Reason to buy sausage at 2 a.m.:

The “pepperoni-cannoli guy”

He’s been an East Side fixture for years. Frank Pecoraro, adoringly known as the “pepperoni-cannoli guy,” walks the streets of Milwaukee with a cooler full of Italian goodies. Frank, who peddles the eats of his family’s business, Pecoraro’s on Brady Street, is always ready to curb a hungry drunkard’s 2 a.m. sausage craving.

It all started very simply, over a decade ago. Frank’s blood pressure was rising, and per doctor’s orders, he began to walk at night. As he told his son, Sal, “If I gotta walk, I’ve gotta make money.” And so a legacy was born. Sneaking the Italian specialties his son would make for special orders the following day, Frank would walk about town, selling the treats to the people he would meet along the way.

Wondering what had happened to his orders, Sal soon discovered that his dad was the culprit. Striking up a deal, Sal would sell Frank meats, cheeses and sugars at cost so that his father could make pepperoni and cannoli to sell on his nightly strolls. Formerly the head butcher at Glorioso’s and owner of his own butcher shop back home in Italy, this was one of Frank’s greatest talents.

A survivor of World War II and an Italian immigrant, Frank not only knows how to make great food, but how to have a good time. In a way, at 69 years old, selling pepperoni and cannoli at night keeps him young at heart. Sal worries about his dad, knowing that on many occasions he has been mugged and beaten. However, Frank continues, having too much fun with all of the people he meets every night, selling them a lifetime of experience and tradition, made fresh every day.

Pecoraro’s on Brady has been closed for a number of years, but upon completion of their large-scale renovation and restoration, this East Side shop will be back in business sometime next year.