Well, after years of planning and neighborhood discussions and political adventures, Eric Uecke finally did it. He forced the Cactus Club to grow up.
The front door opened nearly three weeks ago now, and while the back room where many of us cut our teeth on old-school punk rock is still under construction, I have to say I'm super impressed.
Scott and I swung in for a beer and a glass of wine (awesome, awesome, awesome selection) and were tickled with the new concrete bar, funky light fixtures and oh yes, ladies, the floor to ceiling tiled beauty of a women's room with all new fixtures. Color me happy.
I guess I had a bit of trepidation since the old Cactus was very important to me in a different past chapter of my life, but Uecke succeeded in perfectly melding old with new, and lovely framed pieces of old Cactus history line the newly painted, classy yet still cool walls.
Expect to see the old White Stripes/Mistreaters concert announcement display hung prominently on the west wall and one of Uecke's trademark black and white zebra-striped schedules marking the hallway entrance. And while the signature smoke clouds are gone, now eaten by multiple state-of-the-art air filters, Chris and crew are still serving ice cold ones from behind the beautiful new bar and the club's trademark fascinatingly great music still emanates from the now fancier and utterly impressive speaker system.
Congratulations, Eric, you done good.
Amy L. Schubert is a 15-year veteran of the hospitality industry and has worked in every aspect of bar and restaurant operations. A graduate of Marquette University (B.A.-Writing Intensive English, 1997) and UW-Milwaukee (M.A.-Rhetoric, Composition, and Professional Writing, 2001), Amy still occasionally moonlights as a guest bartender and she mixes a mean martini.
The restaurant business seems to be in Amy’s blood, and she prides herself in researching and experimenting with culinary combinations and cooking techniques in her own kitchen as well as in friends’ restaurants. Both she and her husband, Scott, are avid cooks and “wine heads,” and love to entertain friends, family and neighbors as frequently as possible.
Amy and Scott live with their boys, Alex and Nick, in Bay View, where they are all very active in the community. Amy finds great pleasure in sharing her knowledge and passions for food and writing in her contributions to OnMilwaukee.com.
