El Rey's Juice Bar
Grocery shoppers looking for a healthful breakfast or fruity afternoon pick-me-up might consider El Rey Foodmart (1320 W. Burnham St.). Other locations of Milwaukee-based El Rey Foods serve egg-based morning entrees at their Taco Loco in-store eateries, but the South Side Foodmart has a juice bar. Liquid nourishments aren’t its only offerings, though, as some of the fruit salad-like treats—which may be had at South Side snack shops such as Myra’s Jugos y Frutas—also make the menu. The escamocha well represents those offerings.
Strawberries, papaya, mango, green grapes, green apple and pineapple are layered in parfait fashion and given spritzes of heat and salty tang via a sprinkling of chili powder and spritz of apricot-based chamoy. Granola lends carbs and crunch to other items such as the bionico.
Among the unmixed juices (such as carrot and beet) are combinations with Mexican flair, including a green combination including cactus mingled with standbys like spinach and celery. And, though this is no Baskin-Robbins franchise, the Foodmart’s mangonada includes ice cream with the flavor of its eponymous fruit. A few seats at the bar offer rest and the possibility of camaraderie for customers not intent on take-out or wanting to nosh while they shop.
