Out of the fire and back to the panini grill 

Matthew Day

Staff

March 17, 2025

RICE LAKE – It’s been five months since a fire destroyed the building local businesses Cheese Louise Sandwiches, Agonic Brewing Company and Finewood Inc. called home. 

Before the smoke cleared, community support and fundraising efforts were already underway, and thanks to the generosity of area residents and the local business community, Patrick Kelly – owner of Cheese Louise – said the three affected businesses have been able to take steps toward regaining stability. 

Kelly said he’s “eternally grateful for every cent and dime that (people) contributed to help us get up and back and going” at a charitable event last November and all other contributions.

“Cheese Louise would be nothing without our community,” he said. “It was great to see everybody at that fundraiser selflessly tossing money our way. We didn’t ask for it, but people provided it anyway, and that was the neatest thing. We never really tried to reach out for those things. People just did it because they care about us.” 

Kelly said one of the businesses prominently involved in the recovery efforts was local bicycle shop Northwoods Cycle, whose owners – Allison Hall and Tim Bradley – not only offered immediate sanctuary to the evacuated business owners but also set up a GoFundMe page to collect donations for those impacted.

“They really do have the community in mind, and they haven’t even been here for… it’ll be a year in the spring, I believe,” he said of Bradley and Hall. “But they’ve already proved themselves to be (of) just the utmost value to small businesses here in Rice Lake.” 

Now, Hall and Bradley have offered another way to help Cheese Louise, Kelly said – providing a place for him to run his business within Northwoods Cycle (19 N. Main St.). 

With “a lot of internet fervor beforehand,” he said, Cheese Louise Sandwiches held its grand reopening in its new space March 5.  

Kelly said it felt good to be back doing the work he loves, for and alongside the people who provided him so much support since the fire. 

“(We saw) a lot of familiar faces,” Kelly said of the reopening. “It was good to see all my patrons back.” 

Love at first bite 

Kelly said the Rice Lake community was behind Cheese Louise from its initial opening in spring 2023.

However, he said a brick-and-mortar restaurant was not his original intention. 

“Cheese Louise started as an idea for a food truck,” he said. “I liked the food truck scene, and I thought it was kind of a perfect fit for a food truck. So, when I would hang out with my friends who owned (Agonic Brewing) right next door in our old location, I would tell them about my idea, and they (would say), ‘Yeah, do it.’” 

At the time, Kelly said he worked in industrial maintenance, and though he’d never owned a business before, and his restaurant experience had been limited to working in fast food when he was younger, Kelly said he began to more seriously consider and research his potential food truck. 

He said he intended for the truck to offer high-quality grilled cheese sandwiches – choosing the Cheese Louise name early on. 

“I’m a big fan of puns and word plays,” he said. 

When the sandwich shop next to Agonic Brewing suddenly went up for sale, Kelly said the brewery’s Co-owners Danni Moon and Desmond Benevides suggested he start his venture there. 

Having learned how food trucks face more regulations than brick and mortars, and with an opportunity to neighbor his friends’ brewery, Kelly said he decided to open Cheese Louise there as a restaurant. 

Enthusiasm and cross-promotion from Agonic Brewing, he said, helped establish the restaurant, while also crediting Rice Lake’s tendency to support its local businesses. 

For the sandwich shop’s first year and a half, Kelly said other than Moon occasionally stopping by to help, he was its sole employee. 

He said his constant presence helped to develop camaraderie with customers and grow the business. 

“I was the only face they saw – I got to know people, (and) they got to know me,” he said. “One of the big things, too, is people really liked watching me make the food right in front of them.” 

In addition to the shop’s welcoming atmosphere, Kelly said “the food must be pretty good, too, because people keep coming back.” 

As the community increasingly embraced Cheese Louise, Kelly said he was later able to hire additional help and extend operation. 

“I just hired my first employee in August 2024, and the business was growing – we were able to expand hours,” he said, “and then tragedy struck.” 

Resettling 

After the tragic fire, Kelly said the encouragement he received from the community was matched by that of the owners of his former building, who he said expressed immediate willingness to rebuild. 

“It wasn’t even a day after the fire that our landlords said to us, ‘If you’re willing to come back, we’ll build,’” he said. “So, it never really crossed my mind to not come back.” 

Plans for the building, he said, are currently submitted to an architectural firm, with the hope of beginning construction this spring. 

Still, even in light of the landlords’ urgency, Kelly said the interim would leave him with time to try and process what “a huge blow” had befallen him. 

Kelly said though Finewood Inc. has since been able to reestablish at a new location, Cheese Louise and Agonic Brewing plan to move into the forthcoming building at their former location. 

“I mean, there’s more to life than work, but that was my income – every penny I have, basically, I put into that place,” he said. “So, to see it burned to the ground – to see your entire life go up in flames – is probably one of the hardest things I’ve gone through.” 

As heartening as he found Rice Lake’s support, Kelly said he also “needed to be in my feelings and get through the trauma of that day.” 

