Foodie on Duty - Arepa Arepa

Arepas. The first time I had arepas was at Shachi’s Arepas down on South 5th and Havemeyer. Lovely, crispy cornmeal cakes split open to reveal their fluffy insides and stuffed to the gills with plantains, cheese, black beans and pabellon criollo. It’s very homey, traditional Venezuelan fare straight from the restaurant owner’s mother’s recipe box. At least, that’s what I’m told. Admittedly, I am not a woman of experience when it comes to arepas so I was all the happier when a brand new arepa spot opened up half a block from my apartment on Havemeyer and South 2nd.
Unlike Shachi’s, Arepa Arepa serves primarily that – arepas. There were about 8 different kinds of classic Venezuelan arepas, ranging from a very appealing $4-6. One can be sure to come with a big appetite and not break the bank with the most expensive menu item setting one back a whopping 7 bucks. What caught my eye, however, were the ones listed as “distinctive arepas.”
The de champiñones comes with seasonal wild mushrooms, garlic, fresh herbs and white wine while another is served up hot with smoked salmon, watercress, avocado and homemade wasabi mayonnaise. My server stops by and explains that the arepas have a pan-South American influence as he brings by the melon lime juice I’d ordered. It’s fresh, clean-tasting, slightly tart and not too sweet – much like the restaurant space.
The tables are cozy the way they are in most NYC restaurants, but there is an airy, mellow feeling that is so very, well, Californian. The brick walls and wood floors are accented with pastel lime and a few pops of baby pink. The artwork is carefully selected and spaced apart so that the rainbow colors don’t overwhelm the walls. Over the speakers is a mix of contemporary Spanish and Portuguese music.
It wasn’t like most other family-run Latino establishments with the loud colors and every available space ornamented with pipes, clocks, blankets and other knick-knacks flown in from a grandma “back home.” It wasn’t trying too hard to be hip, and it wasn’t trying to recreate a Brooklyn version of “the motherland.” As much as I love my establishments to be decked out to gills in an extravagant show of authenticity, it was nice to stop by a restaurant that wasn’t trying to fit into the norm, was family-run and carried its own sense of style with grace and a heavy dose of sunshine.
My arepas arrive all at once with a tiny dish of mojo on the side – which is a lovely accompaniment of olive oil and lightly pickled red and green peppers. The first one to try is the saucy de camarones, which comes red and drippy and packed with rock shrimp sautéed in chipotle, white aged cheese, pico de gallo and nata – a Venezuelan crème fraiche. Man, it was good. The sauce was an amazing balance of smooth, smoky tomato with a light hand on the slivers of red onion with just a hint of tang to ensure that it wasn’t too heavy or too loud or overwhelmed the fat, succulent pieces of tender, sweet shrimp. I can’t tell you how hard it is to find a place that can cook shrimp that perfectly – firm, plump, juicy and ocean-fresh.

At first I wasn’t 100% happy with the arepa itself because it was different from what I was used to at Shachi’s. It wasn’t as thick or as soft on the inside. It was crisp, and much firmer. But after a second bite, I realized that a lot of care had gone into these oven-baked arepas. Because they weren’t fried, one’s attention is focused on the filling and not the grease. The firmer texture makes it stand out against the sauce. These are cornmeal pockets of high-end goodness that can be eaten with the hands. No greasy fingers and no falling apart on me in mid-bite, which tends to happen to even the best of burgers. I approved, for I find forks too civilizing for the enjoyment of food anyway.
The next one I tried was the italo-venezolana, which is exactly what it sounds like – the Italian Venezuelan. The menu lists guayanes cheese, sliced tomato, plantains and homemade pesto sauce as the contents of its innards. Between the cheese, plantains and pesto, I was expecting something heavy – but got something the opposite. It’s a Venezuelan caprese.

The guayanes cheese is much like a fresh slice of melt-in-your-mouth buffalo mozzarella except a might bit cheesier in flavor. Light, milky and creamy. There was just a small squiggle of pesto at the mouth of the sandwich and a generous slice of tomato. The warm thumb of plantain was pan-fried and lent such a soft sweetness and touch of gluttony to the otherwise light and fresh arepa. It surprised me how well all the flavors and textures played with one another. So simple, so light – and yet, I couldn’t stop eating it. And this is coming from a gal who likes her food to taste heavy and complicated.
The pièce de résistance was the special of the day – the eggs Florentine. This time the arepas came split right down the middle like an English muffin. On each crispy half was a green bed of spinach gently wilted in garlic and crowned with a perfectly poached egg and buttery béchamel sauce. On the side were some greens and three slices of sweet-and-tangy pan fried plantains. I couldn’t believe it was only 6 bucks.
So if you’re in the mood for some fresh, contemporary and cosmopolitan pan South American or Venezuelan treats, I would get thee to Arepa Arepa. It’s a place that’s light on the wallet and fairly light on the stomach.

Arepa Arepa
160 Havemeyer Street
718-388-5797
11AM-11PM