Licenses for Bay View restaurant Cholo Power are under review after resident complaints

The food and liquor licenses of new Bay View eatery Cholo Power, formerly Blackwood Brothers Restaurant, are up for review after the city received numerous complaints about the business and its chef.

A license hearing for the restaurant at 3001 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. was on the Common Council License Committee's May 7 agenda, but the owner did not appear, causing its licenses to expire on May 9.

In a now-deleted Instagram post, Cholo Power posted on May 10 that its license wasn't approved and it would be closed. But Ald. Marina Dimitrijevic, who represents the area, granted the restaurant a provisional food license without liquor shortly after that post.

The licenses were flagged for review after Dimitrijevic's office received numerous resident complaints about the business and objections to their license renewal. Some residents were confused about how a new restaurant appeared without a new license hearing, which usually is required for new liquor licenses.

Mario Malacara, who owns the building, owned Blackwood Brothers, and is the sole owner of Cholo Power, retained the same food and liquor licenses with a changed business name. The liquor license remains under Blackwood Bros Restaurant and Social Club LLC.

Some email complaints cited concerns about Mario Diaz Herrera, the chef of the new restaurant. Diaz Herrera was convicted in a domestic violence case in November when he pleaded guilty to two counts of disorderly conduct related to domestic abuse, according to court records.

Other emails complained about late-night noise and trash issues at the restaurant.

Triciclo Peru and its owner

Cholo Power opened March 20, advertised as "a project to bring Triciclo Peru's concept back," according to an Instagram post by the restaurant.

A report from OnMilwaukee.com confirmed that Diaz Herrera, who previously owned popular Peruvian restaurant Triciclo Peru, was involved in the new concept. Malacara told OnMilwaukee: "I'm not a restaurateur. I found that out. So I'm going to let someone else carry this forward."

Triciclo Peru, 3801 W. Vliet St., closed in mid-September while Diaz Herrera was the defendant in a domestic abuse case.

On Sept. 18, 2023, the same week that Triciclo Peru was reported closed, court documents show that Diaz Herrera's lawyer requested that the defendant appear on Zoom for an Oct. 5 hearing related to the case. The letter said that Diaz Herrera had "closed his Milwaukee business and went to Miami to be with family."

On Nov. 7, 2023, Diaz Herrera pleaded guilty to two counts of disorderly conduct related to domestic abuse.

He was sentenced to one year of probation and was ordered to complete a batterer's intervention program, among other requirements, including potential condition time to be served at the county's Community Reintegration Center, formerly known as the House of Corrections.

According to a Department of Corrections review on Feb. 6, Diaz Herrera had attended 17 batterer's intervention counseling sessions at The Alma Center since Nov. 14. The files said that "feedback from Mr. Diaz-Herrera's facilitator has been positive and reports indicate he participates and is very motivated."

The file also noted that Diaz Herrera was unemployed at that time but was in the process of opening a Peruvian restaurant at 3001 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.

A few days before Cholo Power opened, Diaz Herrera's ex-wife Amy Narr, who owned Triciclo Peru with Diaz Herrera until March 2023, posted on social media encouraging people to boycott Cholo Power. In one slide, she said she planned to stay out of it until Diaz Herrera started promoting his new business using their shared Triciclo Peru name, which they owned together first as a food truck in 2017, then as a brick-and-mortar restaurant in 2019.

"He doesn't get to do that," Narr wrote in the post.

She accused Diaz Herrera of multiple acts of wrongdoing, including defaulting on bills.

One active court case shows that Badger Liquor, which distributed alcohol to Triciclo Peru, accused Diaz Herrera and the restaurant's LLC of owing nearly $3,000 for goods sold and delivered to the restaurant before Aug. 11, 2023.

According to court documents, Diaz Herrera did not appear at a May 7 hearing and was given a default judgment to pay nearly $4,000 for money owed and court fees.

Issues with noise, trash at Cholo Power

Some residents had other issues with business operations at Blackwood Brothers and Cholo Power.

One email complained about unlicensed live music at Blackwood Brothers and a period of time in which the dumpster overflowed causing trash buildup in the alleyway.

Records show that the building has not had a public entertainment premises license since it lapsed on April 19, 2023. Blackwood Brothers' Instagram page advertised seven live performances in January and February this year, and other live music acts in 2023.

The last time the premise applied for a temporary entertainment license, allowing live music for one-off events, was in 2022, according to Licenses Division Manager Jim Cooney.

Three emails from residents also complained about loud outdoor music after midnight the week that Cholo Power opened.

Malacara's attorney Michael Maistelman submitted a statement to the Journal Sentinel saying: "We take the neighbors' concerns very seriously.

"Mistakes were made, and we take full responsibility for them," the statement went on to say. "We understand that we should have contacted the neighbors before we opened, and we apologize for not doing so."

Cholo Power can continue to serve food

Dimitrijevic did allow Cholo Power to operate with a food provisional license without liquor after rejecting the restaurant's initial request for a provisional license with liquor that was filed May 6.

"I don’t have a problem with them having a provisional food license, because a lot of complaints were about nighttime hours," she said.

She also wanted the restaurant owner to set up a neighborhood meeting before she approved the provisional food license. Malacara agreed to do so, and a neighborhood meeting will be held at the restaurant at 6 p.m. May 17.

"What I want (Cholo Power) to do is talk to the neighbors, introduce themselves and lastly, hear their concerns," Dimitrijevic said.

The restaurant is expected to be back in front of the Licenses Committee on May 29, according to Cooney.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Licenses for Bay View restaurant Cholo Power are under review