Couple employs quick change to open eatery

A wedding could be in the future for Dale Palkowski and Jennifer Clark.

But the two haven't planned for that aspect of their life quite yet.

That's because they've been rather busy and preoccupied getting their new restaurant, Montecito Ristorante Lounge, in downtown Waukesha ready to open.

"I told him let's get the restaurant open first and then let's set a date," Clark said. "It was his dream, but it was our idea together. We're two peas in a pod, and this is the next chapter of our lives."

Montecito, located at 257 W. Broadway, is set to open its doors at 5 p.m. Dec. 21.

And when it does it will be a major transformation from what that space looked like a little more than a month ago. When Palkowski, who serves as the owner, and Clark, his assistant, signed the lease from Berg Management on Nov. 8, they stepped into a building that had been vacant since February.

It was formerly home to the Mexican restaurant, El Ranchito. Since then, the two have been hard at work in overhauling the building.

"It was basically like a ghost restaurant," Palkowski said. "Everything was left the same way it was from the Mexican restaurant. But we got in here and changed it all. You wouldn't even recognize it from the old place."

Clark added opening the restaurant was a lot more work than expected.

"We tore it all up," Clark said. "But we're making it our own, redoing the bar and redoing the kitchen. We had to do a lot of deconstruction before the construction."

Clark sees the rapid change from the empty building one day to a place ready to be bustling with customers in a week.

"Every day if I haven't been here for a few hours and Dale gets something done, you can see the transformation," said Clark, who added they were in the process of laying down the carpet and finishing the bar last Friday afternoon.

Montecito, an Italian-American style restaurant, is going to be a lounge-type restaurant with pool tables, darts and shuffle board.

But why downtown Waukesha?

"The downtown is so inviting," Clark said. "Everyone is really friendly and the whole atmosphere is a reason we moved in. The (Waukesha Business Improvement District) has been great and has been so easy to work with."

Palkowski agrees with his girlfriend, but he did have some initial doubts.

"It was a tough sell for me at first," Palkowski said. "But we talked to about 100 people, everybody from the BID, to people on the street, to local business owners and everybody was so proactive in the downtown and everybody was so friendly that I was sold.

"And Berg Management has been great to work with. It's been a good working relationship. They want to see you succeed, because when you succeed they succeed.

John Ward of the BID is excited as well for the new business.

"It's great to have another place downtown that gives people options and another chance to discover the downtown," Ward said. "Plus, there's no place like it downtown. We hope it can be successful."

Palkowski and Clark have been in the restaurant business for many years - both serving as managers at different restaurants.

"It (owning a restaurant) is something that we've always wanted to do," said Clark, originally from Milwaukee. "The timing was right for us."

For Palkowski, originally from West Allis, it was always a goal of his to open his own restaurant and said he couldn't wait to get started.

"We just wanted to get in and start operating," Palkowski said. "We actually wanted to sign the lease a month earlier and open by Thanksgiving."

With a goal of opening a little more than six weeks after signing the lease, the couple hasn't had time to catch its breath.

"We'd like to think we're almost done, but we still have a lot to do," Clark said as of last week. "So you can imagine how busy we've been in trying to get everything done."

The excitement level is high for Palkowski and he anticipates other people will get excited about it as well.

"Even though the economy has been lousy, it's a good time to open a business, because people are still going out and enjoying themselves," Palkowski said.

And enjoying each other's company during this entire process has been what Palkowski and Clark have been doing, even if it puts off the wedding talk for now.

"I call her 'My Girl Friday,' " Palkowski said. "We mesh very well together. You talk about someone who has your back, that's her, because we're there for each other every step of the way."

FYI

Who: Montecito Ristorante

Where: 257 W. Broadway

Opens: 5 p.m. Dec. 21

Phone: (262) 542-7470