1/21/2024 0 Comments Cachapas y mas broadway![]() Lunch is an especially nice time to go, when a $12 combo gets you any two arepas plus a drink, like the tart, sweet, sunset-colored parchita, or passion-fruit juice.įor Colombian-style arepas, you can do no better than the Arepa Lady, whose wares used to be available only at her late-night weekend cart under the 7 train in Jackson Heights, but can now be obtained at both a sit-down restaurant a few blocks away and at the new DeKalb Market Hall in downtown Brooklyn. ![]() Condiments include a hot sauce that is “seriously hot,” warned a server recently (he was right), and a mild, creamy cilantro dressing - “Good on everything but your drink,” we were told. And the arepas do the nation proud, arriving super quickly - thin, hot, and crispy - stuffed with extra-salty beef and beans, plus a big chunk of browned sweet plantain, for the pabellón, and juicy roast pork, avocado, and grated Guayanés cheese for the mami. ![]() This cheerful spot is proudly patriotic, with a huge Venezuelan flag hanging on one wall, and an evocative beach-scene mural on another, plus a big-screen TV showing fútbol. Its relatively soft, pliable grilled arepas come stuffed with your choice of more than two dozen filling combinations, including the terrific Chiquinquira - featuring the vinegar-based Venezuelan guacamole known as guasacaca, plus sliced avocado and slabs of Guayanés cheese - and a simple but spectacular off-menu option that pairs crispy little morsels of fatty, salty chicharrón with avocado and mayonnaise. And so it’s no surprise that it’s also a completely convincing culinary ambassador, offering a comprehensive menu of some of the city’s top arepas in a lovely, transportive setting, with palm-tree wallpaper and fresh flowers on every table. And don’t miss the addictively spicy-sweet mango hot sauce the taro fries (only at the Rockaways location), served with an herby mayo that works as an arepa condiment, too and the Arnold Hibiscus Palmer, made with hibiscus iced tea and papelón con limón, a traditional Venezuelan drink made from sugar cane and lemon.Įl Cocotero feels like a center of Venezuelan culture in Manhattan: On a recent weekend, an event the restaurant hosted for expats to register to absentee-vote drew people in droves. The corn cakes themselves, which are on the smaller side, are both grilled and baked, then filled with your choice of high-quality ingredients: They make a superior pabellón, too, and La Del Gato - with grated Guayanés cheese, sweet plantains, and avocado slices - is another winner. Luckily for arepa lovers, there are three outposts of this charming franchise, in three different boroughs - we’re partial to the Rockaways location, which is basically on the beach and has an especially good-times vibe - and the arepas are created equally at each (though the menus vary slightly). Get the excellent pabellón, filled with chewy shreds of stewed beef, slices of sweet plantain, black beans, and thick curls of cheese or a fantastic version of reina pepiada (chicken salad) made with warm, gently pulled dark meat and big chunks of ripe avocado.Ĭaracas’s pabellón: They taste even better at the beach. You can watch this process, if you like - the cast-iron griddle is behind the long glass counter where the pizzas and Venezuelan buffet are displayed - and it’s well worth the wait, resulting in arepas with crisp, charred edges and soft, but not mushy, interiors. ![]() Grilled ones (as opposed to fried) take about 20 minutes, warns the menu, because, impressively, they’re grilled fresh to order, instead of grilled and reheated, as they seem to be at many places. But the arepas get first billing for a reason. Despite the name, it looks much more like the latter, and a totally nondescript one at that. One might describe TuArepa Pizza Cafe - which is tucked away on a rather dreary block of Forest Hills, across the street from a branch of Mount Sinai medical offices - as an arepa bar masquerading as a pizza parlor.
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