The Caradaro Club, 1417 S. 70th St., in West Allis, will open a second restaurant in the space at 5010 W. Vliet St. You know it; it's the one with the big coffee cup -- dating back to when the place was a coffee shop -- on top.
The new restaurant was announced in November with a planned opening date of January 2010.
Obviously, that hasn't happened yet. Building owner Peter Grimes told the Business Journal that the cup would be replaced with a slice of pizza before the opening and as of yesterday the cup was still in place.
Current owner Wally "Wally the Pizza Guy" Kutch wants to find a good home for the big ol' cuppa joe. If you're interested, drop him an e-mail.
Founded by John Caravella and Joe Todaro in 1945, the original Caradaro Club in the Third Ward (in what is now Catalano Square) introduced pizza to Milwaukee. When the Todaro family sold the business a quarter century later, the new owners remained in that space until a fire destroyed it in 1978.
Caradaro only offers carryout and delivery in West Allis, but there will be a dining room on Vliet Street.
There's a sign announcing the new arrival, but it appears that other work still needs to be done, too. Stay tuned.
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.
