After nearly a decade in business, Bay View brunch spot Sabrosa Cafe & Gallery (3216 S. Howell Ave.) has closed. The news was first reported late last week by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
A message posted to social media over the weekend reads:
Dear friends and customers,
It has been our privilege and delight to serve you for the past eight years. With our hearts full of memories, it is time to say thank you one last time and good bye. Please continue to support your favorite locally-owned small businesses who need you now more than ever.
With gratitude, Sabrosa Cafe & Gallery
Former Taqueria Aztec chef Francisco Sanchez and business partner Ruben Piirainen opened the restaurant, cafe, and art gallery in 2017, nearly a full year after it was first announced. It replaced Gouda Girls.
Per our 2017 review, Sabrosa’s menu featured a bevy of signature breakfast dishes, as well as scrambles, omelettes, Mexican breakfast favorites, pancakes, melts, tacos, and cocktails (including coffee cocktails). “The pancakes and rancheros we thoroughly enjoyed seem emblematic of the Bay View newcomer as a whole,” we wrote, “timeless and affordable breakfast touchstones, except with a level of quality and an attention to detail that truly help set it apart from iterations you’ve come to expect from diners. It’s the best of both worlds.”
Oh, and Sabrosa had fish fry, too! Our very own Caleb Westphal got some fish there in 2019. “Sure, I think the fish could have had a little more oomph to it,” Caleb wrote, “but it wasn’t bad, and there was enough uniqueness to the rest of the meal, and an excellence to the pancake, to make the overall experience memorable.”
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