Caracas - Lives up to its Throwdown victory...

The first time I walked into Caracas, the Arepa bar in the Lower East Side, was two years back without any premeditation. A friend and I were exploring the city and we ended up here for a bite. Consequently, lost amidst all the explorations, the little place slipped from my mind. But, the other day when the restaurant was showcased on Bobby Flay's Throwdown on Food network (a show which offers a great many ideas for dining out in the city apart from the amusement of seeing an Iron Chef lose a few culinary battles), it jogged my memory and I was positively thrilled to have eaten there before - thrilled because according to the researchers of the show, Caracas is supposed to be the best Apera place in the US.

A little background on Arepas and Caracas - It is pronounced "adepas" and is a South American patty made from cornflour. The flavor, size and method of preparation (grilled, baked or fried) vary based on region. In Argentina, these patties are usually deep fried while in Venezuela they are usually grilled. They are usually eaten in the form of sandwiches with the arepas stuffed with sweet of savory filling. Caracas is owned and operated by Maribel and Aristides Barrios both immigrants from Venezuela. Maribel was a production manager before deciding to start the arepa bar.

So the husband and I made a trip to the place last weekend - him for the first experience and me to reacquaint myself. Caracas has a couple of joints on the same street - Arepa bar which is a hole-in-the-wall place with closely laid tables not unlike other restaurants with similar small serving areas and an Arepa restaurant which is a bit bigger. Personally, I like the former's ambiance - it's cozy and has an intimate feel :). And ofcourse, Maribel herself looks over the serving in this place.

It was a hot day and we started off with a jar of Papelon con Limon (lemon juice sweetened with caramelised sugar) and fresh mango-guava juice. They came in very country looking jar-mugs and were very refreshing and light. The limon juice has a very interesting taste - definitely recommend a try.

We ordered Yoyos for appetizer which were fried sweet plantains stuffed with white cheese. The dough coating was a mildly flavored and complemented the sweet plantains very well - they used some anise and anjeer in the spice mix which was great!

For the main course, we had the De Pabellon - the contest winning arepa with a stuffing of shredded beef, black beans, sweet plantains and cheese and La Surena with grilled chicken and chorizo (my favorite sausage!) with avocado and a special house specialty sauce. While the former was an easy choice (you have to have to have the winner!!), it was bit difficult to choose the other - afterall, there were soo many yummy choices like the Muchachos (all chorizo), La de Pernil (roast pork shoulder). Eventually the lure of the special sauce won us over.

They were fantastic! We devored the arepas as soon as they landed on our table. The Arepas look small but pack a filling punch! The beef was just tender and the sweet plantains were great with spiciness of the beef. They all worked together very well. On the chicken and chorizo side, the meats were perfect and the salsa (the sauce) was great - we would have liked more salsa in the arepa though. On each table, by the way, is a bottle of the house aioli - a herby, spicy sort of mustard, which works great with the arepas.

We finished off the meal with some sweet arepas - Arepas Dulces. It came with a guava reduction sauce and home-made sour cream. The guava sauce rocked! The sour cream was ok for me but if you do not have much of a sweet tooth, then the light sourness does balance out the sweetness of the guava sauce. As for me, I like them sweet!

All in all, it was a great and very satisfying meal. We are planning to go back soon, to taste the other meat fillings! :).

P.S: The place is also very vegan friendly. They have a good vegetarian choice of arepas and do accommodate special requests like tofu etc. Ofcourse, you can also create your own arepa.

Caracas Arepas Bar
93 1/2 East 7th
New York, NY 10009
http://www.caracasarepabar.com/