Conejito’s Place Still Simply Satisfies

Conejito’s Place. Photo by Cari Taylor-Carlson.

Conejito’s menu reads “The Gateway to Old Mexico,” and there is some truth in that, especially for customers who prefer to eat in the bar just inside the front door. To me, it felt like a forbidden country, as my companions and I perched on stools at a common table next to a young family. Forbidden, because in many of the towns I have visited in Mexico, cantinas were off limits to women.

As far as I could see after a couple of visits at lunchtime, not much has changed at Conejito’s since the early 1990s when I wrote Milwaukee Eats and $4.00 bought lunch. A neighbor sent me to Conejito’s where he said I could find some tasty cheap food. It turned out to be a favorite, a Mexican dive with many dead plants in the window. The dead plants are gone; the food is still cheap; they still play the old tunes; and paper plates still rule. In 1992, a pork burrito cost $1.00, a tostado $.90, and if you wanted beans and rice, they cost a mere $.70 each. Today the price of a burrito plus rice and beans has risen to $9.50.

Recently, my companions and I started our meals with guacamole that was served in a small dish along with warm tortilla chips. The first time the guacamole had seen a blender and it did not have much flavor. There were no little yummy chunks of avocado but if you like your guacamole smooth, this one is for you. The second time we ordered the guacamole, it had small chunks of avocado, post blender, and good flavor. This one we would order again.

My three enchiladas, one filled with chicken, one filled with pork, and one filled with cheese, also included some chopped onion inside the corn tortillas. There was no shortage of cheese draped over the enchiladas which made this a rich and filling meal.

You can order chicken mole with a bone-in thigh and leg meat, or, as my companion did, with boneless white meat. The chicken, fork-tender and juicy, was secondary to the deep-flavored dark mole, the kind that typically requires at least 20 ingredients and two days on the stove. You’re not likely to find a better mole in Milwaukee and certainly not at that price, $10.50. The flour tortillas help to clear every drop from the plate.

If you want a tostada, you need to settle for a bean tostada because, for some reason, they do not serve meat tostados. But not to worry, my bean tostados included shredded lettuce, tomato, and a lot of anejo cheese. A few squirts of the house red sauce, served in a squeeze bottle, added spicy heat, and lit up the rest of the flavors. Three tostados plus rice and beans for just $7.00 were almost a throwback to the prices in the 1990s. They were also a healthy and satisfying meal.

If you want meat, order the grilled steak tacos or the chopped meat tacos. My companion ordered two of each and found the chopped meat was similar to pulled pork. You could also order that chopped meat on a plate lunch along with rice and beans.

Conejito’s has mostly the usual menu, mainly tostados, tacos, enchiladas, burritos and mole, but there are two exceptions, pork spare ribs in mole and huevos rancheros served only on Sunday. From 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. you can order poached eggs served with pork, beans, rice, and flour tortillas.

What is a Mexican restaurant without margaritas? At Conejito’s you can have a regular or a strawberry margarita, in a glass, a small pitcher, or a large pitcher. You will not find ice in your drink unless you request it. They sell 11 Mexican beers, a few domestics, and two shorties, Coronita and Modelita.

It is also good to know that an 18% service charge is automatically added to every bill, though additional gratuities are appreciated.

Our meals at Conejito’s felt like stepping back in time to a place where customers lingered around communal tables, the food was basic and well-prepared, and lunch or dinner for a family was budget-friendly.

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• Location: 539 W. Virginia St.
• Phone: 414-278-9106
• Hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sun-Thu, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Fri-Sat
• Neighborhood: Walker’s Point
• Website: https://conejitosmke.com

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