alterra: the anti-wisconsin
January 12, 2007 – 6:24 pmmilwaukee’s alterra: trippily good — except for the shift manager!
it doesn’t cast a favorable light on this blog to admit that we hadn’t mapped milwaukee’s establishments of merit in advance. it’s, you know, milwaukee. but the discovery was all the more scintillating when, cruising along lake michigan, we saw the hulking stone pump house — massive and boxy — facing a marina and adjoining posh hillside lake houses that would make any revenue projection grump drool with anticipation. how retail-sensible cafe owners landed a historic site named one of the top redevelopment projects of 2002 sure beats this blog. but we’re guessing mind-altering additives in the nearby water source had something to do with it.
“wait, is that THE alterra? …” but our ignorant driver had no idea. stopped for the usual double-macc, the choice when discernment is in order. then shots. hefty and pudding-like came the mouthfeel. despite the rush of orders, no edgy hint of machine crust or off-beat extraction or anything short of parameter precision. palatial, i say. leathery. and fall-floral.
the third visit produced conversational clues that this wasn’t only the alterra i’d vaguely heard of, it was justin teisl‘s alterra. snap, and we got it. talked with a genial couple of baristi who spoke of bar training standards that are increasing as we speak. asked when justin might be pulling … and a purse-lipped manager materialized from the ether to interrupt her own evangelizing employees with word that, ahem, shift hours are not for public consumption.
because, you know, spying amateurs could plot to cuff and bag him on the way in the side door, demanding a slice of lucrative lakeside profits for the workplace return of such a slinger.
hmph. pics to come — of cardboard menu boards, tree-hewn bar stools and iron-framed balconies.
Word on the street is that an Alterra employee has indeed been cuffed and bagged outside the side door in the past. Yikes. Maybe Alterra’s own Juicy Lucey could shed some light…
and here, we thought we were just spinning yarns.
we miss out on all the sweet hostage action.
yes, cuffing and bagging has happened and is true…
nappers have taken a one Elica P. to a now known cafe by the name of Gimme! in Brooklyn…. a one Rita K. who now will pull you sweet shots at Bakery Bar in Portland… ABC building yo. and there is even cuffing and bagging ahead in the future, a milwaukee to seattle conversion.
hefty and pudding like mouthfeel… wow, thats nice of you b.
had i known alterra was so ripe for piracy, i woulda tried my own hand. the more i learn, the more embarrassed i am that i didn’t do my homework before the road trip — and the more astonished i am that we just “stumbled” across the place on an unrelated four-day visit.
wish i knew the names of the baristi i had shots from. one a dark-haired female with some gleaming teeth. very genial, was pulling on monday or tuesday. then a blond guy in a beanie.
and it was awfully full in the mouth.
We here at Gimme! in Brooklyn made out like bandits on that Elicia P. deal. I highly encourage all aspiring staffers to look no further than Wisconsin for all their barista needs. You’re next Lucey, watch your back.
mo-fo’s are mostly going to want me for my beard, now that the red is out of white.
thanks for all the positive and creative words on this rant, you wouldnt believe how it can really amp up a blonde beenie wearer to hear he pulled some fall floral snack pack mouthfeel (i told him of the pudding and he claimed snack-pack madness), it was well recieved, and is now buzzing around the www’s for the next few seconds.
a major confirmer that everything matters all the time, slackers step back.
but we do wonder about the “anti-wisconsin”
hunh? http://chrisbaca.blogspot.com/2006/10/seattle.html will show you what is up
wisconsin: cold, flat, farm/industrial, odd humor, michael feldman, etc.
alterra: hoppin, edgy, sensical, envelope-pushing, etc.
thus, alterra = the anti-wisconsin
if baristi are going to submit to piracy from afar, then i wish a few would volunteer to be bound, gagged and dragged to the carolina wasteland, which is in desperate need of some verve. other than a couple joints in chapel hill, n.c., we are bereft of any such hope.
glad i could make a barista’s day. the person i spoke with most was the girl … and i know you have two dark-haired thin ones. she was super-nice, talked about training standards and pulled the first eye-opening shot one day and chatted the next. also talked to a big guy who’s a charbucks convert, i think.
tell me: how in the dickens did a local coffee company land such a sweet building? can you disclose?
i do believe that it began with MMSD (milwaukee metropolitan sewerage district) one day claiming – - hey! we want to make this building multifunctional, like a cafe… now accepting bids on who’s going to make it happen. so it was alterra versus sbuck versus another private party, and ACR won.
glad you like the joint, its a beaut for sure!
Thanks for the kind kind words, Ben and all. You’ve made Alterra proud.
It’s great to hear such good things are happening at *my* cafe…my baristi will be smilin.
Next time you’re in town remember this: I work the Thursday and Sunday am shifts at the Lakefront til summer hits (the rest of the week I’m either training or at school). Stop by and see me.
peace
Thursday and Sunday eh? Hmmm…
lucey wrote:
outbidding *$? them’s some deep pockets.
teisl wrote:
i missed you thursday by about 30 minutes, then. my chance at latte art featuring a complete human intestinal diagram gone, perhaps, forever.
mike wrote:
i say we hit him over the head with one of those cardboard menus and tie him with some of those dreadlocks i saw heading out the lakeside door. earth-friendly hostage-taking, you know…
I am so lucky to be able to work for such a proggressive and challenging espresso environment. J. Teisl is a great guy and (unoffical) mentor. I’ve learned alot from him and Scott. Soon I can only hope to be “nipping at their heels”. Lamb out!