For the eighth straight year, October is Dining Month on OnMilwaukee.com, presented by Locavore, the newest restaurant at Potawatomi Hotel & Casino. All month, we're stuffed with restaurant reviews, delectable features, chef profiles and unique articles on everything food, as well as the winners of our "Best of Dining 2014."
Mazen Muna, the owner of the Dogg Haus group of restaurants, shared his plans today to launch PhantomBar this spring at 780 N. Jefferson St. in Cathedral Square.
The bar is under the umbrella of his new 12AM Management Group, which Muna says he founded to house "the new wave of businesses being added to the portfolio."
Muna says PhantomBar will focus on craft cocktails and a light menu in a modern, sleek setting. He also plans to build an outdoor patio with a bar.
"We have identified some gaps in the Milwaukee daylife and nightlife scene," says Muna, "and PhantomBar will fill those voids."
Muna says he has met with neighbors, "and the support is humbling."
Says Muna, "We believe in the Cathedral Square neighborhood, and this concept will tie in effectively with the surroundings of places like Elsa’s, Taylors, The Belmont Tavern, WhiskeyBar and Bad Genie, along with our neighboring hotels and the new wave of office buildings being built in Downtown."
"We will also have a shareholder, Andre Lewis, who is a computer engineer, to ensure some ultra modern features," he says.
The space is divided from the former Zaafaran restaurant that wasn’t incorporated into Peking House. Muna says he leased the remaining 3,000 square feet with its 1,000 square foot covered patio.
"It will be utilized even if it's raining," he says. "That's a huge plus."
Adds Muna, "I have been in the Downtown market for 10 years and know many people by a first-name basis. I listen to what their needs are, and this is a combined effort to fulfill our city's needs and make our neighborhoods more of a destination."
In the last month, Muna (under the Dogg Haus company) has opened two locations in Hudson and Eau Claire, both franchised. That brings the total number of Dogg Hauses to seven.
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
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