Milwaukee family's legacy; 1-on-1 with Bartolotta Restaurants owner Paul Bartolotta
MILWAUKEE - It is the company behind some of the most popular restaurants in Milwaukee, and for years, Joe Bartolotta was the face of The Bartolotta Restaurants.
After his passing several years ago, his brother Paul stepped in to lead and build on the family's legacy all while helping to shine a light on the city -- making it a true culinary destination.
FOX6’s Stephanie Grady goes one-on-one with the man who helped bring "Top Chef" to town: Paul Bartolotta.
Stephanie Grady: Your company The Bartolotta Restaurants has been running restaurants and catering facilities in Milwaukee for 31 years. That’s an eternity in the restaurant biz. What do you think makes your company so successful?
Paul Bartolotta: Two things – great people that work within. And the support of the community. My brother and I had long conversations early on developing our ethos and one of them was – you know, what comes first the chicken or the egg – the employee or the guest? You don’t have a guest, you don’t have great business. Conversely, if you don’t have great people you’ll never have any guests. So, we decided team is first, our team members are number one. Take care of them and they will take care of our guests. Happy employees make happy guests.
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Grady: Did you and Joe always want to open up restaurants ever since you were little?
Bartolotta: So interesting story that most people don’t know… when I turned 16, I was able to officially apply for a job at the Chancery on State St right across from Ristorante for Joe DeRosa, and I loved that environment. My brother was redoing cars, and vans and different things, and I was in love with this thing. When my dad asked me what do you want to do for your career, for college, I said you know dad I’m not that academic guy and I know you are, but I just said I love restaurants. So, he said what do you want to do? And I said I think I want to be a chef. And he said then be a chef.
Grady: So he was supportive of that?
Bartolotta: He was supportive of my following whatever felt right for me. I love the dynamic of the restaurant. I grew up at a table. It was always about food. I found a handful of mentors. My sister was working for Tony May at the Rainbow Room in New York and he invited me to come and visit and he sent me to Italy so again had I not met Joe DeRosa, Ristorante never would have opened. Had I not met Tony May, I never would have made it to Italy. And while I was in Italy, I would write my brother – we should do something together. I’ll do the back, you do the front.
Grady: You've talked a lot about Joe. What do you miss most about him?
Bartolotta: I miss seeing him. I miss being around him. Joe and I, we collaborated because Joe owned more of the company than I did. And I always felt like I was the only person that he could be truly honest with in private when no one was around. And I just, I miss the dynamic of two very different people with the same values and same love for each other to be able to experience two things totally different and have it out.
Grady: So now that you're in the controlling position, do you feel like Joe is kind of hanging out here [over your shoulder]?
Bartolotta: He's in my ear all the time. And he's in my heart for sure.
Grady: Do you feel as though "Top Chef" has helped kind of put that spotlight on Milwaukee? Because watching it I mean, not only does the city look gorgeous from all the vantage points and just the photography in and of itself, but you guys did a good job not just keeping it here in Milwaukee, but also getting out to Madison, going up to Door County and kind of having that taste of Wisconsin as a whole.
Bartolotta: When I think about how I could make an impact bringing "Top Chef," so I judged for the first time in 2009, and then I did maybe a couple years later, I did Hawaii and I did Singapore. So, I knew all the people. They were thinking about maybe doing, you know, Detroit, Milwaukee, Minneapolis. And I heard that. And so, when I reached out to them, I said, "you know, I'd like to be part as well. We were thinking about how do we get you to Milwaukee?" And they're like, "Milwaukee?" I said, "yeah, just us. We don't want to be part of the others." And they're like, "well, you know, Paul, it's a pretty heavy lift." And I said, "tell me what you need." And then to everyone else's credit, they closed it. They got them here. And what was the goal? The goal was to showcase the jewel of Milwaukee, to show Wisconsin hospitality, to show what a great place it is to come and visit. Because when people come, they love it.
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Grady: Do you ever think that you know what, I've done a lot. I have a lot of accolades. Maybe it's time to just step back and relax?
Bartolotta: So everything we do for the future. Anybody that says to you that the effects of COVID are here and they're gone, has no clue about how deeply impacted our industry was. The guest dining habits have changed. The demography is changed. The guest spend is changed. The cost of doing business has changed. Everything has shifted. I don't think this is the moment in the history of the company. I need to make sure that when I take that time that I think I've earned, I have set this company up for the next generation.
Grady: What are you most excited for when it comes to your future personally, but also the future of the city?
Bartolotta: Well, I get up every day and I tell my team we have not done our best work yet. Fundamentally, I think we're very proud of what we've done. But while people may think that they've seen our best, I'm here to tell you they have not. And we have more gears here. I think when you look around The Commodore, when you see we've done here and on some other projects that are percolating, I'm exceedingly excited about elevating what we do in a very relaxed and easy and approachable way, but showing that our attention to detail and our commitment to our team, our guests, our relationships, our community, and ultimately, being able to give back.
The Commodore is The Bartolotta Restaurants’ newest venture -- on Nagawicka Lake in Hartland.
But Paul says he has even more projects up his sleeves and feels Milwaukee is really having its moment -- and he is here for it.