Photo credit: Shepherd Express staff
Villa’s Mexican Restaurant (2522 W. Greenfield Ave.)
What sets Villa’s Mexican Restaurant (2522 W. Greenfield Ave.) apart from many other Mexican eateries in the area?
Photo credit: Shepherd Express staff
Villa's signature dish, the tlayuda, served with a campurrado
For one thing, champurrado is served there. The drink, which is like a thicker, more complexly flavored hot chocolate, is a rare find in Milwaukee. Villa’s iteration includes cinnamon, vanilla and, perhaps, a touch of anise alongside a base of sweetened cocoa and fine, lime-treated, ground corn. Champurrado may be a fine choice to accompany what may be Villa's signature dish and another rarity in town, tlayuda. Consider it a tostada on steroids. A supersized tortilla is fried to bubbling crispiness, slathered with beans and lettuce and before being folded over topped with meat or another filling or two. It may have been a bit high maintenance of me to order a tlayuda filled with cactus and mushroom, but the request was gladly carried out with no upcharge! At least one other Milwaukee Mexican place serves tlayudas flat, but the way Villa's presents theirs, like a humongous taco, is appealing.
