Alterra's latest cafe, in the Locker's Pointe development on the corner of North Avenue and North 92nd Street, opened Sunday and appeared to do a brisk business on its launch day.
A visit mid-morning Monday found the place buzzing, both inside and out. The cafe is relatively small -- about the size of the Bayshore Town Center -- location, but has two rooms of indoor seating and an array of tables outside, too, facing both North Avenue and 92nd Street.
The chairs are a mix of those rough-hewn high-backs that look like they were rescued for an old hunting lodge and those lovely to look at but tough on the back and butt metal chairs that you see at most Alterra cafes.
The menu is familiar, too, with the usual assortment of coffee, tea and other drinks, alongside bakery items, salads and sandwiches.
The new Alterra, then, is much like the other Alterras, but for anyone living in Tosa or on the West Side of Milwaukee, it's a welcome addition to the 'hood.
The cafe is open daily from 6:30 a.m. until 9 p.m.
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.
