Monday, June 1, 2015

Open Blog - Monday


Happy June.

6 comments:

lizardmom said...

it was a semi productive/You Tube weekend. I did get a lot done, and also binge watched Laverne and Shirley, got thru all 15 episodes of season 1 and the 1st 10 of season 2.

OrbsCorbs said...

"Laverne and Shirley" jumped the shark when they moved from Milwaukee.


One day nearly in the 80's. Sweat and shorts. The next day is in the 40's, wind howling like a wolf.

Anonymous said...

OMG! It actually exists!

Fonzie Jumps The Shark!

LOL!

HERE!

Anonymous said...

OH! and the L&S Opening...

HERE!

A Celebration of the Wisconsin Drinking Culture! and Italian Food!

Nov 3, 1991 -

Dinner's over

Brusha brothers retiring from 36 years of good food

When the doors of Brusha's Club and Restaurant close for the last time tonight, it will be a happy time and a sad time for owners Christie and Oscar Brusha.

They'll be entering retirement, which will make them happy.

But they'll also be sad because they'll lose regular contact with the people they've been serving for the last 36 years at the restaurant at 1501 Prospect St.

Oscar Brusha pointed to the parade of gray-headed patrons walking through the door Wednesday afternoon as Brusha's began its final five days in business. When the restaurant opened in 1955, the customers looked as young as him and his brother, Oscar Brusha said. They've all grown old together.

The closing of the restaurant is the result of a simple desire.

"I don't know how to put it," Christie Brusha said as he sat on a chair beside a booth in the restaurant.

"We just want to quit, that's all," said his more talkative brother, Oscar, leaning back against the black upholstery of the booth seat.

Oscar, 70, and Christie, 65, set the closing date about two months ago, but decided last year the time had come for them to stop working. The business, Christie Brusha said, became too much for them to handle.

More than a year ago, they cut the restaurant's business week to five days from seven because the workload was too great, he said.

These obviously are not absentee owners.

"I scrub floors, too," said Oscar Brusha, who manages the bar.

"We do it all if we have to," said Christie Brusha, who manages the kitchen.

Their relatives do it, too. Taking pizza orders over the telephone at the front desk Wednesday was their sister, Christine Rice.

Two of Christie's daughters work in the restaurant, and Oscar's son works there part time.

Another sister, Rose, is in charge of preparing the food for each day's business.

Family involvement has kept the restaurant going, Oscar Brusha said. And the separation of responsibilities - of the bar and kitchen management - enabled the brothers to get along well during their years in business, he said.

It's also family involvement that is responsible for the food that has kept people coming to Brusha's. The pizza dough is the same recipe the Brushas' mother used for her homemade bread, Oscar Brusha said. The ravioli, spaghetti sauce and other foods have the same heritage.

"We still make it the way she taught us," Christie Brusha said.

It's the product, not location, that brings people back, the brothers said. So, in all the years they've been in business, they've never considered moving.

They opened where they did because they grew up in the area. The Brushas' father owned a store at 1500 State St., Christie Brusha said.

"Your own neighborhood is never bad," Oscar Brusha said.

That's proved true for the Brushas. They made a living and made friends. Now, it's time to move on.

And, Christie Brusha said, it's difficult to know whether to laugh or cry.


Shortly afterwards, my Uncle Christie got Parkinson's and then lingered until he died.

The Pizza is still available at Bernie's and Mike and Angelo's.

OKIE said...

Our first week with no rain forecast until Friday and then it's only 20%. The lawn guys are going to be very busy this week. The monsoon season is officially over with 20 inches of rain.

Happy 1st day of June Irregulars. It can only get warmer.

Beejay said...

Our rainy season starts today. No rain so far...all around us, but not here. A storm came through last night and watered everything nicely.

Summer has arrived...