My inner Colombian will always squeal in delight at the thought of eating an arepa. Whether it’s plain and slathered in butter or split and stuffed with meat and/or cheese, I will have a hard time saying no. It used to be that arepas were something that we got when our mother made them for us, or at a Colombian bakery. Amaize, however, is aiming to bring these South American corn cakes to the South Florida mainstream. This fast-casual restaurant, located in Doral (and now with a Davie location) features a selection of stuffed arepas and platters.
Filling your arepas with all sorts of savory fillings is primarily a Venezuelan thing. We Colombians typically do butter and cheese. One thing we seem to agree on, though, is that Harina Pan (Pan brand corn flour) is definitely the way to go if you want your arepas to be the real deal. Amaize has an entire wall dedicated to selling you everything that you need to make arepas at home. Hint: you can also buy this corn flour at pretty much any grocery store in South Florida.
Amaize lets you order an arepa a la carte, or add a side for a little extra. I got the Shaggy (pulled beef with shredded Gouda cheese) and a side of chicken soup. The arepa was meaty, cheesy deliciousness. And, although they are a little hard to eat without making a mess, it is still satisfying. Be warned, though, that the arepas are a bit smaller than they look. If you’re a big eater, you might want to order two.
This is kind of an unorthodox post. Most of the time, when I write a review, it’s mostly so that my friends and family know where to eat locally. Platillos Voladores (Spanish for “Flying Saucers”) is not exactly local. In fact, it’s not even in this country.
I’m actually writing this review at the insistence of my mother, who loves this restaurant so much that she brought me here during my recent visit to Colombia and promised the chef that her daughter would write a review on her blog. The restaurant is in Cali, tucked away on a street with a tiny sign that makes it very hard to see or find. Fortunately, I was with family that knew exactly where they were going. It labels itself a fusion restaurant, and the extensive menu shows it.
Bread Plate
Not long after being seated, they bring out a bread plate with slices of white and wheat bread. It’s served with cream cheese topped with fruit sauce, which I skipped and opted for butter instead.
Their special cocktail consisted of passion fruit juice mixed with rum and macerated fruit (strawberries and kiwi), which they could also make non-alcoholic. The drink itself was pretty tart, but refreshing. And, the fruit was incredibly fresh and sweet, so the drink got sweeter as I drank more of it and let the fruit soak in longer.
One of the appetizers that we got for the table was the beef carpaccio. It was served under a bed of Parmesan cheese, greens, and crispy onion tangles. Eating raw meat in a foreign country went against everything that I was advised, especially since my last visit to Colombia was marred with some pretty horrific food poisoning. Still, if someone as picky as my mother trusts a dish, then I have no reason to shy away. I don’t regret my decision, because the carpaccio was one of the best that I have ever had. The beef was so fresh, and the vinaigrette that accompanied the dish struck a perfect balance without overtaking the dish.
One thing that I realized during this trip was that, in Colombia, ceviche is most commonly made with shrimp instead of fish. And, much to my dismay, a popular preparation for shrimp ceviche in Colombia involves ketchup and mayonnaise. So, I very much expected to have a hard pass on the ceviche when they ordered it, until it showed up at the table. It was topped with julienned green mango, red onions, and some avocado. The ceviche marinade tasted like it was a mixture of citrus and vinegar, which made it feel more like I was eating a shrimp salad than a ceviche, but it didn’t make it any less delicious. My aunt called dibs on the leftover vinaigrette and drank it.
The star of the dish, to me, was the stuff served on the side. Those puffy sticks are called carantanta. Basically, it’s a corn crackling. They take the dried up corn residue left on the pots when they make corn dough for tamales and other dishes and fry it until it’s puffy and crispy. Not only was it a great “chip” to eat with the ceviche, but it tastes great on its own. So much so, that we asked for two orders of the carantanta to take home. I’m still trying to figure out how to make some at home.
Lomo Yin Yang
I had the Lomo Yin Yang for my entree, and the presentation of the dish is actually a pretty nice and clever play on its name. One side was a beef filet medallion smothered in a mushroom and blue cheese sauce. The other side was a beef filet medallion topped with crispy onion tangles and a 3-pepper sauce. Both sauces were incredibly rich, but in different ways. My meat was cooked perfectly, and the blue cheese sauce was not as intense as I imagined it was going to be. The pepper sauce had a kick to it, but not unpleasantly so. I was tempted to mix the sauces to see how they would taste together, but I decided to eat each side separately. And, it kind of shames me to admit it, but I completely ignored my side salad.
