Chapter 23 – Bar Food Deluxe

Cloud Red – 4488 N. Oakland Ave., Shorewood, Wisconsin

Contrary to what you might think when you first hear the name, Cloud Red isn't an airborne toxic event or a suburban rugratz soccer team, it refers to red-winged blackbirds, I think, and this success story of a local watering hole might seem like a Mexican food stretch, but the three times I've been here they had tacos, and this time nachos, as well. In fact, I wrote a review four years ago during my first failed attempt to write about all the tacos in the tri-state area (now buried deep in the internet) and besides making the same joke about the name, I recall that I experienced an appetizer called “Amaizeballs”—which while, kind of gross, is, if nothing else, at least a pun incorporating Spanish. I'm not totally sure what makes this place tick (well, it's a bar, duh, alcohol), but I'm guessing someone in the kitchen has a passion for making delicious food their own way while still keeping it fun. I may be wrong, but I sense a good spirt here. Plus, gluten-free options. The place was full on a weekend night, and were I alone I would have been sunk, seeing how there was maybe only one seat at the bar, no doubt next to a beautiful, single person, and I would have been inevitably off on another one of my suburban misadventures. As luck would have it, however, I visited with friends: Sara, Mark, and Lauryl, and speaking of luck, the party in the unique four person sidewalk bay window booth was just leaving, so we commandeered it like the urban pirates we are. And it was especially exciting for me because of my obsession with bay windows, mostly because they lead the conversation to: iceboating on Barmet Bay, dogs, deadly soup leaves, sea sickness, aftershave, band names, and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). My shrimp taco had one too many ingredients, but seeing how one of them was grilled shrimp, why quibble? It was a fine taco. We also ordered nachos for all—not the whole bar, but seeing how these nachos just kept coming, it would've worked. These were some nachos, they just kept coming, with all the usual nacho things, including pulled pork, jicama salsa, and three types of cheese bubbling up. We all seemed to eat kind of a supernaturally lot of these nachos, and then I put the remainder in a to-go box and am still eating them at press time.