When Milwaukee County got a chilly response to a request for proposal to run the Northpoint Custard stand for the next five years, it appeared that the place might go back to being shuttered for the first time since Bartolotta opened the burgers and custard stand there on a seasonal basis in 2009.
One sticking point appeared to have been a County requirement calling for a minimum annual rent of $60,000. Bartolotta submitted the only RFP for the stand and that plan failed to meet the rent requirement.
But today, Bartolotta announced that it "will continue its partnership with Milwaukee County in 2018" and that the stand will open on Saturday, May 19.
According to Bartolotta spokesperson Kelly Mallegni, the one-year partnership extends the previous agreement between the entities.
"All terms are the same as they were last year," she told OnMilwaukee in an email.
As always, Northpoint will open with a bang, offering free burgers to the first 200 customers in line.
"Northpoint has come to symbolize the unofficial start of the summer on the lakefront and are thrilled to continue this partnership for our community to enjoy," said Bartolotta’s Scott Williams in a statement.
Just after the stand closed last year it was featured on the Cooking Channel's debut episode of "Seaside Snacks & Shacks."
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.
