Brunch no longer something just on Sundays

Cheryl Hentz

Contributor

February 23, 2026

DE PERE – Since opening last year, son-and-mom duo Eric Hunsader and Paula Sproat said Oakley’s has been serving breakfast, brunch and lunch with a fresh twist.

Oakley’s blends elevated brunch fare with craft cocktails and specialty coffee, offering something for every taste. 

Described as an elevated brunch spot and bar – “bougie  meets rustic sophistication” – Hunsader said Oakley’s features upscale artisanal fare, craft cocktails and specialty coffee beverages with something for everyone. 

Located at 614 George St. in downtown De Pere (formerly Chatterhouse 2016), Hunsader said Oakley’s serves everything from classic breakfast favorites to specialty options like five Eggs Benedict varieties, five omelets and a four-flavor mini pancake flight.

The drink menu, he said, features mimosa and Bloody Mary flights, craft and classic cocktails, 16 rotating tap beers, weekend espresso martini specials and a selection of coffees and seasonal lattes.

“It’s so much more than your typical brunch,” he said. “[The] mini-pancake flight [includes] three specialty pancakes – one blueberry, one Oreo, one cherry danish – and then we feature a Pancake of the Month. So, there are four total on there. We like to have fun with the breakfast side of things and do things that are really outside the box.”

Hunsader said the menu’s five “Benny’s” put a twist on classic Eggs Benedict, with options like Smoked Jalapeno, the Golden State with avocado, bacon and sriracha aioli, plus one with shaved steak or a mushroom-and-spinach vegetarian option. 

Many dishes, he said, can also be prepared gluten-free.

“I am gluten-intolerant, and I know how [certain foods] can affect the gluten-free community,” he said. “So, at Oakley’s, all a customer needs to do is ask for something to be made gluten-free. And we always ask if it’s a preference or due to an allergy to ensure we take the right steps.”

For guests with allergies, Hunsader said the staff thoroughly cleans prep areas to prevent cross-contamination, uses separate pans and takes additional precautions as needed to ensure items remain gluten-free.

“I know how much it means to the community that they can get so many things here that are gluten-free,” he said. “I would say about 80% of our menu can be done gluten-free. That has opened up a whole new realm for the community.”

Sproat said everything is made fresh, with as many menu items as possible prepared in-house.

“In addition to sourcing as many local products as we can, we use Amish eggs,” she said. “By using free-range chickens, we’re trying to be as animal-friendly as we can be in getting our eggs – all natural – and we’re trying to stay away from processed foods as much as possible.” 

Two eggs in a Benedict

With roughly 13 years of restaurant experience in the Milwaukee area, Hunsader – a Green Bay native – said he came back to Northeast Wisconsin to launch the restaurant alongside his mother.

“In 2016, I started at a breakfast restaurant,” he said. “I climbed the ladder up through bartending and serving, up to assistant management and general management.”

After helping the restaurant open a second location in Brookfield, Hunsader said he developed a passion for breakfast and brunch, but found limited opportunities to move beyond general management with his previous company.

“So, I ended up leaving there in 2022,” he said. “I then went to work at Artisan 179, a fine dining restaurant, and I was with them until 2024 when we closed on the building for Oakley’s.”

Though she had worked nearly 40 years in health care and was planning to retire, Sproat said her son’s aspirations led her to begin a second career.

“I love people – working with people, greeting people, you name it,” she said. “That’s where my energy comes from.”

Though she was initially hesitant to leave health care, unsure what her next step would be, when Eric approached her about the restaurant, Sproat said the idea sounded exciting and fun.

“I knew nothing about the restaurant business, but I was in leadership roles for many of my years in health care,” she said. “So, I thought [between that and Eric’s restaurant management experience], we could probably make a go of this.”

Sproat said together, they developed a plan for how they wanted to run things.

“I was more involved with decisions for the decor, but Eric definitely had built the foundation of what he wanted this to look like,” she said.

With Hunsader drawn to the idea of a breakfast and brunch spot, Sproat said they felt it was a perfect fit for De Pere.

“We felt there weren’t a lot of options for brunch in De Pere, so that was the kind of location we were looking for,” she said. “As luck would have it, we came across the old Chatterhouse 2016 building.” 

