A loaded-potato restaurant, Precious Vibes, to open where Pat's Niche closed in Milwaukee
An Alverno College grad who wished she'd had a hangout not focused on coffee or alcohol is making her dream come true.
Kristine Gomez-Delatorre plans to open a spot at 3956 S. Howell Ave., which previously was Pat's Niche Pub and Grub, operated by Pat James. Opened just a few months before the pandemic became widespread, the pub was known for its Friday night fish fry. Pat's Niche apparently closed in October, according to its Facebook hours update.
The new restaurant, Precious Vibes, will serve loaded baked potatoes, loaded fries and seasoned tornado potatoes, the fried, spiral-cut potato. It also will serve juices, smoothies and fresh fruit salads, and likely will add more menu items later, perhaps including mocktails, the owner said.
"We’re trying to keep it as healthy and as fresh as possible," Gomez-Delatorre said.
The aim is to keep all menu items under $10; what will help her with pricing, she said, is she knows someone in the wholesale food business — her father.
"You're a college student, you're broke, you don’t want to spend a ton of money," she said.
She noted the location is fairly close to Alverno — the college and restaurant, both off Howard Avenue, are about a 10-minute drive apart — and would provide students with a place to study during the day and gather with friends at night. Precious Vibes might offer hookahs in the evening, she said.
It's the kind of setting she would have appreciated in school, she said. "Coffee makes me really anxious," and it can be hard to find a vacant cafe seat to sit and study awhile, Gomez-Delatorre said. And she found people squeezing past tables as they were arriving or leaving distracting.
The dining room at Precious Vibes is large enough that customers coming and going shouldn't disturb those who are studying or meeting, she said.
And she's looking forward to using the restaurant herself for her own business meetings with a quick snack. She operates Precious Marketing, which provides lower-cost marketing to small businesses. Both the restaurant and her marketing business are named for her oldest daughter, whose Arabic name, Ghalia, translates as precious in English.
Besides students, Precious Vibes is meant to appeal to other segments of the population: Milwaukee's Muslim community and the growing number of people who are going sober or reducing their liquor intake. The restaurant won't have alcohol, and it won't serve pork products, Gomez-Delatorre said.
Her husband is Muslim, and neither one of them drinks. They feel more comfortable going out to places where others aren't drinking, either, she said.
The restaurant also will have a small stage for people like the English majors Gomez-Delatorre knew in college, who wanted someplace to try out their poetry and spoken-word performances, she said, or who are looking for a place to hold small fundraisers.
If all goes according to plan, Precious Vibes could open as soon as mid-January. The owner would like to have it open daily, from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. It likely will have takeout and delivery by a third party.
More:Restaurants that opened in the Milwaukee area in 2022
Sign up for our Dish newsletter to get food and dining news delivered to your inbox.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: A loaded-potato restaurant is set to replace the closed Pat's Niche
