2022-04-12 20:52:41
Living the American Dream…until Ralph Herro comes calling…
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https://amp.jsonline.com/amp/3132486002HANNAH KIRBY | MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL | 3:45 pm CDT March 16, 2019
After working at her parents' West Allis bar off and on for 37 years, Mary Pakula of New Berlin opened her own.
When Pakula was 18, her parents opened Tap City in West Allis. "It was called Tap City because my dad was tapped out when he bought it," she laughed.
Pakula, who was already working for Blue Cross Blue Shield, started bartending at the bar, part time.
"The first day I was bartending, a couple asked my parents how long I had been bartending," she said. "When they told them I just started, they said, 'It looks like she walked into her own pair of shoes.'"
She spent 23 years with Blue Cross Blue Shield, working her way up from clerk to auditor, and continued bartending periodically until leaving the business to raise her son and step-daughter.
She returned to Tap City about a decade ago as manager.
"I love people," she said. "I think that's all it takes in this business."
In December, she left her parents' place to start Mary's Caddyshack in New Berlin, which opened in January.
"I wouldn't be able to do this right now if I didn't have the experience from there," she said.
Eats and drinksThe bar serves pizza from Luigi's, homemade cheese bread and burgers from Pritzlaff Meats.
"I'm a cheeseburger connoisseur," she said. She spices the burgers with her own mix called "Marynade."
She said she would start up the grill as a kid just to make one burger for herself. A third-pound burger at Mary's Caddyshack comes with chips and a pickle for $6.
The menu will be expanded in mid-April with more lunch options, breakfast and a weekend breakfast buffet, she said. It will also feature specialty drinks, including a "Caddyshack"-themed one.
Customers have been bringing Pakula "Caddyshack" memorabilia to decorate the establishment, she said. "It's a classic," she said. "Everybody loves it."
The bar, which is near Greenfield Park Golf Course and New Berlin Hills Golf Course, is planning to have its first golf outing over the summer.
The bar's pastMary's Caddyshack was formerly Butch's Caddy Shack, which was open for less than a year, inconsistently, Pakula said.
"It wasn't a corner bar," she said. "All I had to do was make it a corner bar."
Husband and wife Greg and Margie Hintz started going to the bar when it was Pendulum Pub, before it was Butch's. They said they stopped going to Butch's because of high prices.
When they heard the establishment had a new owner, they said they decided to give it another try. Now, they're regulars.
"When I opened the doors, it was incredible," Pakula said. "People just kept coming and coming and coming. They were so glad the corner bar was back."
"We like Mary," Margie Hintz said. "She's doing all the right things for the bar."
When Pakula took over, she said she lowered all of the prices, and added more beer and beverage options.
The bar has happy hour from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, which features 25 cents off rail drinks and domestic beer.
"I want to make everybody happy," she said. "They should have a nice, little place by the golf course."
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