Lupi and Iris, serving dishes from the French and Italian Riviera, opens May 17 at 777 N. Van Buren St., and that's big news on the Milwaukee dining scene on two levels. 

First, for sheer size: The restaurant is 10,500 square feet on the first floor of the luxury apartment tower 7Seventy7. It can seat 160 people for regular dining in several areas — dining room, chef's counter and tables beside the kitchen, lounge and a horseshoe bar. It will have a patio for 60 starting sometime in June, and two rooms are dedicated to private dining.

One of the private dining rooms, at 80 seats, is larger than most new restaurants. It has its own entrance on Mason Street, its own restrooms, bar, coat check, even its own kitchen. It can operate independently from the rest of Lupi and Iris.

And then there's the chef behind the project: Adam Siegel, named best chef in the Midwest in 2008 by the James Beard Foundation. He won the award for his work at French restaurant Lake Park Bistro on the east side.

Siegel was the head chef there and at Bacchus downtown for years. He also was corporate executive chef for the restaurants' owner, Bartolotta Restaurants, and helped the restaurant group open some 20 restaurants in his time there.

Siegel left Bartolotta in June 2021 after 21 years, and soon afterward, he announced he would open his own restaurant with Milwaukee architect and developer Michael DeMichele.

Siegel is a pro at opening restaurants, but Lupi and Iris will be the first that's his own. 

The restaurant will be open daily at 5 p.m. for dinner. By mid-June or so, Lupi and Iris will open weekdays for lunch at 11 a.m. It's due to open a couple of weeks later for brunch, likely starting at 10 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

Expect to see wood- and charcoal-grilled meats and seafood on the restaurant's Mediterranean menu, Siegel said in an interview in which he detailed his first restaurant.

The open kitchen, which has a center island for cooking, has a Woodstone wood-fired grill and a charcoal oven by Spanish maker Mibrasa.

"I really love cooking seafood and meats and everything in there," said Siegel, who designed the kitchen with Boelter, the restaurant equipment supplier.

That would include smaller cuts such as lamb chops, which will be served with ratatouille.

The restaurant will serve some larger-format dishes, such as a 44-ounce porterhouse steak for two and, eventually, paella for the table.

Other dishes on the opening menu include branzino, or Mediterranean sea bass, baked in parchment with braised artichoke hearts; hearty Mediterranean fish stews; salads, including asparagus with mushroom and egg; and pastas.

Some pastas will be made in house, such as trofie, the twisted shape associated with Genoa, and ravioli filled with braised beef.

"Not everything I do will be completely traditional or classic," Siegel said. His version of pissaladiere, the Provençal flatbread, will have roasted tomatoes along with the traditional anchovies and olives as toppings.

But, he readily admits, he isn't one to innovate or use hallmarks of modernist cooking — in other words, don't expect flavored foams on the dishes. "That's just not my style," he said.

"To me, it’s all about flavor profile, taste memory and being true to ingredients,," Siegel said.

Siegel said from the start that he doesn't want the restaurant to feel formal.

"It’s more contemporary, by far. We wanted to look like we belong to the building, which is contemporary and modern in its feel," he said.

Some design elements to look for in the new restaurant:

With ventilation a concern in the pandemic, the restaurant installed a system that fully exchanges the air for fresh air three times an hour. 

Behind the bar, separating it from the dining room, is a glass-enclosed wine room with capacity for 2,000 bottles. It's set at 55 degrees — cellar temperature — and has undercounter refrigeration for Champagne and other wines that must be cooler. 

Another of the restaurant's gee-whiz features is the decanting and tasting table in the wine room. Pin lights are built into the table, so a traditional candle isn't needed to see the sediment at the bottom of the bottle being decanted, the chef said.

The restaurant will have 150 selections to begin with, heavy on French and Italian wines but including Spanish and New World bottles. Toni Johnson is the sommelier at Lupi and Iris, after returning from working in California's Napa Valley. She previously worked at Lake Park Bistro and Hotel Metro. 

Siegel said his pastry chef is Courtney Beyer, with whom he worked at Lake Park Bistro. Scott Williams, the general manager, also was a Lake Park Bistro co-worker. "We know how to work very cohesively to make a restaurant operate well and be successful," Siegel said of Williams.

Some others on the staff also have worked at Lake Park Bistro or other Bartolotta restaurants, including his executive sous chef, Kaitlin Greenhalgh. (Siegel had hired 60 people by early May and expected to hire 80 to 100 in all.) The chef said he didn't court them to apply. "Out of respect, I didn't go, as they say, stealing people," he said.

Although this is the first restaurant of his own, Siegel hints that it might not be the last.

"Do I want that small, intimate restaurant?" Siegel said he wondered for a long time, "Yeah, I do, but I imagine that will be easier to come after this one.

"If I can make this happen, then I’m pretty sure there could be a lot of things."

The restaurant will be taking reservations in at lupiandiris.com or (414) 293-9090.

More:Finer dining Buttermint in Shorewood has fun with classics, and you can, too

More:Vendetta Coffee Bar bringing its espresso and Italian cocktails to Walker's Point

Contact Carol at carol.deptolla@jrn.com or (414) 224-2841, or through the Journal Sentinel Food & Home page on Facebook. Follow her on Twitter at @mkediner or Instagram at @mke_diner.