Instagram Post 10/29/2017

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Smile when you say that! Just as Mexico has its lineup of stuffed snacks like tacos, burritos, quesadillas and so many more, so Venezuela 🇻🇪 lays claim to its own collection of lavishly loaded sandwiches, often based on corn or plantain. Cachapas y Mas at 678 Seneca Ave, Ridgewood, Queens (also at 107 Dyckman St in Manhattan) runs the gamut of styles and fillings, to wit: cachapas, sweet corn pancakes, typically topped with cheese and folded over quesadilla style; arepas, a little smaller, less sweet, made from corn flour and used for a classic Venezuelan sandwich; and tacuchos, Venezuela’s answer to burritos. In the plantain-as-bun department, they offer patacones, pressed green plantain sandwiches; and yoyos, sweet plantain sandwiches. They also offer pepitos (more familiar looking, like a hero/sub/grinder/hoagie depending upon your personal provenance) and other options. Mix and match your fillings, including three kinds of cheese, ham, chicken, sausage, pork, and beef, each in a number of styles and all delicious.

This is a patacon (rhymes with “not alone”: I must be thinking comfort food) with three meats (pernil, chorizo, and carne mechada) plus cheese, lettuce, tomato, and a couple of kinds of sauce. Everything is good, but if this is your first time, I suggest a cachapa or a yoyo with your choice of filling.

In addition to their brick-and-mortar venues, they have a Cachapas on Wheels truck.