Photo by Maggie Vaughn
Agave Southwest Bar & Grill, located in the heart of Milwaukee’s Downtown, was once the home of Butch’s Clock Steak House. It’s no longer the red velvet dark supper club, but a spacious and light room with Southwest décor.
With a name like Agave, you conjure up imagines of a menu with heavy emphasis on tacos, burritos and lots of Mexican dishes. Agave is a pleasant surprise of real rustic Southwestern cooking and shows great diversity on their menu. It still offers those wonderful choices of Mexican fare, but expands to reach the traditional meals of cowboys, Native Americans and Spanish settlers in the Southwest with lots of seafood and big cuts of meat to choose from.
The guacamole comes with a big bowl of house-made chips ($9) and is a perfect way to start the evening while enjoying one of their house-made infusion drinks, sangria or one of their many margaritas. Other appetizers include steamed mussels ($12) that were fresh and had a little spice, nestled in a great broth for bread dipping. The same went for the chili lime shrimp ($13), a generous amount of shrimp with lightly sautéed peppers, garlic and cilantro. It wasn’t too spicy and had a nice amount of lime. Agave has two choices for chicken wings ($10), agave spice mix or honey sriracha. The agave spice mix was a good blend of flavors and the chicken wings were cooked well. They offer a soup du jour and their popular house tortilla soup ($5), which is vegetarian.
Tacos are listed under starters, but the portion is big enough for a whole meal. The tacos come three to a plate, with choice of chicken, mahi mahi, shrimp, beef or steak ($10-$12) and served with a black bean purée and Spanish rice. The beans and rice could have used a little more seasoning, but are a nice addition when added to the taco itself, which was seasoned well.
The menu’s entrée section would give any cowboy a bellyful with choices like a big (14-ounce) bone-in rib eye ($29), grilled pork chop ($20) or an enormous potion of braised short rib ($18). The short rib was tender and full of beefy flavor and sat on top of a mound of celery root and potato mash, with mushrooms and a rich demi glace. The menu said it was served with haricot verts and white truffle oil, but both were absent on the plate. The ancho chili salmon ($18) was cooked well and glistened with an orange glaze.
There are many choices for a vegetarian or gluten-free restricted diet and don’t be disappointed if you were in the mood for Mexican food—Agave does a nice vegetarian stuffed poblano ($15) quesadillas ($9.50-10) or enchiladas ($16).
It is hard to save room for dessert, but the chocolate banana bread pudding made with warm brioche bread and crème fraîche or the warm apple crisp with vanilla bean ice cream ($7) are worth the trip on a cold evening when you want something sweet.
Agave has happy hour specials from 4-6:30 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday and all day on Sunday.
Agave Southwest Bar & Grill
800 N. Plankinton Ave.
414-249-5973
$$
Wheel Chair Access: Yes
