Caracas Arepas
93 1/2 E 7th St
New York, NY
There is something about carbs with tasty fillings (especially cheese) that get us every time. Pretty much every culture has a national version of this combo – and Venezuela has arepas. In New York one of the hottest places for brunch makes some killer arepas.
On our last trip to NYC we headed to Caracas with a group of NYC-native friends for a Saturday morning brunch. Seems like we were not the only ones with the idea for some mid-morning arepas. There was a wait out the door – so we took ours to go and eat in nearby Tompkins Square Park.
I ordered the A10, the La Del Gato, which was filled with guayanés cheese, fried sweet plantains and avocado slices ($6.25), but they forgot it and gave me a chorizo arepa instead, a bit of a bummer. We didn’t find out til we were well into Tompkins park so I ended up trading for A-14, La Jardinera ($6.25) vegetarian with our all too accommodating friend Ashley (Thanks Ashley!). Too bad for me though, since I hear the Del gato is amazing.
But in the end, I really enjoyed my trade-in. The Jardinera had grilled eggplants, sundried tomatoes, caramelized onions and guayanés cheese. The arepa was near-faultless except for the fact that all of the cheese was concentrated at the bottom M ordered the A-20 La Sureña ($7.50) grilled chicken and chorizo, with avocado slices and chimichurri sauce. M loved the chorizo arepa, which had a bit of a kick.
As we noshed in the park we also split an order of fried plaintains. In the end we did not miss eating in the cramped space and enjoyed the warm weather outside. Other than the mix – up on our order. Guess it gives me an excuse to go back and order the De La Gato someday.
Eating The World 