NOTE: Pattaya (414-258-8889) opened for business at the start of November.
As 2011 dawned, Miss Saigon, a Vietnamese restaurant, opened at 9201 W. Center St., bringing good, affordable Asian cuisine to the edge of Tosa and Milwaukee.
The neighborhoods nearby really needed it and you could tell by the fact that the place seemed to be crowded all the time. But recently that seemed to have slowed down a bit and I noticed that the place went dark.
Now, there's a sign that says Pattaya Thai-Viet Restaurant is coming soon. That's good news and hopefully the new place will be as good as its predecessor.
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.
