Kyle Nabilcy
The beef tacu tacu at Mishqui Peruvian Bistro.
Beef tacu tacu features deeply salty umami and rich browning.
The last time I reviewed a Peruvian restaurant was nearly a decade ago, and I kicked it off with a joke about how Peruvian had been the Next Big Thing for almost a decade. Now, it’s not worth joking about; Peruvian food has become reasonably well known, and gets to succeed not as a trend, but on its own merits — and Mishqui Peruvian has plenty of merits.
Mishqui started its impressive run in early 2022, opening on Monona Drive in the little complex anchored by Viet Hoa Market. In the three years since, it has expanded to a second location in downtown Middleton and a third this spring in the former Little Palace space on King Street.
The menus at all three locations are identical, so I decided to focus on the original as the materfamilias of chef/owner Cynthia Garcia’s new empire. Let me tell you, the newer locations may have the bloomier roses, but the OG spot is still bringing the people in. Full tables right up until close on a Monday.
And this from a spot where you don’t even need to dine in. Not only is there online ordering for easy takeout, but the pastry case is chock full of very pretty desserts for grab-and-go temptation. You can skip the flan, a bit too dense and fudgy for what I want in a flan, but try the tres leches cake; I had the coffee version, a fun South American take on tiramisu.
Also easily picked up on the way to or from work: empanadas, in both Peruvian and Colombian styles. I preferred the fried cornmeal shell of the Colombian to the sweetly-washed pastry crust of the Peruvian, but they’re both tidy and filling.
Filling is the word at Mishqui, with Peruvian cuisine so often embracing the caloric demands of the nation’s high altitude. Nothing’s better for this than tacu tacu, a traditional dish centered on a generous mound of roughly mashed beans and rice. From a variety of proteins, I chose the stir-fried beef and it was a flavor bomb, deeply salty umami and plenty of rich browning. It’s easily three meals’ worth of food.
The chaufa mishqui, a fried rice meets surf-and-turf combo platter, was similarly bountiful, to the point that even its somewhat surprising $26 price justified itself. The beef here was a touch bland, but the crispy pork made up for it. I had high hopes for the chicken in the tallarines saltado pasta, but instead I was served the tallarines verdes, which was a pesto overload, one-note and heavy.
Mishqui also offers a substantial vegan menu. Both vegetable-focused dishes and plant-based meat substitutes are available. In fact each menu item is scrupulously annotated with icons for gluten-free, lactose-free, soy-free, vegetarian and vegan.
For bright flavors, look to the causa. The architecturally geometric build of perfect molded circles of yellow potato with “Mishqui” written across the top (in crema?) will always crack me up, but the lemony chicken salad underneath is a win. So too is the aguadito de pollo, a cilantro-heavy chicken and rice soup that’s like a walk through a summer garden.
The salsa criollo that accompanies the chicharrón is another brilliant acid hit. I loved both the pork and fish versions of these little fried bites, especially with the sides of lightly salted tostones (smashed plantains) or rugged yucas fritas (almost french fries but not) that accompany them.
Lest we forget some additional classics, there’s always the rotisserie chicken. A half order of pollo a la brasa (a little white meat, a little dark meat) is pure homey goodness — though if the skin were crisped up just a little, it would be a stratospheric improvement. And you can’t skip the lomo saltado, its bright tomato and onion setting off the rich soy-saucy beef. I love the way Asian influences come to bear on Peruvian food.
Listen, three locations in three years is nothing to sniff at, especially for a relatively small, single-owner operation. Is it a bigger surprise that Mishqui has three locations, or that 2022 was three years ago? When you have a meal at Mishqui, its success becomes less of a shock and more of a fait accompli. The name means “delicious,” and you’re not going to hear me argue.
Mishqui Peruvian Bistro
4604 Monona Drive; 608-405-5123
225 King St., 608-400-8100
1901 Cayuga St., Middleton; 608-820-8202
mishquiperu.com
$4-$30
