Monday, September 29, 2008

Arepas at La Caraquena

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This was my grilled Venezuelan cornmeal bread stuffed with Reina Pepeada (lightly seasoned avocado with baked chicken), It's a type of stuffed arepas. The cornmeal can come either fried or grilled, my guy on the inside said to get grilled, "...it always makes the cornmeal softer..."

It's from La Caraquena, a tiny Latin American restaurant in Falls Church, Va. They serve over 11 types of arepas there along with beef, chicken, and seafood entrees.

This is the most flavorful thing I've had in this area, and I'm not kidding, the avocado and chicken is subtly deeelish, but here the basic taste of the grains in the white cornmeal instantly took me back to a one woman run roadside bread meal I had in the middle of nowhere in the Baja Peninsula. The salsa (pictured) rocked out too, it's got a bite and it's hot. Also the arepas was grilled with a tasty light oil that remains at the bottom of it. This is my new and lasting favorite thing to eat in this town.

La Caraquena, 300 W. Broad St., Falls Church, Va. 703.533.0076 MAP

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