Oscar’s Frozen Custard is rebuilding its Town of Brookfield custard and burger stand after the previous one was destroyed by fire last November.
On Thursday, owners Jim and Susie Taylor shared renderings of a new, larger building that will go up on the same footprint at the site, 21165 E. Moreland Blvd., and could be open by next spring.
“After the unfortunate fire, we're rebuilding bigger and better! Please enjoy these photos for a sneak peek of what's in store,” the post said. “Stay tuned for more updates as we prepare to bring back your favorite custard and flame-broiled burgers. We can't wait to welcome you back in.”
The Taylors brought the plan before the Town of Brookfield Plan Commission in January and received final approval on Tuesday.
The plan includes a double drive-thru and outdoor seating.
"It feels really good to move forward," says Susie Taylor. "There's a lot of steps that go on behind the scenes. We had eight meetings with the Town of Brookfield.
"We've been doing a lot of homework. We went to the National Restaurant Show to look at all the new ideas because, but we kind of know what we need. So we are ready to move forward."
Taylor says that Jim was also able to find two more Leon's-made custard machines – thanks to Leon's owner Ron Schneider – and now Oscar's will be running four.
"We're very excited about that," she says. "We'll have four heads: vanilla, chocolate and two special (flavors of the day).
"I have a feeling when we open all four will be running full steam ahead."
The new building was designed by TDI Architects in Waukesha.
"The seating is unchanged," says Taylor. "We have an extended outdoor dining part off of the building, so it'll be easier for people to carry their out.
"The kitchen is bigger. The restaurant is 4,600 square feet, so I think we added on close to 1,000 square feet."
Taylor says the new design draws on the architecture of the other Oscar's locations, too.
"We definitely wanted to make it feel like the old Oscar's," she says, "but a new building. My husband said, 'Susie, should we do a barn,' but I said, 'how about a peaked roof?'
"We wanted to pull in the nostalgia of all three Oscar's buildings, but especially the original one with the peaked roof (from West Allis), there's red awning like Oscar's on 27th."
Since the footprint of the restaurant is the same as the building it's replacing, she adds, "people will feel like they're back at Oscar's. It'll feel like home again."
Taylor says they are going for an old time ice cream/custard parlor feel.
"We have our homemade cone on the windows," she explains, "because I thought that just gave it some charm. Then the brick pulls in the different colors going on, between the warm teak tone siding, which is on a very small part of it, the black trim, the different gray and warm wood tones.
"We went to Halquist (Stone) and they helped us pick out stones that pulled that all together."
Oscar’s – run by Susie and Jim Taylor – opened its first stand in West Allis in 1984. The stands are known for making their own waffle cones in-house.
Oscar's two other locations – at 2362 S. 108th St. and 7041 S. 27th St. – remained (and still remain) open after the fire.
Due to the extent of the damage an investigation did not uncover a cause for the November blaze – which destroyed the building, worth $644,000 and its $500,000 worth of contents – but no foul play was believed to have been involved.
The Taylors also own Taylor's bar in Downtown Milwaukee and People's Park restaurant in Waukesha.
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.
