The Leader

Issue date: 4/12/06 Section: A&E

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Scott Johnson stands a little bit taller than the rest of us in the room. At the moment, the co-owner of Milwaukee favorite restaurants and bars Fuel Cafe, Comet Coffeehouse, Hi Hat (and Hit Hat Garage), and the Palomino is standing on a ladder covered in sawdust. The 39-year old restaurateur, who also helped to shepherd several other East Side and Riverwest businesses to fruition, promoted the flourishing art scene, and raced motorcycles on the flattrack circuit is currently attempting to build a new office for the Comet entirely out of scrap materials he keeps in a huge garage and basement.

The pneumatic generator creates long pauses for him to perfectly find the words to describe the success of the Fuel Cafe which opened 13 years ago. Centered around "Killer Coffee" and "Lousy Service"-and a sandwich known as "the Cheesy Tomato," the combination of basement punk rock, tavern kitsch, diner culture, and honesty were key to its cult status. After the generator rests, he looks over and purses his lips.

"We just got really, really lucky I would say," Johnson says. He punctuates this remark with a pneumatic punch of a nail going into a wall frame.

Johnson will use the word "lucky" five more times during the next three hours to explain how things happened.

"I would say that we've been fortunate," states co-owner Leslie Montemurro later on, "and I'm going to say that's what he meant as well. It's definitely been a lot of work, but we've been fortunate that people have embraced what we do."

Most news articles that involve Scott Johnson usually include Leslie Montemurro. Around town, their first names are often used together in warm tones as a vernacular when mentioning a style of opening and operating an establishment; as in "the inside of that new record shop was really cool, the decor was kinda Scott and Leslie" or "I really feel comfortable at that bar, it's one of those Scott and Leslie places."

Their story has passed into local legend: they met when Scott's brother was dating Leslie's best friend. They then dated while in various colleges and traveled through Europe. Scott was in Romania when he called up Leslie and made plans to travel America in a van. They knew they wanted to start something, but they weren't sure what or where. Scott Johnson is originally from Menomonee Falls, while Leslie Montemurro came out of Kenosha. In the end, Milwaukee seemed like the perfect place to start.

In 1991, much of Milwaukee was bereft of any pure cafes or coffeeshops. Webster's on Downer Avenue had shuttered. Oriental Drugs' diner counter on Farwell and North Avenue was faltering. Brewed Awakenings on Brady Street was still being conceived. There were no Starbucks, Caribous, or Stone Creeks.

The Fuel Cafe in Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood on East Center Street opened on a shoestring budget in an area considered obscure and dead save for a few well-worn corner bars. Leslie wanted to open a cafe like those she saw in Amsterdam. Scott's love of motorcycles and art design became the look and feel of the interior. Much of their bars and restaurants' environments are happenstance and serendipitous, as are the name origins. Johnson says that only the "Fuel" name was inspired by a specific event:

"It was on one of those trips in the van that we were driving around Oconomowoc looking for this non-existent cafe that we had been told about. I wasn't racing motorcycles yet. We were running out of fuel on that trip, and I kept staring at the fuel gauge, that's when it came to me," Johnson recalls.

In the early years, Scott and Leslie were frequently behind the counter from early open to late close. A relationship with acquaintances starting a little coffee roasting company called "Alterra" bloomed and gave Fuel its distinctive strong coffee. Over the next decade, they became successful enough to open another cafe across the river called "Comet." When Montemurro met Mike Eitel (owner of the Nomad on Brady Street) the trio decided they wanted to open up something a little more adult. Thus was born Hi Hat Lounge, and soon thereafter the former annexed garage became Hi Hat Garage.

Then, as more and more Eastsiders were transplanting to Bay View in the south, they looked for a place to service them there. Leslie found a simple ad labeled "tavern for sale." Scott and Leslie toured the place and fell in love. Palomino was born. The atmosphere was mostly present already, and with a few touches this corner bar especially appeals to Montemurro's love for "Up North" bars.

In the middle of opening up the Comet in this 13-year journey, Scott and Leslie broke up as a couple.

"We had this cafe and it was almost like having a kid," says Montemurro. "You couldn't just throw up your arms and walk away. So we developed a really good working relationship."

Last year, Comet evolved from its existence as a smoky joint where both youth and disillusioned old men slurped coffee into a swank cafe bar/restaurant as they annexed the departing Eddy's Chinese restaurant next door and remodeled the new space with the help of friends. The newest section now in progress will further extend the restaurant, and provide more office and supply space.

Johnson gazes over a door jam as he reflects upon why his current relationship with Montemurro works.

