Twenty-two years ago, Mehrdad Dalamie and Jon Anne Willow opened Bremen Cafe in Riverwest as a coffee and sandwich shop that would, hopefully, generate enough money to fund their free arts magazine, Vital Source.
The concept and the owners changed over the years – David Kopp bought the business in 2008 – but a few attributes remain constant.
In 2006, Willow told OnMilwaukee, “Bremen is everything to everyone,” and last week during a happy hour visit, manager Cailtin Carroll basically said the same.
“We’re a community bar. It brings a lot of different people together, and everyone mostly gets along really well,” says Carroll.
Bremen attracts drinkers from oldsters to “kids” freshly turned 21. The regulars and the longtime bartenders are a tight-knit group, but inclusive.
Carroll experienced this firsthand when she moved from Chicago to Milwaukee 2 1/2 years ago. She knew almost no one in her new city and found friendships and her footing from Bremen hangs.
“I instantly felt comfortable here,” says Carroll, who worked for years in Chicago’s service industry.
After a few visits, Bremen bartender of almost 14 years, Britta Eggers, invited Carroll to hop behind the bar to help out, and the rest was history. Carroll also bartends at Red Maple and Clementine’s.
Bremen is a live music venue primarily on weekends and an event space that, according to its calendar, hosts comedy and music open mics on Monday nights; karaoke on Tuesday nights; trivia on Wednesday nights and bingo on Sunday nights. One Sunday a month, bingo is of the drag variety.
The live music is as diverse as the clientele – everything from rap to acoustic to punk. Carroll says she is currently booking new bands.
The Bremen building, located at 901 E. Clarke St. across from St. Casimir Roman Catholic Church, was built at the very end of the 1800s.
Both the interior and exterior underwent numerous renovations over the decades, but much of the original architecture remains, including the wood floor, massive windows, moldings and wainscoating. The paint colors have changed a few times, with lime green the current color that pops the most.
Divey and grungey in the best of ways, Bremen’s main adornments are stickers. Band stickers, bar stickers, you-name-it stickers. The collection is arguably the best in the city, almost covering all four walls of the music room.
Pride streamers, band flyers and horror film curiosities are part of the eclectic decor. A visit to Bremen requires a quick stop in the “Bartroom,” the unisex bathroom with impressive graffiti, including numerous Bart Simpson drawings.
Bremen Cafe is a beer-and-a-shot spot. Thus, the bar features a lot of combo specials, such as The Bremen, which is a tap of Hamm's and a shot of Tully. Some of the pairings are named after bartenders and regulars. Like The Britta, named after the afore-mentioned bartender, it's a pickle beer and a pickle shot (needless to say, Britta digs pickles). There's also The Craig, named for a regular, that consists of a Miller Genuine Draft and a shot of Goldschlager.
“Our customers are special to us. It’s fun to do something special for them,” says Carroll.
As a Chicago native, Carroll pays homage to her hometown with beer options at Bremen from her favorite Windy City breweries.
“I also introduce people to Malört all the time,” she says. “My favorite thing to do is see everybody's ‘Malört face.’ It makes me happy.”
Although Bremen Cafe started with a food menu, today the eats are limited to frozen pizzas, random snacks and pickled eggs. During Packers games, there’s often a spread of free eats, and random barbecues have been known to happen throughout the year.
Bremen Cafe is a bar, but it definitely feels more like a communal third space more than a watering hole. It's got good vibes and good bones.
“I felt comfortable here immediately, and now, that's what I want for all of our customers,” says Carroll.
Bremen Cafe is open daily from 4 p.m. to close. Follow Bremen on Facebook and Instagram.
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
