Caracas Arepas NYC (Food Review)

As is relatively common in this household, the Food Network was blaring in the background one night as we were passively planning our weekend getaway to Manhattan. This particular evening, Mr. Bobby Flay was serving up a Throwdown to a cute pair of Venezuelan girls in the East Village! Perfect. Eyes glued to the set, we salivated at the grilled corn cakes filled with braised beef, black beans, cotija cheese, avocado slices, and fried plantains. We scrambled to google the restaurant and added what seemed to be a spectacular meal to our list of MUST-DOs and now, as quickly as possible, add this place to YOUR list of must-dos!!

Caracas Arepas Bar
East Village
91 East 7th Street (@1st)
New York, NY 10009
(212) 228-5062

45 min wait for the restaurant that does not take reservations.

Next door, however, Caracas ToGo has the same menu + mini tables!
Got our food in 8 min.

I'm a huge fan of open kitchens and watching these beautiful arepas come to form was just heavenly. Wafts of deliciously fried plantain bananas, warm corn cakes...ahhhhh. The balls of bready balls were patted down and slapped onto a steaming griddle, sliced in the middle, and packed with all sorts of yummy goodness! They're crisy, warm, and somehow neatly filled with pretty scoops of fresh avocado, creamy cheese, and absolutely devine spices. I didn't even pause to look at the tableside sauce until one bite left and immediately regretted my ignorance. Jamie, on the other hand, had about 1/2 his arepa left to continue to enjoy the mini container of magical sauce.

De Pabellon (background): shredded beef, bbeans, white salty cheese, sweet plantains.
La del Gato (mine!): guayanes cheese, fried sweet plantains, and avocado slices.

The mini kitchen.

Cool Wall Mural.

The Menu...how to choose??

Check out the ThrowDown episode here!