DanDan owners to overhaul food and beverage at Iron Horse

Culinary offerings at The Iron Horse Hotel in Walker’s Point are headed for a major revamp under the direction of acclaimed local chefs and restaurateurs Dan Jacobs and Dan Van Rite. 

The industrial-style luxury hotel today announced it has contracted JVR Group, a hospitality consulting business run by Jacobs and Van Rite, to reinvent its existing bar restaurant concepts and catering and banquet services, and to launch a new full-service eatery.

Set to open in late June, that new concept will replace the hotel’s main restaurant, Smyth, which will close on May 1 for renovations to the space. Details about the concept, including its name, will be announced in the coming weeks.

By late May, Jacobs and Van Rite will roll-out new menus for the hotel’s lobby-level cocktail bar, called Branded, and its seasonal outdoor dining venue, The Yard.

“We’re thrilled to have the amazing talents of Dan and Dan, along with their entire team, to usher The Iron Horse Hotel into our second decade,” said Iron Horse owner Tim Dixon, who opened the hotel in 2008.

The duo own and operate DanDan, EsterEv and Fauntleroy in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward and in past years have received semifinalist nods for James Beard’s Best Chef Midwest Award.