In decades past, counters where hearty meals were prepared and served quickly regularly figured in the floor plans of pharmacies, department stores and other retailers with heavy foot traffic. That tasty tradition lives on in Milwaukee’s four El Rey Hispanic supermarkets. They claim to be the “home of the original Mexican taco” and offer customers the choice of 14 animal proteins and its house brand corn tortillas.
If that classic street fare won’t satisfy your craving, a plate dinner may. At the 40-year-old chain’s flagship (916 S. Cesar E. Chavez Drive), the meats in my beefsteak and chicken dinner were cheerily grilled before my eyes. The plate brimmed with the customary refried beans with white cheese topping, along with rice and shredded iceberg lettuce flecked with juicy red tomato plus a lime wedge and several fresh avocado slices. Washed down with pineapple or orange juice or the delicate cinnamon rice sweetness of horchata, this is rib-sticking fare to start or end a round of grocery shopping. Arrive before noon for a choice of eight breakfast entrees. And there are plenty of tables for parents with children and others for whom a diner counter isn’t ideal. Other Milwaukee taquerias may be trendier and have lengthier menus, but El Rey’s Taco Locos gets the basics of Mexican eating efficiently, but pleasingly, right.