For the most part, I am usually underwhelmed by the food in Colombia, and had very low expectations. Yet, Platillos Voladores managed to blow me away. I hope that I can eat there again during my next visit to Cali, whenever that may be..
Japanese Peruvian fusion restaurants are a dime a dozen in Miami these days, and with good reason. Peruvian food has a lot of Japanese influences. I had been eyeing Sokai for a while, and even walked in once to take a look at their menu and felt my jaw drop at their prices. Still, I am okay with paying extra money for a meal if I feel like I got my money’s worth afterward.
Like most Japanese Peruvian restaurants, Sokai offers a selection of both sushi and ceviche. Being more of a fan of the latter, I decided to stick with dishes that were more traditionally Peruvian. One thing worth noting is that they give each table a tablet in which they can view the menu and place their order electronically, but also still have a server come by and take orders.
Our appetizer was a Cebiche Carretillero, which basically translates to “ceviche of the forklift driver.” I’m not sure why exactly the nae was chosen, but the ceviche itself is yellow pepper ceviche made with corvina and fried calamari. The calamari was, in my opinion, the star of the dish. The ceviche wasn’t bad, if maybe a bit bland as far as ceviches go. However, the calamari was fried perfectly. It had a nice crisp on the exterior and the interior ring was tender and not rubbery.
My go-to entree at Peruvian restaurants is always Lomo Saltado, so that is what I ordered. My first impression of the dish was that the pale crinkle fries were going to be a disappointment. Instead, the opposite happened. The fries were the best part of the dish. Despite looking undercooked, they were actually nice and crispy. The beef, on the other hand, left a lot to be desired. The meat itself was a little bit dry and tough. The sauce helped with this, although the sauce itself lacked the depth of flavor that I expect from a lomo saltado. As with most white rice in Peruvian restaurants, the rice was more al dente than I prefer, but I think that’s just the way that rice is prepared by Peruvians.
Service was great at Sokai. Dirty plates didn’t stay on the table long, and someone was always passing by to check and see what we needed. If the food were just a little better, than I would be more likely to go back. As it stands, I am not in a hurry to try them again.
I’m not sure how it works in other parts of the country, but Miami has a penchant for hiding snazzy little restaurants in place where you would least expect them to be. That’s where Olivos comes in. It’s a small Argentinian-fusion type restaurant located in a shopping plaza that contains one a very poorly organized grocery store and several hole-in-the-wall type restaurants. We had dinner here after work one day, and I definitely felt underdressed when I walked in. Fortunately, Olivos is in Doral, not South Beach. So, they don’t turn you away if you’re not dressed the part.
They started the table off with bread, which I dug into right away because I was hungry, and also because I was in a group and can never be sure who does and does not wash their hands. It was bread. Not much else to say about it.
Since it was a group of us, we ordered some appetizers. The empanadas were traditional Argentinian-style, which means they were full of things that I didn’t like. The calamari was gigantic rings of crispy, tender goodness. They didn’t even need any of the sauces that it came with, so I didn’t try them.
We also ordered some scallops, which were paired with a fruity sweet sauce that actually complemented the scallops quite well. Plus, the scallops themselves were cooked perfectly. I forgot what the black stuff was, except that it was something mixed with squid ink. At the other diners’ insistence, I gave it a taste, and immediately regretted it. Not a fan.
My first entree (grilled short ribs that were very bland and not very tender) was a bust, but I sent it back and got the NY Strip steak at the server’s recommendation. It was a definite improvement, and I really enjoyed it. It was cooked to the perfect Medium, and the homemade steak sauce was superb.
I didn’t try the dessert that was ordered for the table because it was a coconut panna cotta, but I had to take a picture because they made it look like an egg! The “bowl” was made of white chocolate and the “yolk” was a passion fruit jelly. Very creative!
The prices are pretty high, so I wouldn’t go back unless I just got paid and had something nice to celebrate, but it’s definitely worth checking out!
