The stereophonic croon of Hall & Oates sets the calendar pages flipping back to 1981. Conical lava lamps, stacked between martini shakers behind the bar, glow in fluorescent Kool-Aid colors. Icons of music and film – Elvis Presley, Natalie Wood – peer out from black-and-white photos hung on the wall. Bunkers Nostalgic Lounge & Eatery lives up to its name.
Scott Bunker, whose West Allis fixture Bunkers on Mainstreet ended its 17-year run in 2000, capped off 2007 with a new bar just blocks from his original place on Greenfield Avenue. He and partner Cheryl Stefaniak’s cozy eight-month-old – seating just 44 at waist-high tables and red-vinyl swivel chairs at the bar – is a time warp of dirty martinis, Wedge salads, rumaki (few things remind me more of my mom’s dinner parties in the late 1970s), patty melts and burgers served with sides like cole slaw and baked beans.
This is uncomplicated comfort food territory. As fancy as it gets is the Saturday night prime rib topped with an onion ring. There’s a little twist to the food, though. Stefaniak used to work for Outpost Natural Foods, and for a time, Bunker owned a magazine focusing on healthy living. The two are doing some local sourcing for ingredients like meats and cheeses. But, of course, we’re not talking about health food here. Take the Wedge. There’s no hiding that it’s an iceberg salad loaded up with bacon, diced tomato and onion, and Wisconsin buttermilk blue cheese ($6.25). And those crisp, virtually fat-free water chestnuts in the rumaki are each wrapped in a slice of fried black-pepper bacon, stuck with a toothpick, and served with a spicy chile sauce and cool blue cheese dressing ($5.95). But comfort food just needs to comfort. These do.
I looked on the menu for Jell-O salad but didn’t find it. It’s probably just as well to leave it on those recipe cards from the 1970s. In lieu of cocktail wienies, Bunkers has a “tailgate plate” of three grilled mini brats served with the means for dolling them up: onions (cooked and raw), baked beans and sliced pickles, plus chips and bread to eat with them ($7.25). The thing they don’t come with is a Smokey Joe grill and a hot, asphalt parking lot. All the better.
You can’t do any better in the Bunkers meal department than the stuffed blue cheese burger. The 8-ounce Angus patty – with pungent blue cheese inside and more melting on top – isn’t subtle ($10.50). But it offers more than a wicked sharpness. It has crisp (fried bacon) and soft (a sturdy sofa of a bun). The pulled-pork sandwich rides closely on the burger’s heels. The hand-pulled shoulder comes on the bun in tender chunks and shreds, folded into a thick, tangy barbecue sauce ($7.95). Sided up with sugary, thick baked beans and crisp, thin-cut fries, this is great picnic food. Or seated-on-a-barstool-watching-reality-TV food.
Tuesday night might make Bunkers famous. That’s when the server brings around The Wheel. Just before bill time, each diner gives it a spin. Where it stops, nobody knows. You could get $2 off your food or a free entrée. Worst-case scenario is you end up paying full price. Nothing lost.
Not even the past. Which always becomes more appealing over time.
Bunkers Nostalgic Lounge & Eatery, 7420 W. Greenfield Ave., 414-258-1982. Hours: Tues-Sat 4-10 p.m. Prices: appetizers $4.95-$8.25; soups and salads $3.50-$4.75; sandwiches and burgers $7.95-$10.50. Credit cards: M V A DS. Service: friendly and focused on bringing out the food, fast and hot. Attire: mullets and parachute pants. Handicap access: yes. Nonsmoking during food-service hours. Reservations: no. Outdoor dining: yes – on the tiki bar-themed patio.
