One of the newest additions to the Milwaukee food scene, La Cocina Del Sur was opened earlier this month by the owner of Pedro's South American Food, a food truck renowned for its empanadas, tamales, and other tasty treats. Their brick-and-mortar promised some old favorites as well as some dishes yet to be seen before on the menus of Milwaukee restaurants, including offerings from the owner's native country of Ecuador. Having tried the food truck in the past, I was thrilled to learn about this restaurant opening, and my friends and I knew we had to stop by during their opening week!
La Cocina Del Sur is a small restaurant located in the Riverwest neighborhood, and on the Friday night we dined, it was packed! There's a cute and artsy lounge area near the entrance for those waiting for tables, and a cozy interior with a unique ambiance from the many plants and purple lights inside- a sort of lush-meets-semindustrial appearance? I would highly recommend booking a reservation at least for these first couple of opening weeks!
Upon reading the menu, we were practically drooling and couldn't decide on what to order- everything sounded so good! We ended up starting with the patacones [$9] and a pork tamale [$6] to share between four of us. The patacones were positively addicting and piping hot; what's not to love about the joy of deep-fried plantains? The pork tamale is steamed in a banana leaf instead of a corn husk, which gives it a subtle grassy/aromatic flavor and moister texture- I think in my experience the corn husk tamales are more prevalent in the US, so it was fantastic to be able to find the banana leaf tamale here! For entrees, my friend and I split the llapingachos [$15.50 + $1 for fried egg], saltena empanada [$6.50], and chorizo potato cheddar empanada [$5]. I think this is a good way to order if you want to try an entree but not miss out on the many empanadas on offer! Llapingachos are a traditional Ecuadorian dish that I hadn't heard of before; at La Cocina Del Sur, the dish is composed of meltingly soft and creamy potato pancakes stuffed with cheese and fried for a gently crisp exterior, seared pieces of savory chorizo, avocado, tomato-onion salad, and salsa de maní (a peanut sauce). These were SO good, a perfect balance of textures and flavors! I think the empanadas were pretty solid but a little burned, so I'd definitely like to give them a try again once the restaurant has had some more time to get grounded. The others in our party tried the mote con chicharron [$15] and pernil quiteño [$14.50] and both enjoyed them! I will be excited to see if the restaurant adds more entrees to its menu, as many of their offerings are unique and can't be found anywhere else in the city, and I'd love to explore more Ecuadorian dishes in particular.
There's also a very appealing little menu of cocktails and other alcohol to enjoy with your meal. I had the passionfruit pisco sour [$13] and my friends got the regular pisco sour [$12]. Definitely generous with the alcohol and the perfect accompaniment to the food.
The service was very friendly and they seemed quite organized given that we were dining in the first week of opening! Our waitress was super on top of it and always made sure that dishes were being cleared and we had plenty of water!
I'm very excited for this restaurant to continue getting more attention (it already seems pretty popular, though!) and can't wait to go back to try more of their menu items! What a delightful addition bringing more diversity to the city's food! read more