Ashley Luthern

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Karl Ratzsch's, a longtime fixture of Milwaukee's dining culture, has closed less than a year after it was reopened, chef-owner Thomas Hauck said Sunday.

It was one of the few remaining Milwaukee restaurants emblematic of the city's German heritage.

"It was my greatest hope that I could take this restaurant into the future and take it to a new generation, without it being lost," Hauck said in a news release. "Unfortunately due to many factors, I am no longer able to sustain keeping Karl Ratzsch's open.”

“We put everything we had into this dream and it is with a heavy heart I have to let this go," he said.

It's been just under a year since Hauck reopened the restaurant at 320 E. Mason St. Hauck also owns the fine-dining restaurant c.1880 in Walker's Point.

Hauck, in his statement, thanked the patrons who supported the German restaurant and said he still believes in Milwaukee and "will continue to focus all of that energy through c.1880."

In a brief interview Sunday, Hauck said a "Sausage & Suds" dinner event scheduled for Wednesday was canceled.

"We're happy that we were able to try to bring Karl Ratzsch's to a new generation of people," he said.

There are no immediate plans for the space the restaurant occupied, Hauck said.

Karl Ratzsch's roots go back to 1904, when Otto Hermann opened a restaurant on Water St. that later was operated by his daughter and her husband, Karl Ratzsch. Hauck bought the Mason St. restaurant in January 2016 from former Karl Ratzsch's employees Thomas Andera, Judith Hazard and John Poulos.

Hauck renovated the German restaurant last year and discovered troves of memorabilia, including a large antique cuckoo clock, a rare sterling silver duck press, historic photos and German steins galore, some chest-high.

Carol Deptolla of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

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