Camino owner Casey Rataczak has taken over the former Benno's Genuine Bar & Grill space at 7413 W. Greenfield Ave. in West Allis and plans to open a bar, apparently called Caulfield's, there.
Rataczak – whose Camino craft beer-focused restaurant has locations in Walker's Point and in West Allis, a couple blocks from the new space – posted on Facebook Wednesday that he bought the building from Benno's owners Marty and Suzie Weigel.
"Marty and his wife Suzie owned and ran the business for 41 years, becoming a pioneer in the craft beer bar industry in the Milwaukee area," Rataczak posted. "I could only hope to have longevity like that, so the bar is set high, and I’m grateful for the opportunity.
"The next few months will be hectic with remodeling and setup, so stay tuned for developments in the future. #caulfields"
Caulfield's, Rataczak says, will have a "different concept" than Camino, though he did not elaborate. Perhaps the series of wine glasses in Rataczak's post offers a clue.
Marty Weigel opened Benno's in 1980 on National Avenue in 1980 with his father Benno Weigel and brother Benno Jr. Benno's moved to the Greenfield Avenue location in June 1989.
Rataczak opened the first Camino craft beer pub in Walker's Point in 2015, and a West Allis location, at 7211 W. Greenfield Ave., followed in 2020.
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.
