Ryan Wisniewski
The torre features tuna ceviche, fresh mango and ripe avocado.
Fuegos opened this spring in a newly constructed space on Williamson Street. It bills itself as a place for Latin-inspired steaks, tapas and vegan food. It’s a surprising and ambitious concept, pairing steaks with vegan fare, but what better neighborhood in which to give it a try? Even on Willy Street, this extensive vegan menu makes Fuegos stand out.
Speaking of menus, the menus here are very big. And I mean that literally. Printed on oversized paper, they’re awkward to handle.
There’s been some good buzz online among vegans about Fuegos. The vegan menu is full of veggie-based options like cauliflower steak, a baked nut cheese and a vegan torre (Spanish for “tower”). The torre was cool to look at, with purple potatoes topped with quinoa, julienned carrots and parsnips, and micro greens. But it was ultimately disappointing. The quinoa was unseasoned, the parsnip, raw. I adore parsnips, but uncooked, they’re tough and slightly bitter.
The non-vegan torre, a tuna ceviche on the tapas menu, was much better executed. The tuna was fresh and the mango and avocado were perfectly ripe. The idea is that is comes as a small tower, though mine was more of a pile on the plate when it arrived at the table, surrounded by splashes of sweet red chili sauce and topped with cilantro.
These two dishes sum up the uneven cooking and rough edges at Fuegos. An 8-ounce steak was flavorful and cooked as I’d requested, with a nice char on the outside. But the filet was served on a cold plate, alongside Peruvian purple potatoes that were tasty, but lukewarm. Most hot dishes I tried arrived closer to room temperature; heated plates would have done a lot to help.
A “deconstructed” paella was beautifully presented; however, the concept fails. The magic of paella comes from the mix of ingredients and the integration of flavors. So, while arranging steamed seafood (shrimp, clams, mussels, a single scallop and a langostino) around a dainty amount of saffron rice looks good, it’s missing the magic melding of flavors that makes paella so special. Nothing on the plate was hot and the clams were sandy.
More successful was a nopalitos salad. A huge portion of pickled prickly pear cactus is served atop spring greens with big chunks of what the menu calls “Mexican farmer cheese,” a crumbly salty cheese that I would have called cotija. A citrus vinaigrette wasn’t very noticeable until the final bites. The highlight here: sweet heirloom cherry tomatoes.
The queso de chiva, baked goat cheese, is also a great way to start a meal. It unites silky goat cheese with an acidic sauce made from guajillo peppers and tomatoes. Served in a crock, it’s not trying to be fancy, and I appreciate that. Served with lightly-toasted crostini, it is simple and good.
My burger, The Mexicano, was good and generously sized, featuring Oaxacan cheese, avocado and fresh jalapeño. But one of my favorite items at Fuegos were the housemade potato chips that come alongside the burgers. Sliced super-thin and served right out of the fryer, they are little bits of heaven.
But the chips are still just a side, in a restaurant that purports to be three things — a steakhouse, a tapas place and a vegan restaurant. Even after eating here, I’m still a little confused by what Fuegos is going for. I think back to those unwieldy paper menus. They seem a fitting metaphor for my dining experiences. Bigger isn’t always better.
The menu posted on the restaurant’s window during my visits advertised steak options (sirloin) for as low as $16, but inside, steaks started at $29. Menus change (and Fuegos does aim to serve a lot of local, seasonal food, which requires a flexible menu) but it’s important to keep everything current, especially when there have been significant changes.
Servers were friendly, but inexperienced, and not always knowledgeable about the menu or the food. That’s harder to forgive considering Fuegos’ fine dining price tag. A meal for two can easily run $75, making it one of Willy Street’s pricier spots.
With a prime location and an interest in meeting the needs of the vegan community, Fuegos has the opportunity to fill a niche in the Madison dining scene: upscale dining for vegans and their omnivorous friends. However, some fine-tuning is still needed to make sure the food and experience match the fine dining prices.
Fuegos
904 Williamson St.; 608-229-6920; fuegosmadison.com
11 am-10 pm Tues.-Thurs., 11 am-11 pm Fri., 9 am-11 pm Sat., 9 am-2 pm Sun.; $7-$50
