Bartolotta to open snack bar at Milwaukee's McKinley arina in summer – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The McKinley Marina roundhouse, the casual shoreline spot for food and drink that’s been closed since 2018, will reopen for summer.
An arm of Bartolotta Restaurants, BRG Lotta Burger, will operate the roundhouse. The group projected opening as soon as May 19 in paperwork filed with the City of Milwaukee. It’s seeking a liquor license for the roundhouse along with permission to sell food.
The restaurant group, in a written statement, described the upcoming season as a soft opening; the roundhouse would have light snacks, refreshments and a store selling sundries this summer. Customers will order at a counter.
“The Bartolotta team hopes to use this season to learn what would be the best iteration of this special venue for the years to come and will continue to build upon its long partnership with Milwaukee County,” according to the statement.
More:McKinley Marina roundhouse’s snack bar reopened July 15 at Milwaukee’s lakefront
The roundhouse might be one of Milwaukee’s least-known public amenities, in spite of its prime location. Located at the north end of the marina, the building is set back from North Lincoln Memorial Drive and Lafayette Place, near the edge of the shore — which makes it difficult to spot but also ensures that its customers have spectacular views of the lake. 
The Bartolotta group has held the lease for the county-owned building for nearly three years, after submitting the sole proposal to Milwaukee County to be the roundhouse concessionaire. 
In April 2019, Joe Bartolotta announced plans for a soft opening that summer and full opening of the roundhouse in 2020. He intended to add a full kitchen to the building as well as have the outdoor seating resemble a beer garden. Those plans languished after Bartolotta died just two weeks later and the pandemic struck less than a year after that.
Related:Bartolotta group drops Northpoint Custard for the McKinley Marina roundhouse
Related:‘When the world ended … ‘ Paul Bartolotta tells of guiding restaurants through COVID shutdown
Previously, the restaurant group operated Northpoint Custard stand at the lakefront in a county-owned building that it renovated. The group gave up that concession when it proposed to take over the roundhouse in 2019.
The Bartolotta group operates two full-service restaurants on public land at the lakefront, Lake Park Bistro and Harbor House.
Hours are still to be determined at the roundhouse, but “the goal is for them to be open seven days a week to provide an amenity to the marina tenants, fishermen, boaters and visitors to the lakefront,” according to Erica Goblet, contracts manager for Milwaukee County Parks.
She noted that the site is subject to the Wisconsin Constitution’s public trust doctrine, which holds that the lakefront, such as the developments on filled lake bed east of Lincoln Memorial Drive, must be open to the public.
The restaurant group “is very aware that they are there to serve the public as an amenity and maintain public access to the lakefront,” Goblet said by email, adding that the lease agreement stipulates that the majority of the roundhouse site must be open and available to the public any time the building is open. 
More information about the roundhouse will be announced later, the restaurant group said, but its liquor license application indicates live entertainment is planned.
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Contact Carol at carol.deptolla@jrn.com or (414) 224-2841, or through the Journal Sentinel Food & Home page on Facebook. Follow her on Twitter at @mkediner or Instagram at @mke_diner.

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