West Side’s Triciclo Peru is Closed
Restaurant at 38th and Vliet shuttered last week with no explanation.
Triciclo Peru. Photo taken July 3, 2020 by Jeramey Jannene. All Rights Reserved.
A Near West Side destination for inventive empanadas and pisco cocktails is no more. Mario Diaz Herrera‘s Triciclo Peru abruptly shuttered last week with no explanation.
The Vliet Street restaurant, which won a 2020 Mayor’s Design Award, operated for nearly four years in the Martin Drive neighborhood, until its recent closure.
The chef and his former spouse, Amy Narr, started Triciclo as a mobile concept in 2017, operating out of a miniature, hatchback food trailer. The operation, according to Diaz Herrera, originated as an homage to working-class Peruvians.
For the following two years, Triciclo continued to pound the pavement at a variety of Milwaukee area farmers markets, street festivals, beer gardens and private events, garnering a loyal following with its authentic empanadas, which featured traditional fillings enveloped in a flaky crust.
Diaz Herrera and Narr finished second in the Near West Side Partners‘ Rev-Up MKE business plan contest in 2018, giving them the financial support to open a brick-and-mortar restaurant.
The permanent location, 3801 W. Vliet St., allowed Diaz Herrera to significantly expand his offerings with small plates, entrees, desserts and a Peruvian-inspired cocktail program.
In addition to 10 empanada varieties — including beef, chicken, sweet potato and gluten-free options — the restaurant offered yucas fritas, salchipapas and causa, a layered, potato-based dish stuffed with meat, vegetables or seafood. Larger plates including ceviche, paella, meat and pasta dishes were also available.
To drink, the restaurant served an assortment of pisco-based cocktails and Peruvian beer, as well as non-alcoholic chicha morada (Peruvian purple corn, pineapple, lime juice, cinnamon and cloves) and machu punch (chamomile, lemon grass, ginger, fresh-squeezed orange, lemon, lime, pineapple and honey).
Triciclo also operated the catering arm at Humboldt Park and a take-and-bake empanada company, Pachamama. The business previously occupied a stall at Crossroads Collective and was a vendor at Zocalo Food Park.
At the time of Triciclo’s closure, Narr was no longer involved with the business.
Last spring, Diaz Herrera began making plans for a food truck park and community hub, Minka, which would occupy a lot at the corner of 38th and Vliet Street, just across the street from the restaurant.
Similar to Zocalo in Walker’s Point, the park was to host a handful of food trucks, offering outdoor seating and entertainment, as well as a heated, indoor bar for year-round operation.
Tom Straub owns the Vliet Street restaurant building, as well as a number of other properties in the area.
Diaz Herrera did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
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