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H 17°, L 4°Under a business proposal submitted to the Alcohol License Review Committee last week, the downtown night club Madison Avenue would be turned into a bowling lounge and restaurant.
Should the proposal be approved, Michael Hierl, founder and president of Boutique Bowling, would open Segredo, a Brazilian-inspired food and entertainment facility.
“We’ve been looking for something like this to provide Madison with something that has more entertainment value,” Hierl said.
According to the proposal, the new venue would offer four lanes of bowling, a mix of Brazilian-developed floor games and Wii games played on large screen projection televisions.
The proposal also details plans for food service that will utilize the kitchen at Johnny O’s and provide meals for both establishments. Both Johnny O’s and Segredo’s new menus will be developed by chef and partner Ryan Dionne.
According to Hierl, the menu will consist of “platos style dishes where customers may order several dishes to share.”
He added the ingredients will be locally sourced when available, including plans for cocktails and “mocktails” that will utilize ice cream from Babcock Hall.
Some members of the ALRC are certain to have many questions concerning the alcohol license transfer. Madison Avenue has had a few issues in the past, including a license suspension last July. However, some members are encouraged by the new direction.
“I am absolutely in support of change and direction for Madison Avenue,” Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said. “I’m particularly excited about alternative entertainment on campus.”
Ald. Bryon Eagon, District 8, is also encouraged by the proposal and said it deserves support from the ALRC and the City Council.
“I am excited for the new dynamic it will create,” Eagon said. “It will provide a fun, safe, energetic place downtown, especially for 18- to 21-year-olds.”
Hierl said the segment of the population under 21 do not have enough legal options of entertainment and touts his plan as an “enhancement for the community.”
He added it is essential for communities to offer fun, alternative places to go for 18- to 21-year-old residents.
According to Hierl, a Madison native, he was introduced to the idea of the “boutique bowling lounge” in southern Brazil and wanted to bring the concept to Madison’s college demographic. He said it is a critical part of their business model, and if Segredo is successful they will be expanding to other college markets.
Hierl added the interactive entertainment and casual eating environment created by Segredo will be an alternative to the type of bars that thrive on drink specials and binge drinking.
“Every single [college town] is looking to address the issue of vertical drinking space,” Hierl said. “[Segredo] couldn’t be further from a dance club.”
Hierl also said it is crucial that the approval process moves quickly as he would like to have a grand opening in January, before the second semester.
“We’d like to bring a little touch of southern Brazil to Madison just in time for winter,” he said.
The ALRC will review the plan Oct. 21, and pending an approval, will go before Madison City Council in early November.
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This looks great, I never went to Mad Ave cause its creepy but I might actually go to this place.
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A local Harvard grad and one of Madison’s top club operators propose Brazilian Bowling in place of the much troubled Mad Ave Club.
As a regular reader of the Herald I can recall when that address boasted a gigantic gorilla, you walked through it’s legs to go down a rickety stairway to a damp hole in the ground. If you considered that a thrill check this out… when you climbed back out to street level you found yourself at the entrance to a dingy food court where the names of hole in the wall food places changed as often as once a month. All operated by that brilliant long time successful club operator Jon Okonek.
Give me a break this dude has to be one of the worst individual in the nightclub industry, who ignored several warnings, tickets etc. when finally he was required to give an explanation to the Alcohol License Review Committee to determine if he should be allowed to continue to have a liquor license he stated, � I had no idea this type of behavior (fighting and underage drinking) was going on. WTF!
Wait… that’s just one half of the equation… here is the other half
�Michael Hierl oozes confidence claims a recent article. The 53-year-old Madison native and Harvard graduate calls himself a “serial entrepreneur” who claims to have generated more than $100 million in sales with his various companies has a vision of an underground mini bowling ally serving non alcoholic ice cream based drinks, (AKA kiddie cocktails when a shot of booze is added) I am quoting from this article and others I have read where he hints at unique food and beverage service.
Get this sports fans, this self proclaimed multimillionaire intends to provide food from a kitchen owned by a different business than the one he is proposing to start which is located at least two full stories up and away from his location below ground, on top of that a guy with all that money proposes using another individuals liquor license… a person who is so irresponsible that he came close to losing that same license just a few short months ago.
In summation Hierl is going to offer exotic cocktails and unusual food items from a kitchen he has no control over using a liquor license that is not his.
Is this guy for real. I wonder what the, �SHARKS� would say of he showed up on there TV show with this deal. NOT A CHANCE… NEXT!
If the Alcohol License Review Committee approves this alliance and takes the recommendation of � Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, who was quoted to have said �I�m particularly excited about alternative entertainment on campus�.
If memory serves, this is the same guy who was the head cheerleader for the, �Field Pass� restaurant/bar complex that would allow 500 or more mixed age individuals access to alcoholic beverages.
Check out this next endorsement.
�I am excited for the new dynamic it will create,� Eagon said. �It will provide a fun, safe, energetic place downtown, especially for 18- to 21-year-old’s.�
WHAT!!!! Do you believe she said that.
The real dynamic is allowing 18 year old’s into the same nightclub, oops bowling alley, oops restaurant, where legal age adults are more than willing to provide alcoholic beverages to them�.
This is the exact same situation where underage drinking repeatedly led to violent behavior that forced the closing of Madison Avenue.
In the final analysis… what ever the venue… if underage people are allowed access to alcohol by whatever means… it is a recipe for disaster.
Michael
so
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Yeah Mad Ave is Not that great. The bowling alley would be fun!
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I love bowling! I only found out Union South had a bowling alley after it was demolished, so this would be fabulous!
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Turning a popular club/bar into a brazilian bowling lounge? This place is doomed to fail.
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Madave is the best place in madison, wi. if you close it the coasties will have to no where to go and will invade sconnie parties. Leave madave alone because it is a great experience of the social life here
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bowling…Althoug Mad Ave is horrible place to hang out now… did this dude see that the Boutique bowling was full of 14-18 years old in Brazil. provide some descent alternative to 18-21 yeardolds people of Madison
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don’t close mad ave you fucking idiots, the gay bowling alley is not going to generate any money and you’re going to have little high school kids running around
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So pretty much like at Mad Ave?
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its a great place for everyone…dont close it down..this place mean alot to the hmong commnity. A place where we all can gather n have fun ..
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Omg, no you didn’t just make the comment of “this place mean alot to the hmong community.” please don’t make a general statement like this on behalf of the hmong people… i hate MadAve!