Milwaukee Office Park Revives Venerable Restaurant Brand

The famed Brown Bottle restaurant, which first opened in 1938 as a meeting place for visitors at the end of brewery tours, will re-open in Milwaukee's 46-acre Schlitz Park riverfront office property starting with lunch and happy hour service on November 17th and dinner service beginning December 1st. More than 4,300 employees work in Schlitz Park, home to major Milwaukee organizations like ManpowerGroup, Time Warner and others that provide financial, health care, employment, education, technology and various other services.

Schlitz Park is owned and managed by The Brewery Works, Inc., the organization formed by the families that purchased the Schlitz Park property in 1983, and works with food service partner Davíans to operate the Brown Bottle. Davíans also runs two other dining venues in the office complex: the Schlitz Park Café in the RiverCenter and The Brew, which recently opened in the Stock-House. Ben Hudson, most recently with Bacchus restaurant, was named executive chef at Brown Bottle.

“We want to honor Brown Bottle’s rich history by providing a nod to old world pub fare while offering a more modern style of food and atmosphere in a comfortable and convenient downtown location,” explains Schlitz Park President Gary Grunau.

“Our menu will entice a wide range of customers from those looking for classic pub to Wisconsin comfort foods,” adds Hudson. “Special attention will be paid to locally sourced foods from Wisconsin; vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free options; and wholesome offerings.”

The initial lunch and appetizer menu will include Schlitz Park Beer Nuggets featuring bite-sized beer-infused pizza dough served with a Schlitz beer cheese sauce; a Waldorf with a Twist salad consisting of seasonal apples, pears and celery tossed in a honey amaretto vinaigrette served on bib lettuce and topped with sliced almond; and Pulled Pork and Slaw with braised pork shoulder, BBQ sauce, fried onion and topped with cold slaw.

The Brown Bottle bar will also serve classic cocktails and a wide variety of wine and beer, including Schlitz. Next spring and summer when warmer temps return, plans call for the Brown Bottle Patio Garden to offer full bar and food table service overlooking Schlitz Park’s new Brewhouse Square park.

“We’re excited to introduce the Brown Bottle to a new era of guests and make it a dining destination in the Downtown and Brewers Hill areas whether to meet with colleagues or gather with friends,” Hudson says.

Hudson, a graduate of the Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute in Portland, OR, most recently worked alongside such notable executive chefs as Adam Siegel and Nick Wirth from Bacchus. In Portland, he served as head chef of the vegan restaurant/bar the Hungry Tiger Too and was sous Chef at Mama Mia’s Trattoria.