Monday, March 21, 2022

UPDATE: Looks as though Billow Smokehouse & Sports Bar has given up on taking over long-vacant Fitzgerald's in Middleton WI


Photos by Retiring Guy





10/27/2021 update, " Fitzgerald's, the Place for Steaks (Now in its 5th year of sitting empty)", starts here.

Photo by Retiring Guy

Yelp, Retiring Guy thinks Billow needs help.


Most recent Facebook post:  April 8, 2020.


5/17/2020 update starts here

Photos by Retiring Guy


The replacement signage has yet to be installed.

2/13/2020 update starts here

City of Middleton Plan Commission



1/6/2020 post update, "Still workin' on it:  Billow Smokehouse & Sports Bar finds a home at former Fitzgerald's in Middleton", starts here.

The "Star BBQ & Karaoke" sign is gone.

Photo by Retiring Guy



8/8/2019 update starts here.

Photo by Retiring Guy



7/11/2019 update,  "Apparently, there's now some remodeling going on inside", starts here.

The former Fitzgerald's, which closed in June 2017, and the still-yet-to-be Star BBQ and Karaoke.

Photo and video by Retiring Guy

JGS is based in Milton, Wisconson.

Meanwhile, there's still this.



10/25/2018 update," Parking lot repaved and restriped but business forecast is still gloomy", starts here.

Photo by Retiring Guy

Check them out on Facebook!!


6/25/2018 update starts here.

But if you peek inside the windows, as I did the other day, you see that nothin's goin' on.

Photo by Retiring Guy

2/27/2018 update, "8 months later, it appears that there's still nothin' doin'", starts here.

Nothing but empty fusion to date.

Photo by Retiring Guy


8/23/2017 update, "Still 'closed for remodeling' 4 weeks later", starts here.

Must be a do-it-yourself job cuz I've yet to see any trucks or vans with drywall/painting/flooring/kitchen equipment etc/etc/etc business logos parked here.



Photos by Retiring Guy


And what do I stumble across shortly after I return home from a bike ride.

Fitzgerald's in Middleton closes after 30 years.  (Wisconsin State Journal, 6/23/2017)
A recording at the restaurant says, "Fitzgerald's is currently closed -- forever" and explains that it will reopen under the name Star BBQ in about three months. 
The message says the business was purchased by a Korean family and will become a Korean barbecue with "Benihana tables." " 
Call us back and keep watching the sign out front," it says.
Keep watching the sign?  That's what I'm doing.

Related article
Restaurant News: Fitzgerald's supper club getting Asian infusion.  (Wisconsin State Journal, 9/15/2016)
Fitzgerald's has never before strayed from its steaks-and-seafood identity. The 10,000-square-foot, 300-seat restaurant was a supper club when Jerry Fitzgerald opened it in 1988 and remained a supper club after John Kaul bought it in 1996.

After Sofra discontinued their dinner services last fall, the Middleton Kiwanis changed their meeting location to fading Fitzgerald's.  It was a disastrous experience.  We're now meeting at Sprecher's.  Makes you wonder how the Star BBQ will fare.


Original 5/26/2017 post, "Fitzgerald's in Middleton:  'Closed for remodeling' while new owners figure out what kinda place it's gonna be", starts here.

Previously, Fitzgerald's billed itself as "the place for steaks".  

Photo by Retiring Guy

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