ONE NIGHT, A FRIEND and I leave Taqueria Azteca with leftovers and a curious clay candleholder: five primitive-looking male figures joined in a circle. This is a restaurant where every wall, windowsill and table holds some kind of tchotchke, be it a votive, hanging doodad or Day of the Dead memento, and on that night, this trinket in the front window calls out to my friend. She pays the asking price (around $10) and takes it home. Five fellows linked for eternity. Their obstinate faces suggest men with a purpose, a drive.
Nine summers ago, the family-owned restaurant opened inside a tiny corner storefront on Lincoln and Howell whose ceiling was strung with festive paper cutouts. By 2001, Taqueria had moved to a new location on the corner of Oklahoma and Chase. Next came another restaurant, similarly focused, that the family named Pueblo Azteca. Assertive co-owner Frank Sanchez, whose energy had fueled Taqueria since its early years, moved over to the new place. In 2004, Pueblo was gone and Sanchez was off on a sabbatical, taking time off to, as he says, “reinvent myself.” Taqueria — its food, in particular — felt his absence. But last March, after a year away, Sanchez returned and immediately blazed a cleanup trail through the restaurant. He lured back an ex-manager, rehired former servers, made physical changes to the space (the bar and patio have grown) and put the soul back into the kitchen, bringing in new help and challenging them a bit with the menu — some of it, anyway.
The regular menu has a more conformist Mexican look: quesadillas, tacos, burritos, chimichangas. Regulars know to look high up on the main dining room’s east wall to find the night’s specials. Recent ones include paella, tamales with pork or seafood filling, chicken mole and grilled chipotle skirt steak. As fall settles in, Taqueria will offer diners stuffed things — poblano peppers, quail and Cornish hens. Creamier, heavier sauces will come, also moles in various flavors and colors, and crepes in sweet and savory versions. And one more thing (among a percolating many): flambéed desserts, the tableside performance art of sweet courses. The Taqueria folks call all of this modernization “Mexican fusion,” devoid of boundaries. Whatever it is, it’s working. The specials bring back the magic of the early Taqueria years.
Summer has also been sweet to the restaurant. The patio between the building and parking lot is covered but lets in plenty of air, light and life from the active intersection just feet away. On balmy days, everybody’s out there. Curse our Wisconsin climate for making those days scarce. But raise a Margarita to progressive times. Summer will go on in spirit with heat lamps and clear-plastic-covered walls.
Taqueria is a place to mix things up, live a little, order more than one Margarita El Patrón (at $8, a smoother, lighter flavor than the medicine-chest Margaritas made with cheaper tequilas). You don’t sit long at a table before getting a basket of warm, house-fried tortilla strips with a thin, peppery salsa. Some guacamole is also in order. The best guacs are chunky hills of mostly avocado but also tomato, onion, cilantro and, of course, a tart lime finish. Taqueria’s guacamole, spooned onto a nest of shredded lettuce, falls well in line with that model ($5.95 and $9.95). Remember when I said the regular menu plays by the rules? Not entirely. A little looseness went into adding baked escargot with herb aïoli on a crouton ($7.50), baked goat cheese in chipotle tomato sauce ($7.50) and grilled squid, which happens to be my favorite ($7.50) — pleasingly singed, garlicky, firm and chewy, not the dreaded rubbery kind.
For entrées, if you’re more interested in old faithfuls (than in craning your neck up at the specials board), I’ve got one: a quesadilla. And not just any quesadilla. Cut into triangle-shaped wedges, these warm, plump turnovers are stuffed with jumbo shrimp (or meat, if you like), Jack cheese and spinach and drizzled with a tangy crema reminiscent of Thousand Island dressing ($6.95-$9.50). If you’re tempted to choose a chimichanga over paella, a tamale or mole, please reread the third paragraph of this review for insight into the nightly specials. My paella came in a clear glass bowl, showing off its party colors. A saffron rice dish originating in Spain, paella is deceptively rich and full of subtle-to-powerful flavors. Taqueria’s version has red snapper, spicy chorizo, a few shrimp and squid, green beans and red bell pepper delicately mixed with moist, clumpy, saffron-perfumed rice ($16.95). The garnish is an essential ingredient — hard-boiled egg, cilantro and a mist of the pickly crema so favored here.
The tamale puzzles me when it arrives nestled inside a banana leaf instead of the usual corn husk. (“A tropical influence,” Sanchez says later in a phone call. Then he laughs, “And El Rey made a mistake and sent me a case” of banana leaves.) But the filling and dough are a bright, somewhat opposite match: the moist heaviness of the corny masa dough and the light, finely minced filling of shrimp, whitefish and black beans ($15.95). The dark-brown mole served over chicken breast tastes different with each bite ($13.95) — first it’s licorice, then nuts. Next it’s roasted chile peppers. I cut the meat into slices, wrap them in warm corn tortillas and think spicy thoughts.
Platanos con helado is a beautiful phrase. I know “menu Spanish” — I can decipher menus, but don’t ask me to converse. These words are like a sonorous refrain in a ballad. But they’re merely sautéed plantains served in caramel and topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream ($6). Merely. The warm caramel, a sweet that stabs your teeth, hardens quickly and turns the melting pale ice cream the color of honey. A divine dessert.
The mojo has come back to Taqueria, sparked by Frank Sanchez’ return. Tenacity, focus, the collective working toward a common goal.
Taqueria Azteca
119 E. Oklahoma Ave.
486-9447
Hours: L Tues-Fri 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. D Tues-Thurs 5-10 p.m.; Fri-Sat 5-11 p.m.; Sun 12-9 p.m.
Prices: appetizers, soups, salads $2.95-$9.95; entrées $6.95-$18.95; desserts $5-$7. Service: accent on speed and efficiency despite glitchy moments (i.e., a piece of hair — clearly not my own — in my Margarita glass)
Dress: very casual
Handicap access: no
Nonsmoking section: no
Credit cards: M V A
Reservations: for 3 or more
