Fiesta Colombia Is Uniquely Ethnic

Fiesta Colombia. Photo by Cari Taylor-Carlson.

Fiesta Colombia stands alone, a multi-colored beacon at the corner of 20th and Oklahoma. Its combination of golden yellow, blue and red echo the colors of the Colombian flag and creates a welcoming presence to lead you into this unique south-side restaurant. Flowers of all colors line the sides of the building and on the west side, a Wisconsin cow looks like an escapee from Kopp’s Frozen Custard in Glendale.

Once inside, you’ll find the restaurant is immaculate. Colorful plants hang from the ceiling and the lower part of the bar is covered with a mural that adds more bright colors to this restaurant that features, yes, Colombian cuisine.

As soon as my companions and I were seated, our server delivered a multi-page tome that required some time to read and digest before we could order our meals.

This is Milwaukee’s only Colombian restaurant, so it made sense to order dishes that represent traditional Colombian cuisine. I ordered bandeja paisa, considered the national dish of the country because it includes a selection of the most popular flavors in Colombia. I have never seen anything like the presentation of this dish. First, there was a full platter of food, and attached to each end of the platter were basket-like metal handles. At the apex where the handles met, there was a dish of beans and on either side of the beans, two vertical metal spikes provided support for an eight-inch strip of fried pork skin.

I started at the top with the pork skin, which was crusty from the deep-fryer, fatty, and tasted like a long strip of pork belly. If you like a lot of crusty fat with pieces of pork mixed in, you will love this part of the dish. I had to force myself to share because it was so addictive.

Next came the red beans, the only problematic part of this feast because there were bones, big bones and small bones that were hard to see because they were mixed in with the beans. I carefully combined the beans with the rice and the juicy minced meat on the platter and found that all together this made a delicious bite of classic Colombian flavors.

Also on the platter: sliced avocado, a strip of sauteed plantain, two arepas, two fat chorizo sausages and an over-easy fried egg. The plantain added a touch of sweetness, as did the tasty pancake-like arepas. In case there wasn’t enough flavor on the platter, our server brought a foil-covered dish of salsa that was extremely spicy, made according to our tastes.

My companion’s ajiaco, traditional potato, corn and chicken soup, was served along with a plate of rice, capers, sliced avocado, and a little container of cream. The capers added a salty pop while the cream added some rich density to the soup.

Another companion’s tacos de bistec, chunks of tender beef, were topped with cilantro and chopped white onion and served with rice and beans.

We shared a starter, patacones, deep-fried smashed plantains served with guacamole. Their mild flavor played well with the guacamole and the spicy salsa.

Other traditional dishes on the menu included chuleta valluna or milanesa-style pork loin, cazuela a de frijoles with rice, beans, pork skin, ground beef, and chorizo, and mondongo, beef stomach soup with rice and avocado.

Before this was a Colombian restaurant, it was a Mexican steakhouse called Asadero Fiesta Garibaldi. That explained the number of steaks on the menu, such as the ribeye, the carne asada or roast beef, the mar y tierra, sirloin steak with shrimp, churrasco or grilled boneless beef, and the gigantic tomahawk steak, a pound of meat served with patacones and salad.

Also on the menu, fish, which we observed at an adjacent table as it was served in a vertical position and included all its parts — head, tail, and fins. My Colombian friend said it is delicious if you are willing to do the work.

There were several pages on the menu that we didn’t get a chance to explore, including starters, breakfast, drinks, desserts, and several salchipapas — meat, usually sausage, served with fries.

When you come to Fiesta Colombia, you will find a lot of food on your plate, and if you are not familiar with this cuisine, here is a chance to try new flavors.

Milwaukee is home to many ethnic restaurants. Fiesta Colombia is a good one to add to your list to visit in 2025.

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• Location: 3086 S. 20th St.
• Phone: 414-356-2044
• Hours: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sun-Thu, 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. Fri-Sat
• Neighborhood: Polonia
• Website: https://www.fiestacolombia.com