Empanada and pisco bar Triciclo Peru opens on the west side Dec. 4

Triciclo Perú opens to the public Dec. 4 on the west side, serving empanadas, pisco cocktails and other Peruvian food and drink, along with a dose of Peruvian culture.

It's at 3801 W. Vliet St., in a redeveloped group of buildings that also houses the seasonal Pete's Pops storefront. 

The new restaurant will allow owners Amy Narr and Mario Diaz to expand their menu offerings and serve beverages including coffee and mixed drinks. The couple launched Triciclo Perú two years ago as a food cart, naming it for the tricycles from which merchants in Peru sell their empanadas.

Although it's billing itself as an empanada and pisco bar, Triciclo Perú isn't a late-night destination, Narr said. 

It will be open for lunch and early dinner or after-work snacks during the week and for brunch and early dinner on the weekends.

The location — not far from Harley-Davidson, MillerCoors, Milwaukee Public Schools offices and other employers — could mean an especially strong lunch and after-work business for the restaurant.

Narr and Diaz were eager to share Peruvian food and culture through their restaurant.

"Food equals love, is their philosophy," Narr said of Peruvians, "and we want that to be the ambience here, too." 

The main menu has eight kinds of empanadas ($5 each) including a traditional combination of steak, raisins, black olives and boiled egg inside the flaky pastry.

It has others that are not so classic. The Wisconsin empanada is breakfast sausage, scrambled egg, cheddar and red pepper. Others include a filling of soy chorizo with potato and red pepper, and one with sweet corn, cilantro, mozzarella and white cheddar.

The restaurant will prepare a couple of salads, including one of cooked carrots, green beans, beets and Peruvian corn in a creamy vinaigrette ($8).

Some of the snacks Triciclo Perú will serve include fried yuca with huancaina, the Peruvian cheese sauce (two sizes, $6 and $12); brochetas, a trio of chicken skewers with onion, bell pepper and pineapple ($8); salchipapas, french fries with beef hot dog slices ($8); and papas rellenas, fried mini potatoes stuffed with ground beef hash ($8).

At brunch, it will serve Peruvian tamales filled with chicken or pork ($5 apiece), a sweet empanada ($5) and picarones, traditional pumpkin and sweet potato doughnuts ($5).

At the bar, diners will see ingredients such as fruit, purple corn and herbs being infused in pisco, the otherwise clear Peruvian brandy. Cocktails ($9) will include classic pisco sours and a drink called Passion of Lima: lemon-infused pisco, ginger, pineapple juice, passionfruit juice and ginger beer.

A counter for customers to work or surf while having coffee looks out over green space and 38th Street. That seating area has outlets and USB ports. In all, the restaurant has 36 seats.

Triciclo Peru's renovated building dates to 1913. 

"We’re really proud of that, that we have that piece of Milwaukee to offer our food in," Narr said.

The space shows off restored Cream City brick and a tin ceiling that's original to the building. 

"The structure is very industrial looking, very modern-chic, if you will, but then we are adding our Peruvian culture to it," Narr said. "It sets a neutral tone for the Peruvian culture."

That includes dining tables hand-painted by a friend to resemble colorful Peruvian tapestries. Narr — a business administration graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who met Diaz when she was in the Peace Corps in Peru — said the colors reflect those that Andean migrants brought with them when they moved to Lima, the country's capital.

Diners might notice replicas of carvings from Chavin culture, which predates the Incas in Peru, and an Ekeko doll that symbolizes the god of abundance and prosperity from another pre-Columbian culture in Peru.

Hours will be 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday to Friday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Brunch will served on the weekends until 2 p.m.; happy hour will be 4 to 8 p.m. weekdays, with specials on drinks and bar food. It won't take reservations.

Triciclo Perú has started a line of take-and-bake frozen empanadas called Pachamama, or Earth Mother, that it will sell by the half-dozen or dozen at the restaurant, as well. The restaurant will offer carryout and eventually delivery by a third-party service.

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Contact dining critic Carol Deptolla at carol.deptolla@jrn.com or (414) 224-2841, or through the Journal Sentinel Food & Home page on Facebook. Follow her on Twitter at @mkediner or Instagram at @mke_diner.