Open again after a devastating fire, Nepalese restaurant The Cheel is back in peak form

In her Back for Seconds series, dining critic Rachel Bernhard visits Milwaukee-area institutions — including stalwart restaurants she may be visiting for the first time. Where should she dine next? Email her at rseis@gannett.com to make a suggestion. 

I was practically ice skating down the sidewalk of Thiensville’s adorable Main Street on my way to dinner one frigid January night. We’d been walloped by two major snowstorms followed by a cruel arctic blast that transformed every modest snowbank into a treacherous, ice-covered peak to climb.

Fitting, as I was trekking to The Cheel, 105 S. Main St., the Thiensville Nepalese restaurant with culinary influences from the Himalayan mountains.

The restaurant reopened in its new form in November, three years after having tragically burned down. It was a huge loss for the village of Thiensville and the greater Milwaukee area, which didn't have another restaurant serving Nepalese food at the time.

I’m kicking myself for having never visited the restaurant in its first iteration. In fact, I remember being so intrigued after reading a review of the restaurant from my predecessor, Carol Deptolla, when it originally opened in 2014. I made a mental note then to make the trip to Thiensville to try it out, but as many of my mental notes do, it unstuck itself from my brain and flittered away until last summer, when I learned that a reopening date had been set.

But while I don’t have memories to lean on from The Cheel’s first six years in business, those I made on my first visit to its inviting new space will certainly stick with me for a while.

A brand-new look with familiar, charming details

The Cheel was originally housed in an ornate 130-year-old Queen Anne building, which embodied an Old World charm difficult to recapture with a brand-new build. Those familiar with the former space may find the new Cheel’s aesthetic a little more slick and industrial, but it’s still welcoming and warm, with plush red chairs adding a little sass to each table, shimmering modern chandeliers that look like fairy nests hanging from the ceiling, and its dining-room centerpiece: a large wrap-around bar, backlit with glowy red lighting and redesigned to match the feel of the restaurant’s original Art Deco-style vintage bar.

The Main Street-facing wall is lined with garage door-style windows, which will be such a treat in summer when they can be rolled up to bring a semi-open-air dining concept to the space.

Details matter here, like the brass and worn gold found in the antique-style cutlery, condiment bowls and water pitchers. They’re equal parts rustic and elegant, and those little touches make the experience all the more elevated.

Speaking of those water pitchers, service here doesn’t miss a beat. Glasses are always filled, empty dishes are removed promptly, and the smiling servers are warm, knowledgeable and frequently check in without being too pushy. Chef-owner Barkha Limbu Daily even stopped by the table to make sure everything was going well before heading out for the night.

It was, Chef Barkha, from start to finish.

Nepalese flavors in small and big bites

Will you allow me to be vulnerable for a moment? Before dining at The Cheel, I was wholly unfamiliar with Nepalese cuisine. In fact, I did a fair amount of Googling about the types of dishes listed on The Cheel’s menu before heading to the restaurant.

Because of Nepal’s geographic location between India and Tibet, its cuisine draws influences from both regions, with spices like tamarind, ginger, turmeric, coriander and garlic showing up in many of the dishes.

My little bit of research helped boost my ordering confidence, but once at the restaurant, my kind server offered Sherpa-like assistance with navigating the menu even further.

She started by explaining the aachar menu, something I wish more restaurants — Nepalese or not — would incorporate in their own way. Aachar is a type of condiment traditionally made with pickled vegetables, fruits and spices, used as sort of a catchall condiment to bring new depth of flavor to almost any dish. At The Cheel, aachar is noted as a dipping sauce, and it comes in five varieties: classic (tangy, smoky and tomato-forward), tangy tamarind, sinche (with crispy garlic and red pepper flakes), teel (nutty sesame with tomatoes, peppers and cilantro), and aago (super spicy with tomatoes and garlic).

