[Photographs: Lacey Muszynski]

Palomino, a small bar in the trendy Bayview area of Milwaukee, appears at first glance to be a quintessential corner tavern. It boasts a well-stocked bar with lots of local brews on tap, dark corner booths, a couple of pool tables, and tons of fried food.

Look more closely, however, and this tavern stands out in couple of key ways: There's a heavy Cajun and Southern influence, and there's quite a lot of the menu that caters to vegetarians and vegans. So carnivores can get their burgers and chicken fried steaks while the vegans in the group get their BBQ seitan and BLTs with vegan bacon. Bringing people together is what a neighborhood tavern is all about, isn't it?

And people should definitely come together over these burgers. At first, as I was taking photos, I was a little dubious—they just didn't look that tasty. But looks were deceiving in this case, as they were pretty scrumptious. The Haymaker burger is a 1/3-pound of Wisconsin-raised, grass-fed beef, topped with Swiss cheese, sautéed mushrooms, haystack onion rings, horseradish sauce, lettuce, and tomato. The grilled patty, ordered medium, was unfortunately overcooked and a bit dry, but the high quality of the beef saved it. The flavor was fresh, bold, and slightly smokey from the grill. If there had been some pink in the middle of the patty, it would have been outstanding. As it was, it was still solidly in the "delicious" category. The crust on the patty was nicely developed and extra smokey.

The toppings were mostly flawless. The mushrooms were fresh, not canned, the Swiss was generous and sharp, the onion strings were crunchy, the thick-cut tomato was ripe, and the horseradish sauce was creamy with a kick. The Wisconsin-raised bacon, ordered on a bacon cheeseburger, had a smoked flavor that reminded me more of ham than bacon. Buns were toasted, though with margarine instead of butter. The usage was understandable because of the vegan cuisine, but the fake butter flavor was a little disappointing.

While these are some top-notch burgers, the real highlights of the meal were the sides and sauces. Each burger come with a choice of two sides and one sauce. The list of sides is 11 items long, and the sauce list even longer. The fries were better than most, but arrived a little limp. The homemade hush puppies were dense and wonderful, with a hint of poultry seasoning. Most intriguing and fun were the sweet potato tots, though: crispy on the outside, with finely chopped soft sweet potatoes on the inside, and slightly sweet.

The fried cheese curds appetizer is also not to be missed—they're some of the best cheese curds I've had (even better than the State Fair booths'!). They're breaded, not battered, with yellow cheddar. They were extremely crunchy, and the cheese that had oozed out had been caramelized into savory little chewy bits.

The curds and all the sides were dipped into three sauces: ranch, chipotle mayo, and Cajun cream sauce. All three were homemade and, frankly, awesome. I felt like ordering a salad just so I could slather on the ranch, with lots of fresh herbs and a good bit of garlic. The chipotle mayo was spicy with chunks of peppers, and the Cajun cream sauce was served hot. It was like a gluttonous fried food and sauce smorgasboard.

I wouldn't hesitate to go back to Palomino for a burger, but if I did, I'd ask for my burger to be cooked medium rare instead of medium to avoid dryness. It could take many visits to get through the entire list of sides and sauces, but that's a sacrifice I'd be willing to make.

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