West Allis Cheese and Sausage Shoppe – Café and Deli
By Cynthia Sommer
The West Allis Cheese and Sausage Shoppe, a destination in Milwaukee for 40 years, has recently opened a new location at 2974 N. Oakland Avenue at Linwood. This family business, co-owned by Mark and Linda Lutz and brother Howard Lutz, has continued the tradition of the original West Allis store, the Milwaukee home of Merkt cheeses. Their early involvement and continued development over the past 5 years at the Milwaukee Public Market resulted in a second successful deli and cheese venue with more products and positive public exposure. They are honored to have been voted for the last 3 years (2008, 2009, and 2010) as Milwaukee’s Best Cheese Store by WISN.com’s A list.
The choice of the East Side location resulted when Linda noticed the closed Bella Fat Cat store when driving in the area with her daughter Hannah, a UWM student. This new store allows them to showcase their more than 250 types of cheeses as well as continue their theme of providing a deli and café. The store has a full line of domestic and imported cheeses, award-winning Lake Geneva Country meats & brats (portabella mushroom and Swiss cheese, cooked cheddar and green pepper, cherry and traditional), Usinger summer sausages, Sven’s fair trade organic coffee, gifts and more.
The products, menu and store hours (M-F 6:30am -8 pm; Sat 8 am- 7 pm; Sun 9 am – 6 pm) will service a variety of customer needs. The convenient parking and early store hours will allow the bleary-eyed worker to choose from several egg sandwich choices, muffins and/or coffee. The lunch and dinner crowd can make their own deli sandwich (pick a meat, cheese, Breadsmith Bread, condiments and extras) or choose from their list of signature sandwiches($4.99-$8.99), hot dogs or brats on pretzel buns ($3), soups, deli salads, fried cheese curds and more. There is even a Kid’s menu of sandwiches that include Gummy Bears. Favorites at their downtown store include grilled cheese sandwiches with unique cheeses, turkey and brie, grilled buffalo chicken with habanera cheese and a Milwaukee classic sandwich of liver sausage, onion, Swiss cheese on rye. You can get a tweet sent to you of the daily sandwich special. Another Milwaukee tradition will be the sale of hot ham and rolls on Sunday morning. By summer, you can also plan on stopping for custard on your walk after dinner in the neighborhood. Their wireless equipped café will have inside and outdoor tables.
Whether you want to learn about types of cheeses, send cheese packages to friends and relative out of town, get a breakfast, lunch or dinner meal, or pick up a carry-out of cheeses and crackers for Musical Monday’s at LakePark – stop by the new venue in the area and also check out their web site: www.wacheese-gifts.com. The Murray Hill Neighborhood Association welcomes the West Allis Cheese and Sausage Shoppe to the neighborhood!