By Damien Jaques Senior Contributing Editor Published Mar 21, 2011 at 9:01 AM

Downtown Waukesha has undergone a remarkable Renaissance in recent years, but it has yet to be suggested as a vacation destination.

That has not stopped a new restaurant that officially opened there a few weeks ago from offering what owner Gary Krivos calls "food from your vacation." The eatery's name immediately evokes palm trees, lazy days and a sea breeze. Krivos and his wife, Rita, are calling their bistro Key Westconsin.

The dinner menu includes shrimp prepared crispy ($12.95) and grilled in a lime and tequila marinade ($14.95). "Outer Banks" crab cakes, with real crab and no bread filler ($17.95), a seafood casserole ($16.95), and shrimp, crab or lobster dinner salads ($10.95, $11.95, $12.95) are also available. An unusual "breakfast for dinner" entree offers shrimp, crab and lobster benedicts at the same prices.

If your travel preference is more Door County than the Gulf of Mexico, whitefish sauteed with lemon pepper ($14.95) will take you back to a warm summer evening. Two sizes of New York strip steaks ($17.95 and $19.95), grilled chicken breasts ($12.95) and a Friday fish fry of baked or battered haddock ($10.95) are on the menu.

Lunch also has a vacation theme with lobster roll sliders and crab cake sliders (both $9.95), a shrimp po boy ($7.95), a BLT made with scallops ($8.95) and fish or seafood chowders, served with garlic cheese bread ($5.95). Most menu items can be prepared gluten free.

Four kid-sized and friendly meals are priced at $3.95.

Key Westconsin's full service bar, under a thatched fringe, serves up Hurricanes, Rum Runners and the restaurant's signature colada, which is made with rum, limeade and Key Lime Cream Liquour. Parrotheads can order Margaritaville Brewing Company's Land Shark Lager on tap.

All of this is the invention of a Marquette University theology graduate who had a 20-year management career in fast food and casual restaurant chains before leaving the industry for other pursuits. McDonald's, Bakers Square, Red Lobster and Marie Callender's are on Krivos' resume.

When he exited restaurant management, the New Jersey native spent time in food brokering and food service sales and distribution before joining Chrysler as a supervisor of parts distribution. A year and a half ago, Krivos took a buyout as the car manufacturer and the entire American auto industry experienced severe downsizing.

Job hunting proved fruitless. "I was told I was overqualified for the openings that existed. I was told to dumb down my resume," the restaurateur said during a mid-afternoon break at Key Westconsin.

Krivos' thoughts turned to going back to the time and energy consuming restaurant business, this time working for himself. "It's been my dream and my wife's nightmare," he continued.

Rita Krivos, who is serving as a hostess at the new venture, knows well the demands of the dining industry. She had extensive past experience working for Olive Garden.

The couple is especially fond of Key West, and the exotic Florida city served as inspiration for the new restaurant's concept. "People go on vacation, and when they come home they talk about two things -- the weather and what they had to eat," Gary Krivos said.

His bistro can't duplicate the tropical climate, but it can offer a reprise of the food. The restaurant's name is the result of a middle of the night epiphany, he added.

The Krivos family moved around Wisconsin and Illinois for Gary's jobs. They lived in Waukesha in the late '70s and early 80s, and moved back to the city five years ago. Krivos paid attention to the developing downtown, and he was particularly impressed with the growth of the Saturday morning farmer's market on the Fox River.

That is why he chose a vacant storefront whose last tenant was a Salvation Army Clothes Closet as the location for Key Westconsin. It is directly across the street from the market, and when the farmers start showing up with produce in May, the restaurant will open for Saturday breakfast. Krivos even plans to make his bistro's restrooms available to the market's customers.

Key Westconsin seats 58 at tables and another 20 at the bar. Sidewalk dining will be added in the summer.

The interior is a cheery pastiche of pastels, with tropical murals painted by Krivos decorating the walls. The vacation motif is even extended to the palm tree-decorated tissue holders in the restrooms.

Krivos reports the restaurant, which had a soft opening in January, is off to a strong start, and he believes the time is right for a local mom and pop entry into the casual dining sector. "I think many people are chained out."

Damien Jaques Senior Contributing Editor

Damien has been around so long, he was at Summerfest the night George Carlin was arrested for speaking the seven dirty words you can't say on TV. He was also at the Uptown Theatre the night Bruce Springsteen's first Milwaukee concert was interrupted for three hours by a bomb scare. Damien was reviewing the concert for the Milwaukee Journal. He wrote for the Journal and Journal Sentinel for 37 years, the last 29 as theater critic.

During those years, Damien served two terms on the board of the American Theatre Critics Association, a term on the board of the association's foundation, and he studied the Latinization of American culture in a University of Southern California fellowship program. Damien also hosted his own arts radio program, "Milwaukee Presents with Damien Jaques," on WHAD for eight years.

Travel, books and, not surprisingly, theater top the list of Damien's interests. A news junkie, he is particularly plugged into politics and international affairs, but he also closely follows the Brewers, Packers and Marquette baskeball. Damien lives downtown, within easy walking distance of most of the theaters he attends.