A couple years after Maxfield's Pancake House opened at Audubon Court, 333 W. Brown Deer Rd., in Fox Point, a second location opened in Tosa, kitty corner from Mayfair Mall. Probably not coincidentally, the two Maxfield's opened on sites that once were home to the popular Heinemann's.
When those places closed, they left holes in the neighborhood breakfast markets. So, it shouldn't have come as a surprise when I entered the Tosa Maxfield's, 2727 N. Mayfair Rd., this weekend that it was doing a bustling business.
Maxfield's, which has a warm, modern feel, is efficiently run and though the pretty big eatery was busy, we were seated immediately and greeted by a server who gave us menus and cleared out quickly so someone could fill our coffee cups and another could pour the water.
After a few minutes to peruse the illustrated, very long menu, our cheerful server was back to take our orders. Barely 10 minutes later, we had our food. And a lot of it.
I had a ham and cheese omelet ($7.49) with hash browns and, yes, I know it's too much starch, but I opted for the potato pancakes instead of flapjacks. Everything was piping hot, delicious and copious.
My companions had combo platters that were similarly satisfying and nearly overwhelming in terms portion sizes. We had some to take home for later.
Maxfield's is open daily 6 a.m. until 4 p.m. You can see the sprawling menu here. Both locations have parking.
There were lots of tables with kids when I visited, too, and since ours is a breakfast-loving household, I'm sure we'll be back 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.
