Local Restaurants Gain Special Recognition

Good fortune has fallen upon Port Washington restaurateurs Mary Ann Voigt, owner of , and John Weinrich, owner of , having received national and statewide recognition.

Voigt’s Dockside Deli was recognized with a Main Street Award for best interior renovation for work she and her crew did to expand her sandwich shop.  

The Wisconsin Main Street organization considers nominations of locally owned businesses from 36 Main Street communities in the state.  Port Washington Main Street Executive Director Sara Grover said that the purpose of these awards is to recognize local businesses for the work they do to enrich their communities.  

"Businesses are encouraged to do exactly what [Mary Ann] did," Grover said of Dockside Deli's renovations.

Over the course of several months, Voigt with the help of a local architect and interior designer, worked to expand her restaurant into adjacent spaces in her building to suit her growing business.

She explained that the renovations almost tripled her dining area, taking Dockside Deli from "a takeout restaurant to a full-blown sit down restaurant."

One of Voigt’s biggest challenges was to have the pre-existing and new spaces blend together; but, with the help from a team of renovators, the restaurant flows nicely, she said.

With the expansion and redesigned interior, finished in May 2010, Voigt said  her business has doubled.

"It’s been my year," Voigt said about receiving a Main Street Award. She also won the Port Washington Chamber of Commerce’s business of the year award in 2010.

Also garnering some attention is Port Washington’s NewPort Shores.  The lakeside restaurant known for it’s daily fish fries was named one the the nation’s best seafood dives by Coastal Living magazine.  

New Port Shores is one of 84 reader-nominated restaurants featured in the magazine’s June issue, and Weinrich said he was thrilled about the recognition.

The publication cites the restaurant’s fish fries and views of the marina as the top reasons to stop by.

And does Weinrich mind being called a dive? Absolutely not. 

"It’s an honor to be called that," he said. "A dive means that the tourists, the locals, everybody hangs out at your place."