By Molly Snyder Senior Writer Published Dec 03, 2013 at 10:11 AM

Some big changes are underway at Lakefront Brewery, but not for the beer.

Lakefront Brewery will add a walk-up food counter featuring locally sourced products and extend its tour schedule to include weekday tours from 4 to 7:30 p.m. 

The new food counter will be open on weekdays during brewery tours and will have a limited menu, including Wisconsin-made artisan cheeses and meats. Local food providers will include Growing Power, Miller Bakery, Rocket Baby Bakery, Great Lakes Distillery and Bittercube.

The brewery’s Friday night fish fry will also be revamped, with all cooking and food operations to be taken over by the brewery featuring locally sourced food, as well. 

Lakefront’s kitchen operations – which were handled by Vecchio Entertainment Group – will now be overseen by a new hospitality general manager, Jessica Koehler, new head chef, Kristin Walker, and sous chef, Matthew Venzke. 

The name will change from Lakefront Palm Garden to Lakefront Beer Hall. Lakefront’s fish fry will continue to be served on Friday only and, yes, the Brew House Polka Kings band will still perform weekly.

"We are very excited to offer visitors more tour opportunities and more local foods overall," said Lakefront owner Russ Klisch. "This is a natural evolution of our commitment to customers and to local and sustainable foods."

Important note: Lakefront’s Friday fish fry will be temporarily on hiatus during the transition period. Klisch plans to reopeni the fish fry as soon as possible.


Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.

Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.