Continuing the horrid streak of recent restaurant closings is Brisa do Mar, which since 2024 operated in that big Third Ward space that Riverfront Pizzeria occupied for many years (509 E. Erie St.). Owner/chef Ramses Alvarez closed Brisa in November, thinking, he says, the break would be temporary. But he’s since decided to close it up for good and pursue a different, non-cheffing gig that will bring an end to his 27-year tenure cooking in Milwaukee.
In 2024, Alvarez – whose varied cooking background includes gone-but-not-forgotten Coquette Café and Juniper 61 – was looking for a place to land his Latin-Asian concept Dia Bom, which had started at the (also now closed) Crossroads Collective food hall.
First, the home looked like it would be at Bay View’s Lincoln Warehouse. But then the old Riverfront spot came up – a larger space than he originally was looking at, plus it had on-site pizza ovens. So Alvarez changed the concept to a kind of Mediterranean fusion, concentrating on pizzas, pastas and wood-roasted meats and fish.
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He says last summer was busy but more recently the financial picture was not looking rosy. “We made a lot of money,” he says, “but we spent a lot of money.”
When we talked, Alvarez was in New York City, pursuing the work he says he will now focus on – making user-generated content (i.e., videos) of restaurants and hotels for a marketing agency. There was “just a lot of stress,” he says of running the restaurant. Now he and his partner Shannon Rowell “can travel the world and get paid,” he adds.
Dining and Cooking