By Lori Fredrich Senior Food Writer, Dining Editor Published Apr 14, 2020 at 1:02 PM

Black Shoe hospitality has made the difficult decision to close Blue’s Egg Shorewood, 4195 N. Oakland Ave., the restaurant they opened in May of 2018.

"This is the last thing any business owner wants to do, but we do it with gratitude for where we have been. We thank all the team members who have worked at Blue’s Egg in Shorewood for the hard work, energy, and effort," says Black Shoe Hospitality co-owner Dan Sidner. "We made a lot of people happy over the last year and a half, and that is a worthy thing to have done."

But there’s a glimmer of hope in the news.

A new restaurant concept focused on dinner service, along with brunch service on Saturday and Sunday, is slated to replace the Blue’s concept moving forward. The timeline on the project remains up in the air, due to current circumstances; however the team would like to open as soon as possible.

The new Shorewood restaurant will move forward with its current ownership team, which includes Sidner, Chef Joe Muench, and Black Shoe’s administrator Amy Kerstein and director of operations Jason Kerstein. The Kersteins also joined the ownership team of the Milwaukee location of Blue’s Egg in 2020.

Gift cards purchased from Blue’s Egg in Shorewood (along with points and credit earned from Black Shoe Hospitality’s Best Guest Club will be redeemable at the new restaurant, as well as Maxie’s, Blue’s Egg in Milwaukee, and Story Hill BKC).

Maxie’s and Story Hill BKC will continue offering curbside pick-up during limited hours.

Blue’s Egg Milwaukee remains closed, but will reopen when restrictions on in-house dining are lifted. Maxie’s and Story Hill BKC also plan to reopen for in-house dining when restrictions on those services are lifted.

Lori Fredrich Senior Food Writer, Dining Editor

As a passionate champion of the local dining scene, Lori has reimagined the restaurant critic's role into that of a trusted dining concierge, guiding food lovers to delightful culinary discoveries and memorable experiences.

Lori is an avid cook whose accrual of condiments and spices is rivaled only by her cookbook collection. Her passion for the culinary industry was birthed while balancing A&W root beer mugs as a teenage carhop, fed by insatiable curiosity and fueled by the people whose stories entwine with every dish. Lori is the author of two books: the "Wisconsin Field to Fork" cookbook and "Milwaukee Food". Her work has garnered journalism awards from entities including the Milwaukee Press Club. In 2024, Lori was honored with a "Top 20 Women in Hospitality to Watch" award by the Wisconsin Restaurant Association.

When she’s not eating, photographing food, writing or planning for TV and radio spots, you’ll find Lori seeking out adventures with her husband Paul, traveling, cooking, reading, learning, snuggling with her cats and looking for ways to make a difference.