Eugene Bonner has never owned a café before. In fact, he doesn't even especially like coffee. But when you walk through the door of Another Blessings Café and he greets you -- all smiles and donning a customer-made coffee cup hat -- you get the feeling that he's in the right business.
"I really like people. I'm a talker, so I like to chat with people, joke with people, just try to make their day. A café is the perfect place for that, especially when you get people coming in first thing in the morning."
Another Blessings Café opened quietly at 5010 W. Vliet St. in late November '05 to offer West Siders a comfortable and casual spot to grab a cup of joe, sip some tea, or even sit down for a working lunch.
Bonner says the first few months have been "slow but fair."
"We're still finding out what people want, what they like and what they don't like. It's a learning experience for us."
And by "us," he's referring to himself and the café's only employee, his mother. Ms. Bonner, as he refers to her, does all the baking on-site, from whole pies and cakes, to muffins, brownies and cookies. She also helps with lunch preparation -- croissant sandwiches, wraps and salads ranging in price from $4 to $6.
Open at 7 a.m., Another Blessings also serves up breakfast, which includes all the simple staples -- bagels, fruit, cereal and eggs -- to the more complex -- breakfast sandwiches, wraps, homemade pancakes and grits.
On the caffeinated side of things, Bonner brews Coffee Master products, a roaster out of Spring Grove, Ill.
"Many of the cafes around here use the local roasters, but almost nobody has Coffee Masters, so it gives people the chance to go to a place and try something new," Bonner says of his coffee choice. "What's the point of going to different places if they all serve the same kind of coffee?"
Another point of differentiation is the stylishly modern look of the place. Large, bright and open with cast iron and steel furniture atop a black and white checkered floor, the space possesses an industrial-meets-mod feel. The ceiling is decorated with scraps of steel woven into intricate patterns resembling computer chips and is dotted with warm track lighting.
Bonner did much of the decorating himself, and while he admits that owning a café is indeed a "blessing," the real reasoning behind its name lies in, well, aesthetics.
"The women who owned the shop before me bought that sign and left it here when she sold the place. It's beautiful sign and I always liked it, so why throw it away?" he says.
The Blessings Cafe sign is a pressed hard wood sign that the resourceful Bonner saw no good reason to dismiss, so he simply added the coffee pot harboring the word "another" to the top and just like that, he had the name of his new café.
"There's not really a spiritual thing going on here," he says. "A lot of people wonder because of the name, but it's not like that. I mean, it's a blessing to me to have a coffee shop, but I don't want people to think they're coming in here and there'll be someone preaching."
Another Blessings Café is one of a few new businesses to pop up in the area, adding to what is fast becoming a well-rounded neighborhood. Next door is The Flying Hicca, a recently opened wine bar and art gallery, and just a few blocks west is Indigo, the new martini bar that replaced The Highlander restaurant.
Bonner's next goal for his café is to add ice cream to the menu in time for summer soft ball games across the street at Washington Park. The summer also brings outdoor seating along Vliet Street as well as large front windows that open to the sidewalk.
But for now, he remains dedicated to perfecting his neighborhood coffee shop. "It's a lot of fun, and we're on our way."
Another Blessings Café is open Monday through Saturday, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. The phone number is (414) 453-5282.
OnMilwaukee.com staff writer Julie Lawrence grew up in Wauwatosa and has lived her whole life in the Milwaukee area.
As any “word nerd” can attest, you never know when inspiration will strike, so from a very early age Julie has rarely been seen sans pen and little notebook. At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee it seemed only natural that she major in journalism. When OnMilwaukee.com offered her an avenue to combine her writing and the city she knows and loves in late 2004, she knew it was meant to be. Around the office, she answers to a plethora of nicknames, including “Lar,” (short for “Larry,” which is short for “Lawrence”) as well as the mysteriously-sourced “Bill Murray.”
