{image1}Although you can get coffee and scones almost anywhere around Milwaukee these days, the search for something different doesn't always prove as fruitful. Amid the housing and business boom of the Third Ward, Bon Bon Café, 140 N. Jefferson St., strives to offer less common fare.
While the selection of coffee, tea, juices, sodas and mineral waters seem fairly standard, the more eclectic array of edibles sets Bon Bon Café apart. Oliviet, crab and beet salads serve as a nice departure from typical mixed greens; a cup or bowl of borscht may be followed up with sour cream cake torte for dessert; pierogies stuffed with meat, cottage cheese or cabbage recall Eastern Europe roots; and Russian crepes come in varieties from meat to strawberry.
The Russian influence in Bon Bon Café comes from owner Sergei Veller, who opened this cozy café in early June.
"This is really the first place in Milwaukee featuring European-style hors d'oeurves," Veller says.
It's true. Where else in town can you easily enjoy a meat-filled Russian crepe in an easy-going atmosphere, while playing chess? Yes, you can not only sit at a table and read or meet the interesting-looking person at the next table, but Bon Bon Café also provides a chess set and games, including marbles and dominoes, for patrons.
Its location in the Third Ward, tucked into a storefront in the Jefferson Block Apartments, draws a variety of people, from MIAD students to adjacent apartment dwellers to area businesspeople to the construction workers putting up the new condos and apartments on adjoining blocks. It's also a handy place to check out on your way to ComedySportz, a Marcus Amphitheater show or an ethnic festival along the lakefront.
Bon Bon Café is not a large place; after comfy-looking chairs shaped like flowers greet you at the door, only five other tables offer up a place to sit, so if you have a group of 30, it may get a trifle crowded. It is, however, conducive to relaxing and spending some time getting acquainted -- or reacquainted -- with hors d'oeuvres and other foods you don't always have a chance to enjoy.
Hours:
Monday-Thursday, 7 a.m.-9 p.m.
Friday, 7 a.m.-10 p.m.
Saturday, 9 a.m.-10 p.m.
Sunday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
(414) 220-1110