Super Arepa, located around Kendale Lakes, is a counter-service joint that serves Venezuelan-style casual fare. As the name implies, their signature offering is the Super Arepa, an arepa (you remember what an arepa is, don’t you?) stuffed with your choice of meat, pico de gallo, grated cheese and special house sauce. I had heard Super Arepa name-dropped several times by several different people for quite some time. It has been one of those places that is on my list of places to try, but I just never got around to it. What finally got me to go there was a phone call from a friend who was nearby and wanted to meet for dinner, and me being too broke to afford a sit-down restaurant.
Super Arepa definitely seems to be one of those places that you have to be “in the know” for. It’s located in the back part of a strip mall, and isn’t even visible from the street. I went to that strip mall once to eat at another place and never even noticed that it was there.
You order at a counter, and the counter attendant is more than happy to answer any questions. Thanks to her, I found out that the special sauce that they serve on the Super Arepas contains mayonnaise, so I asked them to leave it off of mine. I got a steak Super Arepa combo, which comes with fries and a drink. If you’re eating it there, you can have a seat after you’ve paid for your food and they will bring it out to your table.
First, let’s start with the fries, which were kind of bland and boring. You can skip those when you pay this place a visit. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s go to the arepa. This was definitely unlike anything I have ever eaten. I’m used to arepas that are kind of firm and have a slight crunch to their exterior. This arepa was soft and flexible, like a fat tortilla. Stuffed arepas are normally an arepa opened up like a clamshell and filled that way. The meat that it was filled with was flavorful, but a little bit on the dry side. I imagine that the “special sauce” fixes the moisture issue, but we all know how I feel about mayo. The cheese didn’t taste like it was your standard “queso blanco.” It had a bit of a sharpness and tang to it that was closer to like a parmesan cheese. The pico de gallo was made with green tomatoes. Not sure if this is intentional, or if they were just out of ripe tomatoes. Either way, it stopped the arepa from tasting more Mexican than Venezuelan.
I am curious to go back and try some of their other offerings, but I’m in no hurry.
You can visit Super Arepa at 14417 SW 42nd St, Miami, FL 33175. They also have a Pembroke Pines location.
I still have very fond memories of my very first time tasting mofongo. If you're a veteran follower, then you already knew that. Word is getting around that I have a weakness for this Puerto Rican specialty, and recommendations have occasionally come in for places where I can get it. This is how I ended up hearing about Isla Del Encanto, a Puerto Rican restaurant in West Kendall.
My obsession with mofongo is still going strong since my trip to Benny’s Seafood ignited it about 2 years ago. Since then, it has actually surprised me how hard it is to find a decent plate of mofongo in South Florida. I mean, short of flying to the Caribbean, where else in the country is there such a high concentration of Puerto Ricans and/or Dominicans? Okay, fine…New York City. But still!
I drove by Casa Mofongo on Miracle Mile one day while I was on my way somewhere else. A dragged my friends there within the next few weeks. Because, MOFONGO! (more…)
Embarcadero 41 caught my attention a few months ago for being a Peruvian restaurant that was slightly on the fancier side. Since it’s located in Downtown Miami, and hard to get to (parking in Downtown is always a nightmare), it took me a while to get myself to go check it out. (more…)
It’s been a while since the food truck craze took off in South Florida. Yet, I haven’t exactly visited very many of them myself. That is kind of a shame, considering the massive amounts of comfort food that these trucks promise. As a food blogger, it was a big failure on my part to ignore their potential.
All of that changed one day, when the craving for some good mofongo hit me. Sometimes, a woman just needs a mound of mashed, fried green plantains and pork cracklings. That’s just how I roll. I’ve tried good mofongo, and not so good mofongo. But, I’m not the type to find a place that’s good and just stick with it forever. After all, you might be missing out on something better, right? So, when Don Mofongo popped up on a Google search, I immediately started stalking following them on Twitter. As soon as they parked in my neighborhood, I paid them a visit. (more…)
Coral Gables Restaurant Week (CGRW), like Miami Spice, is something that I look forward to every year. Restaurants will offer a 3-course menu at a fixed price per person, which is usually a decent discount from ordering the menu items a la carte. Therefore, my usual strategy is to seek out the restaurants that I probably wouldn’t be able to afford on a regular day to try out. This year brought me to SushiSamba, a nifty restaurant that offers food that is inspired by Peruvian, Japanese, and Brazilian cuisines. (more…)
