For six years, “Cooking With Kitty” brought positivity, inclusivity and empowerment to its nearly 2,000 YouTube subscribers. Launched during the pandemic, the show featured Kitty Storey, a Milwaukee teenager with a dual diagnosis of Down syndrome and autism applying the skills she’s learned in occupational therapy to make things like beef stroganoff and Taylor Swift’s favorite chai cookies. 

But at the end of 2025, after 283 videos, Kitty’s parents decided to stop filming the show. The reasons go beyond Kitty to, among other things, the resurgence in the last year of negative messaging about people with disabilities, says Kitty’s mom, Kim Storey. Before that, it was the “perfect platform” for Kitty, she says, citing benefits to her communication, fine motor skills and self-confidence.

Recent viewership had been down – “we went from [a video] having 200 views to 20,” says Kim – but the supportive message that went out to everyone in marginalized groups was always the same: “If [Kitty] can do it, so can you,” says her mom. And the teen’s advocacy will live on in the “Cooking With Kitty” archives on YouTube. “We were just trying to do something really positive,” says Storey. 

Sip and Shop

Last summer, 20-year-old Waterford Wine & Spirits reinvested in its East Side location (2120 N. Farwell Ave.) by building a 16-seat wine bar. The goal is to create a “community place,” GM Jason Wedl says. Sounds like they have. Specialty tastings (wine and chocolate) and events like Paint & Sip appeal to diverse demographics. At the wine bar, drinkers choose from 14 options by the glass or bottle and a selection of cheeses, salamis and nuts. (Waterford owner Ben Christiansen’s recent marriage to Tosa’s Village Cheese Shop owner Sabina Magyar has created a symbiotic partnership.)

The bar is open the same hours as the shop (Mon-Sat 11 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sun noon-5 p.m.); Wedl sees it as a spot to stop for a drink before “sliding into dinner somewhere else.” Unless it’s the second Friday of each month, when Waterford holds its Oysters at the Wine Bar (April 10 this month), from 5 p.m. until they sell out. A half-dozen oysters and a glass of crisp white wine can be had for $20. 

“A lot of people coming in lately are saying the same thing: ‘You gotta keep going. You’re one of the last ones standing!’” 

– Beerline Cafe owner Michael Allen, on the spate of plant-based restaurant closings 

Brookfield’s Café Manna (3815 N. Brookfield Rd.) – a destination for plant-based cuisine for 18 years – closed on March 14. But maybe not for good: Manna may reopen in a new location sometime in the future.  •  After an 18-month building restoration, The Deep Groove, a vinyl listening lounge and bar (1200 E. Brady St.), opened in January. The former Schlitz tied house has an old saloon look with a pressed tin ceiling, vintage lamps and dark wood bar.  •  Fixture Pizza Pub (623 S. Second St.) – known for thin-crust and deep-dish, garlic bread and “spag and balls” – closed “indefinitely” in early February.  •  Diners at the new Sooshibay (1154 N. Water St.) can order their sushi ferried to them by a robot or via a rotary belt.  •  Plans for two new restaurants were announced in February – a European-style steakhouse called High Stakes by Bartolotta (to replace The Rumpus Room Downtown) and Pizzeria Di Lusso, coming to Shorewood from the owners of Bay View’s Sorella.