Ryan Braun to Lend his Name to an Eating Palace

According to Adam McCalvy, the Ryan Braun Tavern and Grill is set to open up in Lake Geneva sometime this winter. It is said to be an upscale place with menu items ranging from $8 - $20 with some higher priced steaks. From a long ago post on Chuckie Hacks, we learned that Ryan Braun likes to spend his free time in Lake Geneva. He must need a place to eat when out there.

Anyhow, should we place bets on how long it will take before this place goes under? Lake Geneva just doesn't seem like the best location to attach his name to a place. If he wanted to own a restaurant out there, fine, name it something else, but I don't think his name will be a huge draw in a vacation haven for people from Illinois. Plus, they are looking to open in the middle of winter. Is there anybody in Lake Geneva in the middle of winter? Having said all this, after playing a terrible round of golf at one of the many courses out there next spring, I would be interested in checking this place out.

In general, athlete restaurants seem to have a very short shelf life. Heck, even at the height of his popularity, the Brett Favre Steakhouse couldn't cut it in Milwaukee. The Danny Jackson restaurant in Kansas City was closed when I got there. On the plus side, it was located in the bowling alley that Jackson owned. But, seriously, Danny Jackson thought it would be wise to open up a place an attach his name to it? That would be like Jeff Suppan opening up a place. Heck, even Ozzie Smith's place went under in St. Louis.

This takes me back to when I was working in Kansas City and one day at work we came up with an idea for a restaurant. Our only distinguishing characteristics were that the hostesses would be hot and wear slutty catholic school girl outfits and that we would call the place "George Brett's T and A All Star Grill". we figured attaching the place to the George Brett name would be the way to go. Well, shortly after we devised this, Brett opened up a place on the Plaza in KC and the Tilted Kilt came into existence. I need to jump on these ideas a little faster.