Sproat said she had no idea if the place was for sale but decided nothing ventured, nothing gained.

“I just cold-called the owner and asked him if he’d ever be interested in selling,” she said. “He said he would. He was moving someplace else, and it just came to fruition for us. It was the perfect scenario.”

Old meets new

Built in 1893, Hunsader and Sproat said they have been told the building that houses Oakley’s is the third-oldest building in De Pere. 

When they first stepped inside, Sproat said they were immediately blown away by its character, envisioning what it could become.

The plan, she said, was to maintain the building’s old-world charm and character while adding their own personal touch.

“In the beginning, we talked about how we wanted it to be bougie tied with rustic sophistication,” she said. “There’s a lot of character in the building, and we didn’t want to lose that. But we also wanted to elevate it to a different level.”

But blending the past with the present, Sproat said, brought its own set of challenges, with many obstacles arising during the six-month renovation.

“Anything that could have gone wrong with this old building went wrong,” she said. “But it’s so charming inside, and there is so much character in it, it was worth it.”

Sproat said she estimates they redid about 90% of the building.

“We completely gutted the kitchen and replaced everything in there,” she said. “The roof had to be redone. We had to redo the entire electrical infrastructure. We added new floors, tore down some walls and put up some new ones. We redid the plumbing and added a third bathroom, which is ADA-compliant and gender-neutral and handicap-accessible. We also added a new walk-in cooler and a walk-in freezer. There’s not much left that hasn’t been redone. But you can still see the remnants and character of the original building.”

Sproat said the space features many unique touches, including a hanging light above the bar crafted from an olive wood branch.

“It’s a big, beautiful piece and not something you would normally see in a breakfast restaurant,” she said. “There were several of them that we found, and we actually got to pick out our own branch and then make it our own. So, it really is unique.”

Sproat said Oakley’s ceiling in the dining room is a decorative-tiled ceiling that has an older look to it.

“Two of the walls are the original brick, and there are two very large wooden beams with lights hanging from them,” she said. “Also, we had a blacksmith design and make for us some decorative bar rails for the back wall.”

The barstools, Sproat said, came from a company in Michigan that makes barstools from old whiskey barrels.

“So, there are a lot of different pieces that are very unique but fit the decor we were trying to achieve,” she said.

Sproat said Oakley’s also incorporates hand-blown water pitchers into the decor. 

The ‘Dog House’

Named after his dog, Oakley, Hunsader said the restaurant embraces a dog theme, highlighted by a special room they affectionately call the “Dog House,” one of their favorite features.

“We were initially going to use it for overflow or special events,” Sproat said. “[But] about three weeks before we opened, we came up with this idea of doing dog portraits on the wall.”

Sproat said they partnered with local elementary school art teacher Emily Marinoff to create the room, which features around 70-75 photos of customers’ pets – mostly dogs, with a few cats.

Each photo, she said, includes a description of the pet’s personality, which Marinoff then uses as inspiration to paint them on the wall.

“The wall is almost full now,” she said. “Each dog has a behind-the-scenes story. Some are living, and some are ‘in memory of’ stories. But it’s an amazing transformation of that wall.”

The Dog House mural, Sproat said, is a win for pets, patrons and the community.

Patrons, she said, can pay to have their pets immortalized on the wall through Marinoff’s lifelike portraits, receive a glossy copy of the artwork and support local animals through Oakley’s donations to shelters and organizations.

Sproat said “Mister Oaks” (Oakley) himself, who will be eight years-old in July, is featured on the wall.

Capacity 

Sproat said the seating capacity for the entire restaurant is about 150, including the Dog House, the dining room and the bar’s dining room.

The Dog House room, she said, can comfortably accommodate 30 people. 

“People come in for meetings, or some people use it for weddings or baby showers, baptism celebrations or things like that,” she said. “It’s a small gathering area where people can hold their event away from the rest of the restaurant.” 

Sproat said they would eventually like to add an outdoor patio where dogs would be welcome.

Oakley’s is open from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday (with the exception of Tuesday when they’re closed) and from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. 

Head to brunchattheoaks.com/oakleys-website for more details.