Mitchell Airport, which has been revamping over the past year or so, opening and rebranding new retail shops and food options, has added two more on concourse D.
The Garden District Kitchen and Bar and the adjacent Great American Bagel are operated by HMSHost and its Airport Concessions Disadvantaged Business Enterprise partners Newburns Management Group, LLC and Apex Business Solutions and Development, LLC.
Great American Bagel serves breakfast options including bagels, panini, coffee and the like, while the Garden District Kitchen and Bar – named for a South Side Milwaukee neighborhood – is focused more on sit-down dining and has a bar.
Last week, the airport announced a new shop in the main terminal.
“The Garden District Kitchen and Bar is a place for travelers to come together, enjoy a drink, and truly embrace the spirit of all things local,” said Airport Director Brian Dranzik.
“The name itself is a nod to the great Garden District Neighborhood which we call home here at MKE. We were also fortunate enough to create a bar using local equipment manufactured by The Perlick Corporation.”
The Garden District Kitchen and Bar decor spotlights the Milwaukee history of Perlick, which is located at 83rd and Good Hope Road.
“We at Perlick are very excited to be a part of the upscale new Garden District Kitchen and Bar at MKE,” said Theodore Perlick Molinari, a fifth generation family member and company employee.
“To be in such a central location in Terminal D is a wonderful opportunity to show Milwaukee and the rest of the country who Perlick is and to showcase the gorgeous bar and restaurant equipment we manufacture in the city we’ve called home for more than 100 years.”
Because it is a sit-down venue, Garden District Kitchen and Bar has COVID-19 safety measures in place, including seat coverings, plastic barriers and touchless ordering.
Garden District Kitchen and Bar is open daily from 10:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. and Great American Bagel is open daily from 5 a.m.until noon.
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.
