5 days ago
Another Waukesha Mexican restaurant? A new one is planned for what was once The Bun eatery
Waukesha's long-simmering trend for Mexican cuisine may continue with the addition of another restaurant, this time along an industrial section of West St. Paul Avenue.
Las Cazuelas Restaurant was listed as the operator in city planning documents involving minor changes at an old commercial building at 818 W. St. Paul Ave., near Prairie Avenue. Used for a number of purposes over the years, it was most notably a drive-in eatery decades ago known as The Bun.
Details of the restaurant itself were not part of the discussion. But Andrew Borgstrom, of Waukesha, whose company AmVet Properties acquired the now-vacant building along with the neighboring site, offered some tidbits to the Waukesha Plan Commission on May 28, when the minor site plan and architectural review was discussed.
Borgstrom said the restaurant would primarily focus on catering events elsewhere, with some seating for dining. That's why fewer than a dozen parking spaces will be needed, he told the planning panel.
It was his nostalgic feelings for The Bun, as well as the neighboring lot that was the previous home of Jim's Bug Center in those years, that led to AmVet's acquisition of both lots, he said. (Jim's Bug Center is a regionally renown Volkswagen Beetle repair business that dates back to 1968 and now operates a shop on Philip Drive in Waukesha.)
"My dad use to take his Bugs down there in the '60s, and we'd go over to The Bun to have some food and french fries and stuff at 6 or 7 years old," Borgstrom told the Plan Commission. "So I thought it would be nice to do a renovation."
Most of the work will involve striping the lot to define the 11 parking spaces, creating a patio area in front of the building and putting some form of protective barrier separating the road from the lot.
The restaurant operators were not disclosed. (Las Cazuelas Chilaquiles & Taco Bar, which opened in 2024 in West Allis, is not connected to the Waukesha site, a worker at the restaurant said May 30.) No preliminary opening date was listed. Borgstrom did not immediately return a phone call seeking more information.
Waukesha is already home to at least 18 Mexican restaurants and food trucks, compared with only a handful a quarter-century ago.
Contact reporter Jim Riccioli at
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Las Cazuelas Mexican restaurant planned for old Waukesha eatery site