"We're tight. She's like my sister, my best friend. She's like everything to me. Yeah, we went from boyfriend-girlfriend to what we are now which is way better and easier, I think. Boyfriend-girlfriend relationships are so hard and what we have is so easy," Johnson says.

The top piece for the door frame is too small. Everyone in the room starts laughing, and can't stop for a full minute. Watching Luck and Johnson build the office at times gives the appearance of skilled carpenters and at other times - like two guys building a fort. A trip to the cavernous and winding basement of Fuel Cafe is in order to pick up wall paneling.

"Ohhh. You are the absolute best," he purrs to Caroline, who has brought him the white tea that he favors. The man who owns two coffee shops with hardcore drinks like "Kevorkian Crush" and blended drinks like "the Milky Way" is sipping Rishi tea.

"At home, I've got fancy equipment like Press Pots and stove-top espresso makers," Johnson defends himself. Then he throws his defense out the window. "But I prefer instant coffee. I really really like it. Its all warm, and dark, and caffeinated."

Johnson's scruffy grey and white hair is at this moment mopped tightly but naturally on his head and it is covered in sawdust. His glasses are completely clear and high-fashion cool, but on his head right now they look like thin work goggles.

He finally bought himself a nice truck two years ago. Before that, you could always tell when he was in the area because you would see the ubiquitous white beater van with all the cool stickers on the back. When Johnson bought this van many years earlier, the speedometer was already well over 200,000 miles. He still drives the van mostly.

The transformation of Comet to a more adult setting reflects their desire to expand and yet also evolve on the scene. Fuel Cafe was scheduled to undergo a major renovation this year after they were finally able to buy the whole building from their landlord. The secondhand store next door cleared out. They were granted their liquor license and drew up plans for an outdoor patio. Then everything fell away.

Montemurro states that it was mostly a financial decision to not continue with expansion plans at their first location. Most of their sizable bank loan went to overage costs on renovating Comet, which came first. Scott and Leslie still plan to clean up the original space for Fuel, but the extra space will now be leased out to Riverwest Film and Video. The purveyors of VHS, DVD and hard-to-find movies will easily triple their current space in the move from their current location on Locust Street three blocks to the north.

But another reason for letting their expansion idea go, Johnson says, was a neighborhood resistance issue. He gets unhappy thinking about it, and pops up from behind large piles of wood from time to time with thoughts on the progress of the Riverwest community at large.

"I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion about their neighborhood. Obviously, they live there. We've been in business there a long time. Most of the employees and customers live there. But to be perfectly honest, I get kind of annoyed because [people there] complain too much. It's not everyone, but its this vocal minority," he says. "It doesn't matter what it is, people are against it-automatically. If a McDonald's would be coming, they'd be against that. I don't know what they'd be for!"

Johnson now talks occasionally and cryptically about being at a crossroads in his life and he seems to be figuring out what should come next. The thrill of being behind the counter has been replaced by managing the managers they put in place, says Montemurro. In the early days, Leslie says they had this image of her being in the kitchen making soup every day.

"I would work in the kitchen and make sandwiches," she says in a regaling voice. "You get your ass kicked over lunch [with the crowds], then be done with it. You clean up and then go down the street to Uptowner for a couple of beers. It was a very idealistic way of living for us."

Johnson rhapsodizes about perhaps finding a place outside the state of Wisconsin next-maybe even out of the country-that they could open up. Just for a few months of the year, he says. Someplace nice and warm.

Johnson reports that he doesn't like to go out much anymore. This is from a guy who is invested in a small restaurant group (called Diablo Rojos) that has interests in at least four popular bars, six if you include Comet-which now has a bar side-and Hi Hat Garage.

Johnson also says that he doesn't race motorcycles that much anymore. He appears to be too busy to get out to the track with good friends like Tim Schneider of "The Shop," a recent successful start-up motorcycle fix-it garage with which Johnson has an affiliation.

Montemurro doesn't like to watch him race. "It makes me sick to my stomach [to watch him]," she states. "I'm always like, 'don't get too crazy!'"

On this last word, her voice goes into a precarious high spin like she's imagining Johnson hugging a curve on his cycle. She tells a story where Johnson is in a race and passing all the other racers in a course where it's very difficult to do so. All of his friends are cracking up, because as they explain to her, "he's not even that good. That's all just balls. I pretty much think it is, too."

When asked what his face looks like pulling off that helmet, Montemurro replies, "He's in heaven. He loves it."

The work on the office frame continues late into the evening. The new bar shift comes in to see him, and they recount the bar scene that he bowed out early from the night before. It is the perfect epitome of how Johnson has handled his success. He didn't do it for the money and influence-those were just benefits. He does this because it is what he loves, and Milwaukee has received his efforts with open arms.

 

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