Brady Street's Italian character gets a shot in the arm in July when Mari Cucunato opens Mari's on Brady, a coffee shop, cafe and wine bar at 1229 E. Brady St.
The cafe, located in a storefront that has hosted Three Dog Bakery, Sol shoe store, In Vino Veritas, and most recently a Milwaukee office for Kinetic Real Estate, among other businesses, will serve Italian pastries and coffee in the morning, light sandwiches in the afternoon and wine and appetizers in the evening.
"I, of course, have been inspired by my Italian grandma, and will be specializing in her cookies," says Cucunato, who has co-run flower shops and restaurants in the area, including in South Milwaukee, Whitefish Bay and Downtown Milwaukee.
"The concept is fresh and fun, very complimentary to the diversity of Brady Street. Coffee, desserts, for the afternoon light antipasti , wine, all the things that we grew up with and love to enjoy."
Cucunato says Mari's will also carry specialty flowers and that the combination of food and "fiori" reflects her family's traditions.
"My grandparents were grocery store owners for over 70 years, and my parents florists."
Stay tuned for more on Mari's soon.
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.