I love that you can customize pretty much anything with the different aachar, creating just-how-you-like-it bites. I suggest ordering two to three of the aachar and playing around with them as you eat, just for the experience.

I got my first taste of the classic aachar with a starter of steamed veggie momo, delicately pleated dumplings filled with chopped vegetables, ginger, onion and parsley. The veggie version tasted so fresh, the ginger singing and accompanied so well by the bright, tomato-based aachar served with it. The momo can also be made with lamb and fried till crispy.

The momo appear on the “tidbits” portion of the menu, a cute moniker for a half-dozen appetizers and small plates meant to share. Other big-hit tidbits include lamb bites (tender meatballs made with peanuts and parsley and served with the tangy tamarind aachar) and eggplant bharta (smashed, grilled eggplant with tomatoes, garlic and ginger topped with flattened rice and cilantro).

Where there are “tidbits,” there are “bigbits,” seven of them on the menu. These are your more classic entree-style dishes, such as lamb shank with saffron basmati rice (bheda shank); crispy arctic char served with tangy tamarind and mango aachar with basmati rice; and wild boar spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and black cardamom served with saffron basmati rice and dal, a Nepali soup-like dish made with yellow lentils.

Dal is served with another big meat on the bigbits menu: the chicken thighs (methu kukhura tarkari), which are remarkably tender, fall-off-the-bone style, and seasoned with bright fenugreek, turmeric, garlic, ginger and topped with cilantro. It’s a complex-tasting dish that has all the comfort of roast chicken from grandma’s kitchen — a lovely encapsulation of the kind of cuisine The Cheel is going for: an introduction of new flavors under the veil of homestyle, Midwest cooking.

When I see any sort of Asian noodle dish on a menu, there’s a high chance I’ll be ordering it. My streak continued at The Cheel, where I loved the veggie version of its Shan noodles. In fact, I listed it as one of my “Best Bites” I ate in January. I fell hard for the wispy, clear bean noodles amped up by bright wallops of ginger, crunchy crushed peanuts and smooth, earthy sesame that co-mingled in every bite. Meaty shiitake mushrooms, crisp bell peppers and red onion were welcome additions, but the firm blocks of Burmese-style chickpea tofu were my favorite part of the dish: hearty, nutty and so satisfying.

I tried two desserts on my visit, unable to make up my mind. The saffron cheesecake was such a treat, incredibly thick and not too sweet, with little orange flecks of saffron laced through the filling. A sticky drizzle of caramel, floof of fresh whipped cream and mint garnish finished the rich slice beautifully. I equally liked the creme brulee, a small tin dish with lemony custard and a sweet, caramelized, crackly crust — a light and lovely way to finish an altogether lovely meal.

While I didn’t dine on a Thursday, I think that’s when I’ll visit next. The Cheel has brought back its Travel Thursday series, a weekly menu departure that highlights dishes from across the globe, like coconut mahi mahi from Oceania or mujadara and kibbeh from Lebanon. I love that this restaurant, already steeped in honoring cuisine from a region half a world away, is working to open the minds and palates of its customers in new ways.

It’s fitting in a space that blends new with old, feeling familiar yet exotic. The Cheel may be rebuilding from tragic destruction, but with its new, shiny coat, it still feels just as warm.

What to know about The Cheel

Address: 105 S. Main St., Thiensville

Hours: 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 4 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday

More information: (262) 236-9556, thecheel.com

Fare: Nepalese, Burmese and Tibetan; large and small plates

Reservations: Recommended; walk-ins welcome

Rachel Bernhard joined the Journal Sentinel as dining critic in June 2023. She’s been busy exploring the Milwaukee-area food scene to share her favorite finds with readers along the way. Like all Journal Sentinel reporters, she buys all meals, accepts no gifts and is independent of all establishments she covers.

What should she cover next? Contact her at rseis@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @rachelbernhard or on Instagram at @rach.eats.mke.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Nepalese restaurant The Cheel in Thiensville is back in peak form