Four restaurants opened in Milwaukee in September, adding a steakhouse, modern Thai food, Italian American dishes and a sports-parlor-style dining option to the city’s downtown scene. The month also brought news of restaurant closures, a planned project in Thiensville and a date for the first MICHELIN Guide ceremony covering Great Lakes cities. High Stakes by Bartolotta opened Sept. 17 at 1030 N. Water St. The European-inspired steakhouse includes the Peacock Lounge, which serves cocktails and small plates for before or after dinner. WELA, a modern Thai restaurant, opened at 217 N. Broadway in the former Bavette La Boucherie space. It is owned and operated by Nini Trick and Kim Kongsin, who are also associated with Thai-namite, along with Bigsun Phonimdaeng and Somchock Sansawas. Chef Adam Siegel, a James Beard Award winner, and his wife and business partner, Daria Aitken-Siegel, opened Il Ponte at 814 E. Mason St. The restaurant, on the first floor of the Northwestern Mutual North Building, draws on Italian American restaurants in New York. The Vig Milwaukee opened at 909 E. Michigan St. on the second floor of The Couture tower. The mid-century-inspired restaurant and sports parlor offers brunch, dinner and dessert, craft cocktails, live music, DJs and sports viewing. In Thiensville, Fatima and Hanish Kumar, owners of Saffron and Aya, are planning a new dining concept at 105 S. Main St., the former site of The Cheel. The Nepalese restaurant opened in 2014, was damaged in a fire, reopened in 2023 and closed permanently in 2024. Details of the new concept have not been announced. The MICHELIN Guide will hold its inaugural American Great Lakes ceremony April 21, 2027, at Detroit’s Michigan Central cultural hub. Inspectors have been dining in Milwaukee and six other cities — Detroit, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati — to assess restaurants for stars or “recommended” and “selected” distinctions. September also brought three Milwaukee-area closures. Mara’s Grill, a Mexican and Guatemalan restaurant at 3441 N. 84th St., closed Sept. 19 after more than a decade. Ni Burmese, at 2140 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., closed after operating for less than two years in the KinetiK building. Lowcountry, a Chicago-based seafood restaurant at 1114 N. Water St. known for Southern-style fish boils, closed Aug. 30. Other local hospitality news included a new partnership between Milwaukee Repertory Theater and 41Fork Hospitality. Announced Sept. 8, the agreement gives 41Fork responsibility for managing and consulting on private events and hospitality at the Associated Bank Theater Center. The month also marked the death of downtown restaurateur Robert C. “R.C.” Schmidt Jr., who died Sept. 1 at 76. Schmidt opened R.C.’s on Milwaukee’s East Side in 1974; it operated for 44 years. In 1987 he opened Water Street Brewery, described as Milwaukee’s first brewpub, and later expanded his restaurant portfolio to include Louise’s Trattoria, Rudy’s Mexican Restaurant, Brew City BBQ, The Harp Irish Pub, Oakland Trattoria, The Black Rose Irish Pub and Vagabond.