Chapter 24 – Crazy Wonder

Jalapeño Loco – 5067 S. Howell Ave., Milwaukee

I don't get out to Jalapeño Loco often, as it's on the highway by the airport, and so when I took the bus out there today I felt like I should be going somewhere much further away. Oaxaca, perhaps? Even though I ate here once before and remembered that there was an interesting menu, I didn't remember that they specialize in Oaxacan dishes. I really should, occasionally, do some research in advance, but sometime I just jump on the bus on a whim. Anyway, I'll return to places I like, thus making this project truly infinite, or at least life-long. For some reason, in the mood for a fish taco, I got Tacos de Pescado, which came with rice and beans, and also guacamole, and was enough for two of me. I took a taco home, and normally tacos don't hold up, but I'm eating it now—best dinner I've had in awhile. The fish was a poem. The food here is very good—it's not the cheapest Mexican food around, but it's inexpensive when you think of it as fine dining, which it is. Plus, my lunch with tax, at $16.20, with a tip, came to 2020—this year's winner! I guess this place has been open for over 20 years in this odd structure, and when you enter, you're transported to supper-club past times—pleasingly dark, with heavy wood beams on slanted ceilings, and a huge stone fireplace separating the bar and dining room side. I sat on the bar side this time, very atmospheric—my only complaint is the large TV. I guess every place with a bar feels like it has to have a TV, but why? I knew someone once, in San Francisco, who had a list of the bars without TVs, and that's where they'd frequent—but do those places even exist anymore? Also, many people seem to prefer, for whatever reason, brightly lit, wide open spaces with hard surfaces—uncomplicated spaces visually, but then with audio chaos and noise. Afraid of darkness, silence, books, and mystery. I'm sorry, I mean that's some people—but I think anyone would appreciate the comfortable feeling here, and there was some kind of Mexican music playing that I could not identify but sounded good. Then I remembered that about ten years ago, Jalapeño Loco briefly opened a place in Mequon, in the old, sadly closed Alpine Village—a place that had once been one of the Seven Wonders of the Restaurant World. It makes sense to me, now, that someone who has created this lovely atmosphere would be interested in reviving that place (I desperately tried to imagine a scheme to buy it, myself), but apparently it didn't work out (the place was enormous, very old, and in BF Wisconsin) and last I heard, they were going to demolish it. The only certain things: death, taxes, and cool shit will be torn down and replaced by Walgreens. That's why it's important to appreciate what's left, and now, so this place should be one of your destinations of wonder.