Food has to be very enticing to convince A-Tooch to venture out of her borough. No need to leave Manhattan, the city that has it all… right? Not true.
On a rainy torrential downpouring weekday night, I ventured to Elmhurst, Queens with Brownie and Jaya for a true taste of Patacon Pisao. After getting a sample of the offerings at Choice Eats this year, I made it my mission to trek to the motherland for more. (Disclaimer: I am fairly obsessed with Latin food.) Our awesome host Jonathan has been part of the family business — his mother started the original Patacon Pisao wildly successful food truck in Inwood. After using the Elmhurst property to cook food for the truck for a few years, they decided to turn it into a store front. Great idea! Especially if you’re not looking to stand in the rain at a food cart for this deliciousness.
The food (and some of the bevs, too) are all homemade, Venezuelan recipes from the family’s hometown of Maracaibo. We tried just about one of everything on the menu — I am not joking and below is the proof.
Group consensus was that the most irresistable dish was the queso cachapa — two sweet corn cakes stuffed with fresh mozzarella and topped with nata cream. I have been having dreams about that cheese arepa. I will make the venture to another borough for this item.
You don’t like this? You are not human. (Or you are lactose intolerant, perhaps.)
The beef arepa, crisp and different than any arepa I have tasted before, was stuffed with juicy beef and a fried piece of cheese, packed with crunchy lettuce and topped with the green sauce that we poured on just about everything.
To quench our thirst, we sipped on homemade passion fruit juice and chicha (a thicker version of horchata with rice that is basically a meal in itself).
The icing on the Venezuelan cake, literally, was the tres leches cake. I had tried this at Choice Eats so knew what tastiness was coming. But WOW.
Love supporting local family business and love this shop. You can’t beat the prices and the portions are tremendous. We were also tipped off to a new location opening soon so be on the look out!
2 Comments
That beef arepa looks AMAZING!!! AND I have been dying without tres leches since I moved here from AZ! DEF have to check this place out!!
That looks delicious. Especially the queso cachapa.
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