Las 7 Estrellas – 112 E. Dakota St., Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Open every day at 10am for lunch and dinner

One of the immense pleasures of eating at a restaurant that you sincerely like is that it gives you carte blanche to write a brief review and get out (of the review) with the promise of returning to write a more thorough review once you've been able to sample more of the menu. That way you don't feel like you have to write the last word in your allotted word count limit, and also your opinion might change over time (and if the restaurant is very new, the restaurant might well change). I'm not sure when Las 7 Estrellas opened, but I'm guessing late summer. It's a modest place in a strip mall in Bay View, next to the Target—not the place you'd notice walking, since it's not on a walking street, but you might drive by countless times and ignore since it's in a little strip mall next to a tobacco store. Since I'm still on the Airbnb review circuit, there is no need for me, yet, to hit a Target for all those toaster and drain-stopper essentials, but if you are shopping at Target and inevitably get hungry, instead of eating a microwave sandwich at a never cleaned table, head on over here, fool! It doesn't look like much until you get inside, then it feels homey. The menu is exciting, pretty extensive, a lot to try out.

I visited with Ray Speen, who was trying to get back into writing Mexican food reviews for his neglected taco blog. It seems he's been busy with a lot of dubious money-making schemes like medical studies in Madison, and selling his DNA to shadow governments (so he says) who are attempting to clone an army of super-humans and had neglected to include a mellow gene. For Speen it was still breakfast-time, and he inhaled a substantial plate of Huevos Con Chorizo, which he said was pretty standard but excellent. Both of us remarked on the quality of the refried beans, which were tasty without being cooked the hell out of. I had a plate of three tacos with rice and beans, and at under $10, is as good a deal as you'll get around here. The deluxe tacos go for more, but my advice is get the more basic ones, with onion, cilantro, and lime (cheaper, and infinitely better than heaping on the dairy crap). I tried chorizo and potato, very tasty, and al pastor, even tastier and moister, and beef head—which like tongue, is not totally my thing—but when you can mix and match tacos, what better time to try something new, huh? I kind of wish they'd call this cabeza, since I'm one of those meat eaters in constant denial, and when you say “head”—that's a little too literal. But anyway, I'll be back here with an entirely refurbished appetite.

Richard Skiller 12.22.17