Restaurant Review: Quiote

You may have never heard of Quiote. It hasn't been open too long, and it's kind of tucked away in an unnoticeable spot--it's on Hawley Road and Bluemound Road, down the block from Barbiere's, on Milwaukee's westside. The building has changed hands a couple of times over the last few years, and Quiote opened there in late 2010 (check out a brief article about the restaurant on JSOnline).

I drive past Quiote on my way home from work, and I'm always curious what's going on in the building. My parents had just heard about it, too, so the three of us plus Nate headed there Saturday night.

For starters, it's a really small place--really small. There are only about five tables, and only one fits four people (and we were the only people in there at about 8:30 on a Saturday night). Second, they don't serve alcohol, which could be a deterrent, but I took it as a good opportunity to have a bottle of Jarritos, a Mexican soda. I opted for the pineapple one and Nate got strawberry. Yum!

The food, however, makes up for any lack of space and lack of alcohol. It was outstanding--almost unexpected.

We started with some guacamole (delicious, fresh and nice and chunky) and chips (not homemade--they don't have a fryer--but fresh and tasty) and I ordered a bowl of the tortilla soup for everyone to try. There wasn't much to the soup--just a broth with some chips, cheese and avocado--but it had wonderful flavors.

For meals, my mom ordered the enchiladas with the green tomatillo sauce, and Nate ordered the pollo con mole, with the Coloradito mole sauce. Both were served with the house rice and black beans (I love getting black beans on the side other than refried beans) and both were really good.

My dad and I ordered the same thing, and both of us were trying it for the first time: a hurache. The corn masa tortilla was topped with pork al pastor, salsa, onions, queso fresco, lettuce, tomato and avocado. It almost reminded me of a Mexican pizza. It was delicious! I've never had anything like it, and would gladly try one of the other versions sometime.

Overall, we had a great meal and I can't wait to get back and try more. I highly recommend it--it's a small business I'd like to support and get everyone to try it.