Timothy M Dewar It had Sussex Sub Shoppe and Two For One Pizza, FB April 1, 2014
Before Andre’s Restaurant, there was Maria’s Family Dining, and before it, Sweet Basil.
Source: Sharon Loftus, March 27, 2013.
French influence doesn’t hurt Sweet Basil’s Italian spirit – Sussex spot presents a humble face, but pleases a refined appetite
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – Friday, January 30, 1998
Phillip Berroug was born in Casablanca, a city with a strong French influence. He went to school in Strasbourg, France, and then worked in French restaurants in Chicago.
But when he and his brother Jean-Pierre decided to open arestaurant in Sussex , they weren’t sure if the folks in town were quite ready for French food, Phillip Berroug said.
So they played it safe, decided on an Italian menu of pasta, pizza, calzone and sandwiches, and opened Sweet Basil last July.
In the six months that have followed, their 70-seat restaurant in the Sussex Plaza Shopping Center has attracted a number of devotees. Three of them have urged me to try the place.
I’ll admit I was skeptical. From the outside, it’s hard to tell that Sweet Basil is anything more than a takeout place. And when I entered the restaurant ‘s dining room, I thought I was in just another of those family-style restaurants that are so popular in the Milwaukee area.
Then I saw a sign advertising the soups of the day ($1.49 cup, $2.49 bowl): lobster bisque and cream of mushroom.
Now, lobster bisque is not the kind of soup normally served in a restaurant that specializes in entrees priced from $5.95 to $10.95. Although it may have been missing the kind of garnish you would expect in a fancierrestaurant (a piece of fresh lobster meat on top is typical), a cup of it had enough shellfish flavor to make it pleasant. The cream of mushroom was even more of a surprise — with lots of finely chopped mushrooms and plenty of fresh cream. And so was beef vegetable, a tomato-based soup thick with meat, green and lima beans, corn, carrots and celery.
The biggest treats at Sweet Basil were pasta entrees. The best, called pollo fiorentina ($6.95), tasted like something a northern Italian chef might make after spending a few weeks in New Orleans. It featured strips of chicken breast, slices of Cajun andouille sausage, and red and green bell peppers, all sauteed together.
Fresh cream had been added in the last stages of cooking to form a sauce for a plate of quill-shaped pasta tubes. That sauce and the perfectly cooked pasta combined to make a great entree.
Pasta with four cheeses ($5.95) was mostaccioli (slightly bigger pasta tubes) tossed in a mild tomato sauce, then covered with a creamy blanket of Swiss, mozzarella, ricotta and Parmesan cheeses. The result was one of the better-tasting meatless entrees I’ve sampled in a year or two.
Sweet Basil’s menu offers four seafood pastas. The one we tried, shrimp bella vista ($9.95), had a delightfully delicate flavor with just a touch of white wine.
The only dish that missed the mark was meat lasagna ($6.95), a nightly special. There was plenty of meat sauce, ricotta, Parmesan and mozzarella, but the pasta sheets layered with the other ingredients had softened too much and had lost their character.
Entrees at Sweet Basil don’t come with salads, so we ordered them on the side ($1.95 each). The salads themselves weren’t extraordinary — iceberg and romaine with shredded red cabbage, cucumber slices and tomato wedges — but they made a good excuse to try a couple of the homemade house salad dressings. I liked the honey-sesame best.
The Berroug brothers might be proficient at Italian and French dishes, but their desserts ($3.75 each) were all-American. I’m still deciding which one I liked better: the three-layer banana fudge chocolate chip cake with its luscious dark frosting, or the moist, dense carrot cake with its pronounced flavor of pineapple.
If I had any gripe about Sweet Basil it was in the bread department. An appetizer of pretty ordinary bruschetta ($3.95) put chopped tomatoes and cheese on top of toasted French bread, but that was the last of the bread we saw. Everything else came with the house garlic bread sticks, which were long rolls that had an unpleasant sweetness about them.
And I’m accustomed to having extra Parmesan cheese served on the side with pasta, even if I don’t use it.
My last gripe was purely personal: At both visits, we found ourselves listening to Enya, a New Age artist whose songs are sickeningly repetitive. If I had heard the words “sail away” one more time, I’d probably have thrown a bread stick at the sound system. ———— THE TAB: The first dinner for two at Sweet Basil cost $46.93 for two entrees, a cup and a bowl of soup, a salad, a dessert, a bottle of wine, coffee and tea. The second dinner for two cost $29.09 for two entrees, an appetizer, Caption: Chart Map Journal Sentinel Sweet Basil Restaurant N64-W22648 Main St., Sussex (in Sussex Plaza Shopping Center) .
