
Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.
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.
