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DISTANT CIVIL WAR LEADS TO NEW ARMENIAN RESTAURANT DOWNTOWN
By Damien Jaques
OnMilwaukee.com
http://onmilwaukee.com/dining/articles/arinbert12.html?29910
April 16 2012
Senior Contributing Editor
Few new restaurants sprout in Milwaukee as a direct result of a civil
war. Few Wisconsinites get married to a soundtrack of artillery fire
in the distance.
But those are the roots of Arin Bert Coffee & Grill, which recently
opened in a Downtown storefront that over several decades has housed
Finch's Corned Beef, Five Dollar Deli, Philly Way, Wingz and Amazon
Pizza. The address is 222 W. Wells St.
Arin Bert has two identities. It is a coffee shop serving a complete
line of Alterra products, baked goods, frappes, smoothies and Italian
sodas. It is also an Armenian restaurant that serves traditional
cuisine from the Caucasus Mountains.
Owner Joseph Seifert says his closest Armenian competitor is in
Glenview, Ill.
Named after a famous Armenian fortress the arch-enemy Turks never
conquered, the informal Arin Bert features counter service. Beef, pork
and chicken are ground or chunked, placed on skewers and grilled before
being served as platters ($7.95 to $8.95) or in wraps ($5.95 to $6.50).
Platters come with sauce, two sides, rice pilaf or fries, and an
Armenian flat bread called lavash. The sides include hummus, tabouli,
carrot salad, potato-beet salad, pickled cabbage, and a warm red bean
adjiga (paste). Wraps are accompanied by hummus, rice, sumac onion
and sauce.
Falafel is also offered as a platter ($6.25) and wrap ($4.75). Ton,
an Armenian style yogurt drink with salt and mint, is on the menu. Arin
Bert opens at 6:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and a breakfast wrap
of eggs, cheese and cucumbers is available in the morning.
Authentic desserts made on the premises include baklava and drunken
cherry chocolate torte. Armenian baklava substitutes rose water or
orange blossom water for honey, resulting in a less sweet pastry. The
drunken cherry chocolate torte is dense but light.
Seifert is a Muskego native and attorney with a compelling story. Not
knowing a word of Russian, he moved to Moscow in 1990 after Mikhail
Gorbachev opened the Soviet Union to private enterprise.
"I was young and daring," he recently explained while having lunch
at Arin Bert. "I was looking for business opportunities."
Joined by a partner, he opened a cosmetics factory, but when the
partner was assassinated in 1993, Seifert knew his Russian adventure
would be coming to a close. "The mob was out of control, and it was
getting too dangerous to do business there," he said.
Seifert had fallen in love with an Armenian woman from the old Soviet
republic of Georgia while he was in Moscow, and the two married in
Georgia while a civil war was being fought around them. Manuchak
Seifert came to the U.S. with her new husband. She is a registered
nurse at Froedtert Hospital.
Meanwhile, her family was caught in a war zone, and the fighting
took the lives of more than 150 of her relatives. At one point,
Joseph Seifert traveled back to Georgia to bring Manuchak's then
11-year-old niece to the safety of the U.S.
The Seiferts were eventually able to move the niece's entire family -
Manuchak's brother, sister-in-law and nephew - to Milwaukee, and that
is how Arin Bert Coffee & Grill came to be.
Joseph knew restaurant management, having owned a supper club in
Mosinee before he moved to Moscow. Manuchak's family included an
aunt who was a famous Armenian pastry chef, and her brother, Razmik
Kalenjian, had kitchen experience.
When the storefront below Joseph's law office in the Century Building
became vacant, he saw an opportunity to set his Armenian in-laws up
in the restaurant business. Razmik, his wife Susana and their two
children, now adults, are all involved in Arin Bert.
The original plan was to operate just the Armenian grill, but the
Century Building owner suggested to Seifert that the neighborhood
needed a coffee shop, and the adjacent retail space was also vacant. A
dividing wall was removed, and Arin Bert's concept was expanded.
About 55 can be seated indoors, and a few tables are placed on the
sidewalk in pleasant weather. Seifert said he and his brother-in-law
are partners in the venture, and they plan to eventually offer Downtown
food delivery.
