PLATTEVILLE, Wis. — A Dubuque-based brewing company’s first foray into casual fine-dining is set to debut in Platteville.
The Beastro Se7en restaurant, operated by 7 Hills Brewing Co., will open July 12 at 45 N. Second St. The space was previously home to Gina’s Whiskey Lounge.
“There seems to be a need for something like this in Platteville,” said Jeremy Hall, 7 Hills’ front-of-house director. “When it comes to casual fine dining, there is not a lot in Platteville. A lot of the surrounding towns come here to eat. We’ll be filling that void in the market. And this will also be a place for the locals to go. This is a college town, and that’s great for us, but the locals need a place to go.”
Beastro Se7en is located just up the block from 7 Hills North, the brewpub at 92 N. Main St. that opened in September 2021. 7 Hills Brewing Co.’s Dubuque facility opened in August 2017, and 7 Hills West opened in Dyersville, Iowa, in August.
John Reuter, who is the general manager at 7 Hills North, will also take on that role at Beastro Se7en. He said he hopes to have eight to 12 employees at the restaurant upon opening, with some employees splitting their time between the two Platteville locations.
“People are excited for it,” Reuter said of Beastro Se7en. “We get asked about it multiple times a day.”
Beastro Se7en’s chef, Nate Holland, designed the restaurant’s menu.
“I wanted to give classic dishes a new feel,” he said. “A lot of people grew up eating homey meals. There are good ways to make grandma’s food just a touch better.”
Holland said his favorite dish on the menu is the blueberry pork, a pork ribeye in a blueberry herb sauce served with mashed potatoes. Other dishes include sesame-crusted tuna, ribeye and cauliflower steak. The menu also features pasta dishes as well as a summer-vegetable gnocchi.
Holland also highlighted the restaurant’s smoked raspberry cheesecake, which is homemade and goes into a smoker with meats.
“I’m from the South, so I grew up on barbecue,” Holland said. “I try to have one smoked element in every dish.”
Holland added that he plans to feature new specials on a regular basis and make changes to the menu on occasion, with the hopes of bringing more exotic meats such as alligator and bison to the restaurant in the future.
Hall said the restaurant will also have four beers on tap, bottles of beer, a selection of wines and a few cocktails that a mixologist helped develop.
“We wanted to keep it nice, but not break the bank,” he added. “We also wanted to keep more focus on the food.”
Hall added that 7 Hills could open other eateries similar to Beastro Se7en in the future.
“In the future, wherever we have a brew pub, we could have casual fine-dining next door,” he said.
Beastro Se7en will be open from 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. More information on the restaurant can be found at facebook.com/beastrose7en.