Arepa Showdown
After a disappointing first showing at the Caracas Arepa bar I planned on going back today to give them a second chance. I backed away in fear of the crowds after I woke up to the NY Times review in the paper today.
So I thought I'd check up on the arepas somewhere else for research purposes, of course. I had heard that Flor's Kitchen wasn't that good and the food was boring but still I marched on, ever-vigilant with the hopes of understanding more about what should be expected from a Venezuelan restaurant's arepas.
Not surprisingly the slightly-larger Flor's was a lot more comfortable than the Arepa Bar. The place was really friendly and the prices were reasonable. I was surprised to see that they had an equally large, if not large selection of arepas, arepitas, and enchiladas. Same relative price structure as well.
I ordered the punishing(to my heart only) trio of aperitifs dulcet con quasi, a shredded beef enchilada, and an Arepa with chicken and avocado. Unlike the spartan offerings at Caracas, Flor's provides a small ramekin with a vinegary avocado sauce and green hot sauce.
I assumed the aperitifs would be smaller than the Arepa but instead they were the same size but topped instead of stuffed and there were three of them covered in an avalanche of shredded mild and creamy cheese. It looked so beautiful, the golden Arepa hills covered with the snowy cheese I had to taste it even though I knew they were scorching hot. It really outclassed the Arepa Bar's arepas. The aperitas were so much more tender and filled with more vibrant corn energy they nearly knocked me off my chair. Their subtle sweetness was totally intoxicating. I was in love. Three of these totally had their way with me until the chicken and avocado Arepa arrived. It came wrapped like a fast food burger with it's milky green avocado puree peak snooping out of its thin paper sheath. It was a little less done than the arepita but extraordinary nonetheless. The filling was a bit bland but that's what the hot sauce was there for. The enchilada looked just like the one at the Arepa bar's and was on par with it in terms of crispness and quality of the meat inside. The beef was moist and shredded but at this point I could barely breathe from fullness let alone analyze any subtleties of flavor.
So why all of this fervor for the Caracas Arepa bar?
Although Flor's arepas won round one of my personal Arepa showdown it looks like the publicist of the Caracas Arepa bar has us all beat.
enjoy!
Frank
Iron Frank
Aug 07, 2003 01:03AM
Damn, this was supposed to read:
I ordered the punishing(to my heart only) trio of arepitas dulce con queso, a shredded beef enchilada, and an arepa with chicken and avocado.
But my copy of Word98 running in classic mode in OSX flipped out when spell checking.
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And I like the cachapas better than the arepas at Flor's. But then I haven't had the arepas there in a long time!
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The arepas I had on my one, disappointing vist to Flor's had some sort of unplesant anise (licorice) flavor. I, too, liked the cachapa (sp?) much better.
Of course, you can't have a real arepa showdown without comparing it to the gold standard. But I've never been to the Arepa Lady. But that's more enetertainment than importance. (I can't imagine Venzuelan restaurant craze sweeping Manhattan.) I'm all for wherever I'm going to have a good meal.
As for the publicist's success, I was tipped to Caracas A.B. by a post here, not anywhere else. (http://www.chowhound.com/boards/manha... Maybe CH has turned into a publicists' bulletin board????
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"Of course, you can't have a real arepa showdown without comparing it to the gold standard. But I've never been to the Arepa Lady."
Just to be clear, these are two very different arepas--from different countries. I believe that the Arepa Lady is Colombian and the Caracas ones are Venezuelan. Someone with better arepa-wisdom should confirm that though.
I had the Caracas arepas yesterday and unfortunately I feel the same way as Frank. Eh. What I did really like was this comp meat pie that they gave us (kitchen was running slow) and the cherry juice. Someone mentioned not liking the anise flavor at La Flor, and this was something that I subjectively didn't like about one of the sweet arepas that we had at Caracas.
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Yes, Abby, you are absolutely right. The Arepa Lady is Colombian making the street arepas which are the pancakes with cheese, from everything I hear. (I've yet to try hers but have had many on the JH streets). That sounds like what one poster talked about at Flor's -cheese pancakes. There are also the arepitas, the Colombian ones that look like little charcoal-tinged white stones that one gets with every dish in a Colombian restaurant, and with the chuzo (kebabs) on the street. There are also very thin flat ones that come with grated cheese on the top if you order them in a restaurant.
The Venezuelan ones in Azimov's review of Caracas sound like they're similar in substance to these last flat ones but with a pocket. I was thinking of trying Caracas tonight, but maybe I'll try Flor instead.
Jill
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I should add, however, that I think the arepa showdown was a fun idea....
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>>Maybe CH has turned into a publicists' bulletin board????<<
We watch for such things--we call them shills--carefully (and that thread looked ok). But if you ever spot anything suspicious, drop an email to webmaster@chowhound.com (save that address!) to point us to anything that might need vetting. We count on the community's help to help keep this site honest. Please include the URL of the posting you're emailing about.
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I was trying to be totally sarcastic, since I'm the one instigating the most chat about this place...
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I love Flor's, especially at lunch, when you're pretty sure to get a table, but the one time I tried the arepas there I didn't like them so much. I found the arepa part very dry (fillings were fine), but I assumed that was the nature of the arepa, since everything else I've had there is so good. They make this corn pancake thing that I love. Also great soup and avocado salad. (And Iron Frank, I'm starting to suspect that you and I live very close to each other.)
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i was a bit surprised to see negative reviews for flor's on this site as well, because i think it's delicious and a relative bargain. was thinking about stopping by the arepa bar today for a couple arepas, but now i wonder if i should get one at each place for comparison.
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