During this time, though, he said if it crossed his mind to simply give up on Cheese Louise, the consideration was fleeting. 

“Moments in between, (I’d think,) ‘Well, should I just cut my losses?’” he said. “But those thoughts never lasted long, because everyone was ready to move forward so quickly, like, ‘Okay, I guess we’re doing this.’” 

Kelly said he appreciated the offers he received from businesses inviting him to operate within another restaurant, but he decided to hold off. 

However, he said he did seek a place to help him fulfill a charitable obligation he’d made a few weeks before the fire. 

“I had previously promised a batch of soup to go to an Empty Bowls fundraiser in town, and I still wanted to do that,” he said. “So, I reached out to local businesses, and the Social House (of Rice Lake) allowed me to come in and make my soup so I could still make that donation. It just felt good to get back and work with my hands.” 

Other than that opportunity, navigating insurance settlements and working with the landlords to draw up “dream plans” for the new building, Kelly said “things were quiet for the first couple months after the fire.” 

Then, he said Bradley and Hall reached out to him with an idea. 

“They contacted me because they had a cafe spot inside of their shop – it was more of like a coffee shop, not as much food,” Kelly said. “But that (owner) decided they wanted to move out of the space, so I was the first person that Tim and Allison from Northwoods Cycle thought of (bringing in).” 

He said a deal was struck between the bicycle shop, the coffee shop and himself in early February, and a mere month later, Cheese Louise was again serving sandwiches. 

“It was kind of a quick turnaround,” Kelly said, “but it was well worth it so far.” 

New menu, hours, hope 

With the funds raised by the community and the insurance settlement from the fire, Kelly said he was able to purchase equipment to start anew in Northwoods Cycle. 

Because he’s got less room than he’d been used to, he said he’s had to slightly adjust Cheese Louise’s menu. 

“My current space here at Northwoods Cycle is quite a bit smaller than our old place, so it restricts us,” Kelly said. “I couldn’t bring a full griddle, like I had before, into this space. So instead, we’re making more panini-style sandwiches.” 

Per Cheese Louise’s Facebook account, the shop’s current panini options include:  

• The Cuban 
• The Big Dill 
• Turkey Bacon Ranch 
• PestAvo 
• Apple of My Eye 
• Just the Cheese Plz 

Kelly said the paninis are “based (on) sandwiches that we sold at our other place, just panini-style now… still just as tasty, (but) prepared a little bit differently.” 

Moon – who has been present at the reopened restaurant “in case we hit any bumps” – said the reactions and feedback have been positive. 

“Some people are missing a handful of (menu items), but overall, people were excited to just have (Cheese Louise) back,” she said. 

Kelly said he understands if some customers are pining for their past go-to orders, and in time intends to “either add more sandwiches or cycle through those sandwiches, so everyone has a chance to get their favorite.” 

Per the Facebook page, some of “the classics” still available are Bloody Mary Spiced Tomato Soup and Gouda Bacon Mac. 

Kelly said a significant menu change has been the addition of breakfast items. 

“Because (this space) was a coffee shop before, that early morning vibe was already started here – we kind of leaned into that,” he said. “So, we started a whole new line of breakfast sandwiches. We’ve got bagels, English muffins and croissant buns with different varieties of meats, and then a breakfast burrito as well.” 

Kelly said Cheese Louise is now open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday – with breakfast items available all day – a schedule skewed earlier than that of the former location, as he said “we’re trying to make this a cool, new breakfast spot.” 

Overall, Kelly said he’s appreciated the learning process and experimentation involved with the new temporary location, hopeful the challenges will strengthen the business and lead to future opportunities. 

“Here, I’m able to expand my repertoire into different food types and different cooking styles,” he said. ”It’s not just grilled cheeses, but (a chance) to expand my horizons and further my desire to open many, many more restaurants.” 

Kelly said among his aspirations, he still hopes to fulfill his food truck dream someday. 

For now, though, he said he’s grateful for John Lloyd, his employee, for sticking with Cheese Louise since its former location; Northwoods Cycle, for offering the new space; the owners of his former building, for working diligently to build the new one; the Rice Lake community, for all of its support; and his cherished customers, for their continued patronage. 

Moon said until Agonic Brewing and Cheese Louise can move back into the new building, she and Benevides are also working with temporary circumstances to maintain business in the meantime. 

“We’ve been able to brew up at Round Man (Brewing Co.), which is a brewery in Spooner,” she said. “They’ve been really great friends for us. We’ve brewed a few different batches up there and have been able to keep our beer in circulation at restaurants locally, so that’s been super helpful. And then (we’re) just planning for the new building and hoping we can break ground as soon as spring happens.” 

Well aware of how plans can change in an instant, Moon and Kelly both said they relish their present opportunities, right down to the once-again-familiar feelings of hard work and service. 

“I now remember the stresses of running a business day to day,” Kelly laughed, “but it comes with the territory.”