Nearly 11 months after announcing that its new Shorewood cafe would open inside a former paint store at 4334 N. Oakland Ave., Thiensville-based Fiddleheads Coffee Roasters has set Jan. 11 as the official opening date of the cafe.
Its first Downtown cafe, being built out in the lobby of the new BMO Tower on Water and Wells Streets, is expected to open the third week of January.
The local chain, which opened in 1996, has locations in Cedarburg, Grafton, Mequon, Menomonee Falls and two in Thiensville.
Like its sister cafes, the 1,910-square-foot Shorewood Fiddleheads will serve coffee and bakery items, as well as warm entrees at breakfast and lunch.
“Our location will be unique to the Oakland Avenue scene in that we will not only have a wonderful cafe environment, but we’ve designed and added a spacious, three-season patio, that will be unprecedented in the area,” said co-owner Mike Wroblewski.
“With the patio seating and fire pit area, flowing into our cafe, we believe our customers will enjoy fine coffee, great food, and a wonderful setting to simply enjoy.”
Added Shorewood Village President Allison Rozek, “We’re delighted that Fiddleheads has joined the Shorewood community. We all believe Fiddleheads will be a great addition to an already vibrant business and residential area. I’m sure I speak for the community when I say we can’t wait to visit the cafe when the open sign is turned on.”
The local chain has locations at Bayshore Town Center, Cedarburg, Grafton, Mequon, Menomonee Falls and two in Thiensville.
“We’ve been looking for the right location in the Shorewood area for over a decade,” said co-owner Ray Marcy. “Shorewood has been key to our expansion plans, but we had been unable to find the perfect spot, until this unique space came into the picture.
“We began meeting with Derek Grams, owner of the building, over a year ago, to begin discussions, leading to our grand opening this week We certainly want to thank him for helping bring this cafe to a reality for Fiddleheads.”
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.
