Yet some are pleased with the change. I overheard the bartender at the River Horse say, “When you went in it was just a big cloud of smoke. You could go up to order and by the time you were done it was like you’d just smoked a cigarette.”

Riverwest’s Center Street is where Center Street Daze and RockerBox festivals call home. In the heart of Center Street lies the sponsor for RockerBox, boasting “Killer Coffee” and “Lousy Service.”

Fuel Café (818 E. Center St.) features steamers, a long list of espressos, teas and local strong brew made with beans from Milwaukee’s Alterra Coffee Roasters, Inc.

The current vegan-friendly food menu offers hot and cold sandwiches, a small Mexican selection, soups and chili, scrumptious Spinach & Provolone Roll-ups and a new Middle Eastern Platter.

Fuel Café, whose clientele features a large percentage of smokers, is one of the first businesses within the Riverwest community to take a bold step and go non-smoking, a move that has many smokers shaken.

On Oct. 1, Fuel quit smoking “cold turkey.” A large number of Fuel’s patrons smoke cigarettes. Before, the tables all had Camel ashtrays in the middle. Now the tables are clean and fairly empty.

This summer, Fuel Cafe was a great place to grab a cup of iced coffee, chill out and socialize with friends, and neighbors. Now the restaurant feels ghostly. Many patrons get their food to go.

Employee Clifford Smith saw business drop dead the first couple of weeks after the smoking ban.

“It’s more of a restaurant,” Cliff says. “Less people just chill.”

Business has picked back up, he says, but it still isn’t as consistent before. Smokers can be seen sitting at the tables outside.

Myra Worple, a smoker and Fuel patron thinks the ban is “stupid” and wonders “why would they do it so close to winter?”

Yet some are pleased with the change. I once overheard a bartender at the River Horse, Mary, say, “When you went in it was just a big cloud of smoke. You could go up to order and by the time you were done it was like you’d just smoked a cigarette.”

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