The clock is ticking on Osteria del Mondo. Owner Marc Bianchini decided this spring to close the restaurant in its current location at 1028 E. Juneau Ave. and reopen elsewhere at a later date. Osteria has been in the space for nearly 17 years.
Sunday is the final day of business for the restaurant. It will serve dinner from 5 to 10 p.m. through Friday, and then offer a special private event Saturday and a public fireworks party Sunday.
The private dinner, beginning with a 6 p.m. reception, is by invitation only. Bianchini is remaking his wedding dinner, minus the cake. He and his wife were married July 18, 1998.
The multi-course menu includes stuffed lobster, veal tenderloin and cookies and pastries flown in from Brooklyn.
Osteria is throwing a "Big Bang Party" from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday featuring an all-you-can-eat buffet, a cash bar with drink specials and live music from Fat Pig. The buffet will feature Italian prime rib, shrimp scampi, chicken piccata, three pastas, salads and vegetables, and a dessert selection of gelato, cannoli and tiramisu. The price is $29 for adults and $10 for kids.
Specifics about the new Osteria del Mondo have yet to be announced. "We will be moving to a smaller, high-profile urban site to continue Osteria's tradition of excellence," Bianchini told OnMilwaukee's Jeff Sherman in April.
Don't expect to hear about the details for at least a year, the owner told me today.
Damien has been around so long, he was at Summerfest the night George Carlin was arrested for speaking the seven dirty words you can't say on TV. He was also at the Uptown Theatre the night Bruce Springsteen's first Milwaukee concert was interrupted for three hours by a bomb scare. Damien was reviewing the concert for the Milwaukee Journal. He wrote for the Journal and Journal Sentinel for 37 years, the last 29 as theater critic.
During those years, Damien served two terms on the board of the American Theatre Critics Association, a term on the board of the association's foundation, and he studied the Latinization of American culture in a University of Southern California fellowship program. Damien also hosted his own arts radio program, "Milwaukee Presents with Damien Jaques," on WHAD for eight years.
Travel, books and, not surprisingly, theater top the list of Damien's interests. A news junkie, he is particularly plugged into politics and international affairs, but he also closely follows the Brewers, Packers and Marquette baskeball. Damien lives downtown, within easy walking distance of most of the theaters he attends.
