BY ANN CHRISTENSON AND DAN MURPHY
Two things sham-rock the world this month – the NCAA basketball tournaments and St. Patrick’s Day. You can get your fix of both at The Hale House (10539 W. Forest Home Ave., Hales Corners). It’s not a sports bar, per se, but it is outfitted with enough flat screen TVs for your sports viewing pleasure.
Tell us who you’d pick to be a Betty this year!
As for St. Pat’s, the bar plans specials to augment the Reuben rolls and Devine Reuben sandwich featured on the regular menu, says co-owner Jeremy Chounard. It also has a dessert staple in their Bailey’s Irish Cream cheesecake.
The 9-year-old spot is known for generous portions at moderate prices, and the sandwiches are what you should come here for. One of the handhelds – options include pretzel Philly cheesesteak, hot pastrami and build-your-own chicken sandwiches – plus an order of fried queso blanco curds (in a light batter, with chipotle ranch dipping sauce) and a craft beer (20-plus options), and you’re set.
The Hale House has a sister bar and grill in Muskego called The Local and, as soon as late spring/early summer, another business to be named The Slow Buffalo (3892 S. 92nd St.). Chounard says the menu will differ slightly from The Hale House, but what they’ll have in common is their attention to service. Hale House is open daily 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sat-Sun breakfast 9 a.m.-noon.
A New Happy Place
THIRD SPACE BREWING is extending from the Menomonee Valley to Menomonee Falls. This June, the brewery plans to open a 5,000-square-foot taproom and pilot brewery at Good Hope Road and Appleton Avenue. It’ll be the Falls’ first brewery and the second space for Third Space, which opened in 2016 at 1505 W. St. Paul Ave. The new brewhouse will be a third the size of the main brewery’s system, geared toward development of new recipes rather than cranking out large volumes of standards like Happy Place pale ale. While the craft beer business has slowed of late, taprooms have remained a healthy revenue stream, especially if they can tap into underserved markets like the northwest suburbs. “We’ve been looking at the opportunity for a second location for four years or so,” says co-founder Andy Gehl. “What that became has certainly morphed from what was a much larger brewery expansion to what it is now.”
The covetable mugs made by MKE’s Covet & Ginger. These microwave- and dishwasher-safe stoneware vessels have a raw, natural aesthetic that aligns with this food writer’s love of the understated but no less disarming.
Known for its deli case of meat products including kielbasa and head cheese, M&P Polish Deli (1215 W. Lincoln Ave.) has new owners committed to offering the authentic flavors of Poland – old timers may remember the shop by its original name, A&J Polish Deli. • Bars & Recreation, a local company that runs Axe MKE will open The New Fashioned in the Deer District (1122 Vel R. Phillips Ave.). The bar is expected to serve food and offer a marketplace of local souvenirs. • In the mood for a cocktail in Barbie’s signature color? Pink Agave (2242 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.) serves – yes – pink cocktails in the storefront that used to house Blind Tiger speakeasy.
