"Bar Month" at OnMilwaukee.com is back for another round! The whole month of February, we're serving up intoxicatingly fun articles on bars and clubs -- including guides, the latest trends, rapid bar reviews and more. Grab a designated driver and dive in!
Cafe Hollander Wauwatosa
7677 W. State St.
(414) 475-6771
When Diablos Rojos opened its second Cafe Hollander in July, this time in the heart of Tosa Village, Wauwatosans and West Siders rejoiced at finally getting a sleek, comfortable, easy-going place that has an amazing array of beers.
Add some soccer on the boob tube, outdoor dining (in season, of course) and people watching and this westernmost D.R. outpost is a sure-fire hit.
Menu: When it comes to food there are full breakfast, lunch and dinner menus and a Sunday brunch, too. But Hollander really excels when it comes to beer. There are 20 choices on tap -- everything from Tripel Karmeliet to Kwak, Petrus and Stella Artois to Fat Tire, Guinness and Kronenbourg 1664. There's a menu of rarities, oddities and limited editions, and dozens more in bottles.
Price: Moderate. Some of Belgian beers run toward pricey.
When to go: Any time is the right time. Lunch or dinner outside is unbeatable on a nice day, but Hollander is great just for drinks at the bar, too.
Dress: Casual, but especially on weekend evenings, you could kick it up a notch. But no one will look at you askance if you don't.
Don't miss: The tasting palette Belgian beer sampler, which lets you sample any four tap beers for $12.
Parking: In addition to on-street parking nearby, there is an indoor municipal lot just northwest of Hollander and an open, surface lot, just to the south across the bridge over the river.
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.
