La Merenda

Last week, we met up with Kerry and Eric for dinner downtown. We had a lovely time having appetizers on their deck overlooking Lake Michigan, the Menomonee River, and downtown Milwaukee (if you careened your neck just right) - what a view. It was a lovely evening to sit outside and enjoy good company. Whenever we get together on their side of town, we always get to try try new places for dinner since that's not our usual dining location. Kerry's so good at picking out different spots!

This time, we dined at La Merenda. They advertise themselves as a Bar and International Tapas Restaurant. (I think the last time we went out with them, we had Japanese tapas at Nankusa.) The menu was really interestings, as it really was international! We had some tasty salads from Thailand and Italy, preceeded by the traditional Wisconsin Cheese Plate (yum). The salads were followed by some tostones (fried plantains), risotto with shrimp, scallops and crab, kalamata olives, and Indonesian sauteed shrimp (a little too spicy for me). We didn't quite have room for the polenta, which I was looking forward too, but dessert sounded too good to miss! I don't remember what it was called, but basically, it was warm, carmelized, sauteed bananas with a drizzle of chocolate sauce tucked inside a spring roll wrap with a side of vanilla ice cream. Oh yum. There were 4 little rolls, perfect for us to split!

In addition to the delicious food, the atmosphere was pretty cool as well. We couldn't really tell what the building used to be, but it is located in an area that was formerly semi-industrial. It was a one story building with cinderblock walls that had been painted orange. Lots of fun international decor on the walls. Each dining table and chair was different (I love when restaurants do that) - a very ecclectic atmosphere!