Rookies Food & Spirits was sold this summer after 25 years, and the new owners are still incredulous that they own the famed bar and grill on Highway 14 between Black Earth and Mazomanie.
Joe and Stacey Krasovec bought Rookies complete with walls full of sports memorabilia and a replica of a big-league ballpark in back where customers can swat a whiffle ball as far as 110 feet.
Joe and Stacey Krasovec bought Rookies this summer.
“Basically, my wife and I woke up and we were drinking coffee one morning and we kind of looked at each other and were like, ‘Huh, we own Rookies now,’” Joe said.
Joe, 40, has kept his job as a prison guard at Columbia Correctional Facility in Portage, where he’s worked for 15 years. Stacey, 45, worked as a teacher’s aide for the Portage School District for about six years but resigned from that job.
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The couple had a food truck and catering business, Any Street Grill, that was sold a year ago. Joe said they did well for three years, operating in Portage and at fairs and festivals throughout the state. They’ve also vended at Lambeau Field. “It was a lot of fun,” he said.
Still, they didn’t have restaurant or bar experience, he said. “So, this is a fresh beginning for us.”
Rookies Food & Spirits sits on Highway 14 between Black Earth and Mazomanie.
The couple learned through word of mouth that Steve Schmitt was selling Rookies. Schmitt has owned the Madison Mallards amateur baseball club since 2001, and the popular shoe store, The Shoe Box in Black Earth. He’s also one of four owners of Forward Madison FC, the local professional soccer team.
“I just stopped by and started talking to the staff. And, one thing led to another,” Joe said, adding that owning a bar and restaurant has come with a learning curve.
“Thank goodness we got to retain a lot of the staff and they helped us along to show us truly what Rookies was all about,” he said.
Joe said he has memories of coming to Rookies with his parents when he was young. He said he lived in Mazomanie until high school, when his parents got divorced and his mom moved to Black Earth.
He said he enjoys seeing people come to Rookies that he hasn’t seen in 20 years. After high school, he joined the Navy and said he hadn’t been back since.
“The most enjoyable part of it has been walking around the dining room and the bar area and seeing a lot of the local people and getting to talk to them and catch up, getting to see their kids, and learn what’s going on in the community,” Joe said.
He said the restaurant uses fresh meat for its hamburgers, Cubans and Philly sandwiches. “A lot of places don’t put in that effort in anymore.”
The couple has freshened up the place up, replacing TVs, bar stools, refrigerators and freezers.
Joe said it was important to Schmitt that the restaurant stay Rookies with its walls covered in memorabilia.
“It has the same feel to it,” he said, noting that people come in and point out pictures of their brother or their father on the wall.
“There are so many sentimental stories, which is kind of cool,” he said. “I might just think it’s a picture, but that picture actually means a lot to somebody else.”
Read more restaurant news at: go.madison.com/restaurants
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