Arin Bert is open to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. A Sunday
Armenian brunch may be added in the future. A website is under
construction.
By Damien Jaques
OnMilwaukee.com
http://onmilwaukee.com/dining/articles/arinbert12.html?29910
April 16 2012
Senior Contributing Editor
Few new restaurants sprout in Milwaukee as a direct result of a civil
war. Few Wisconsinites get married to a soundtrack of artillery fire
in the distance.
But those are the roots of Arin Bert Coffee & Grill, which recently
opened in a Downtown storefront that over several decades has housed
Finch's Corned Beef, Five Dollar Deli, Philly Way, Wingz and Amazon
Pizza. The address is 222 W. Wells St.
Arin Bert has two identities. It is a coffee shop serving a complete
line of Alterra products, baked goods, frappes, smoothies and Italian
sodas. It is also an Armenian restaurant that serves traditional
cuisine from the Caucasus Mountains.
Owner Joseph Seifert says his closest Armenian competitor is in
Glenview, Ill.
Named after a famous Armenian fortress the arch-enemy Turks never
conquered, the informal Arin Bert features counter service. Beef, pork
and chicken are ground or chunked, placed on skewers and grilled before
being served as platters ($7.95 to $8.95) or in wraps ($5.95 to $6.50).
Platters come with sauce, two sides, rice pilaf or fries, and an
Armenian flat bread called lavash. The sides include hummus, tabouli,
carrot salad, potato-beet salad, pickled cabbage, and a warm red bean
adjiga (paste). Wraps are accompanied by hummus, rice, sumac onion
and sauce.
Falafel is also offered as a platter ($6.25) and wrap ($4.75). Ton,
an Armenian style yogurt drink with salt and mint, is on the menu. Arin
Bert opens at 6:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and a breakfast wrap
of eggs, cheese and cucumbers is available in the morning.
Authentic desserts made on the premises include baklava and drunken
cherry chocolate torte. Armenian baklava substitutes rose water or
orange blossom water for honey, resulting in a less sweet pastry. The
drunken cherry chocolate torte is dense but light.
Seifert is a Muskego native and attorney with a compelling story. Not
knowing a word of Russian, he moved to Moscow in 1990 after Mikhail
Gorbachev opened the Soviet Union to private enterprise.
"I was young and daring," he recently explained while having lunch
at Arin Bert. "I was looking for business opportunities."
Joined by a partner, he opened a cosmetics factory, but when the
partner was assassinated in 1993, Seifert knew his Russian adventure
would be coming to a close. "The mob was out of control, and it was
getting too dangerous to do business there," he said.
Seifert had fallen in love with an Armenian woman from the old Soviet
republic of Georgia while he was in Moscow, and the two married in
Georgia while a civil war was being fought around them. Manuchak
Seifert came to the U.S. with her new husband. She is a registered
nurse at Froedtert Hospital.
Meanwhile, her family was caught in a war zone, and the fighting
took the lives of more than 150 of her relatives. At one point,
Joseph Seifert traveled back to Georgia to bring Manuchak's then
11-year-old niece to the safety of the U.S.
The Seiferts were eventually able to move the niece's entire family -
Manuchak's brother, sister-in-law and nephew - to Milwaukee, and that
is how Arin Bert Coffee & Grill came to be.
Joseph knew restaurant management, having owned a supper club in
Mosinee before he moved to Moscow. Manuchak's family included an
aunt who was a famous Armenian pastry chef, and her brother, Razmik
Kalenjian, had kitchen experience.
When the storefront below Joseph's law office in the Century Building
became vacant, he saw an opportunity to set his Armenian in-laws up
in the restaurant business. Razmik, his wife Susana and their two
children, now adults, are all involved in Arin Bert.
The original plan was to operate just the Armenian grill, but the
Century Building owner suggested to Seifert that the neighborhood
needed a coffee shop, and the adjacent retail space was also vacant. A
dividing wall was removed, and Arin Bert's concept was expanded.
About 55 can be seated indoors, and a few tables are placed on the
sidewalk in pleasant weather. Seifert said he and his brother-in-law
are partners in the venture, and they plan to eventually offer Downtown
food delivery.
Arin Bert is open to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. A Sunday
Armenian brunch may be added in the future. A website is under
construction.