Dining Out
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI) – Friday, July 15, 2005
Author: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
MAMA LO MONTES
CATERING CAFÉ
5814 W. Blue Mound Road
(414) 774-1998
Theres more than coffee brewing inside the little building just west of Hawley Road. American sandwiches, Italian panini, breakfast sandwiches, soups, salads and side dishes are all on the menu.
Mama Lo Montes first name is really Marie, and this small restaurant isnt her first venture into the food business. Before opening Mama Lo Montes on May 3, she was a co-owner of Marias Family Dining in Sussex .
With 12 seats inside and another 12 outside, Mama Lo Montes isnt big. The restaurant s food is all homemade and has a distinctly Italian twist. (Where else can you find a breakfast sandwich with provolone cheese?)
Sandwiches range from Mamas Special, which layers Italian cold cuts with baked ham, provolone, red onions and Italian vinaigrette dressing to roast beef and cheddar panini. The house antipasto salad mixes Italian salami and ham with cheese, cured olives, marinated artichoke hearts, roasted red bell peppers, tomatoes and red onions.
Homemade tiramisu is the highlight of the dessert menu.
Credit cards: American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa. Hours: 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday; 8.a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. Closed Sunday. Prices: Breakfast $2.29-$3.39; lunch $3.59-$6.25.
Su Casa II Mexican Restaurant
Su Casa II Mexican Grill Llc: •Was founded in 2007 and is Privately held [Dominguez?]
Found this statement –
My fiancée & I have been to Mexican Restaurants all over the U.S. Our favorite to this point was in Santa Fe, N.M. We happened across Su Casa due to their new restaurant in Sussex being close to us (it hadn’t opened yet). We’ve been back quite a few times since then & the food, price & staff are all excellent. The owner, George [Jorge}, has got a great thing going!
By Realtors I at Yahoo! Local August 22, 2006
—
About Us | Su Casa II
sucasasussex.wordpress.com/about-us/
… of 2006, Jorge and Berta Suarez opened Su Casa II on Main street in Sussex. … Su Casa II went on to become one of the more popular restaurants and …
—
Burrito Bueno West owned by Jorge Suarez Dominguez ? , N64 W22648 Main Street , Sussex, WI 53089 , 262-820-1855 262-820-1856 FAX
Source: Living Sussex Sun, July 2013, http://www.livinglakecountry.com/sussexsun/news/top-stories-from-each-month-remembered-b99162529z1-237032191.html
Su Casa II Is Closing Its Doors
After 3-1/2 years in Sussex, the Kohlmann family felt the time had come to move forward with the difficult decision.
Posted by Carl Engelking , June 16, 2013 at 11:30 PM, Sussex Patch
The Kohlmann family had been putting off the difficult decision to close their business, Su Casa II, for quite some time. However, that time has come and Friday will be the last day of business for the Sussex staple.
Owner Sherry Kohlmann said a crippling combination factors ultimately led to the restaurant’s closure. She said all at once the lease was up on their space along Main Street, customer traffic was not meeting expectations, and license fees were coming due. Kohlmann added that license costs for liquor and gaming machines cost upwards of $1,500.
“If we were going to make that hard decision, it made sense to do it now,” Kohlmann said. “It’s been a very rewarding experience. I’ve met so many people. If there was a way to keep it going, we would. We are just so tired. We really did a lot of soul searching, but just felt the time was right.”
The Kohlmann’s owned Su Casa II for 3-1/2 years, and said the restaurant is an institution in the community. Sherry added that they have the business up for sale through a broker, and the sale sign will go up in the front window within the week.
“We’re hoping someone will come in and purchase the business. It’s definitely an institution in the are. People are very sad. A lot of tears the past few weeks as they have found out,” Kohlmann said.
Kohlmann said a few potential buyers have already stopped in, but an offer hasn’t been made. And now, the family looks toward the future once they lock the doors at Su Casa II for the final time.
“Well, we’re all out of jobs,” Kohlmann said. “Most of my employees will have no difficulty finding other jobs. They are quality people. Me? I don’t know what I’m going to do. Not sure if I’ll stay in this industry or do something else. Not quite sure where I’ll land.”
Su Casa II will be open per usual throughout the week, but will be closing after business hours on Friday.
“It’s been fun. People have been wonderful, and I have no regrets – other than not being able to keep it going,” Kohlmann said.