THE AREPA STAND ~ MAR VISTA
The Arepa Stand, which has been blowing minds in local farmers markets for seven years, soft-opened its own brick-and-mortar space in Mar Vista this week.
The business comes from siblings Mercedes Rojas (the chef) and Zeus Ferrini (director of ops), who are often praised for serving L.A.’s best Venezuelan-style arepas, most of which are named after different regions of our city.
“It’s a dream come true,” Rojas tells L.A. TACO. “We have worked so hard for this, and to see it as a physical space is sometimes unbelievable. We've been actively looking year after year after year. It’s kind of surreal sometimes. But I think people are going to be super excited to be able to have us as many times as they want in the week.”
Arepa options include “The Notti’s,” which comes stuffed with plantains, avocado, queso de mano, and a fried egg; “The East L.A.” with eggs, chorizo, garlic sauce, gouda, and plantains; and “The Inglewood,” which has braised BBQ pork, chile de arbol salsa, avocado, and queso de mano.
Each arepa offers a beautifully orchestrated collision of harmonious ingredients: salty cheese, creamy avocado, hot corn, and tender proteins, paired with an addictive garlic sauce and spicy red and green salsas.
Rojas makes her masa using a flour from Masienda, which she says comes closest to Venezuelan arepa pilado traditionally made with nixtamalized corn, mixing it with a little olive oil and salt to make her corn dough. Two doors down from Saby’s, the opening makes this corner a strong magnet for Westside masa lovers.
“It's very natural. It's very nice. It's beautiful. It's crisp. It's soft inside,” she tells me. “It's everything we ever wanted.”
In addition, the restaurant offers the crispy, cheese-filled wheat-dough torpedoes known as tequeños and will start serving its salads built on farmers market produce next week, eventually adding arepas in bowl form as well.
In addition, it will have changing arepa specials on the menu, such as this week’s “The Culver” with braised pork shoulder, chicharrón with Tajín, Munak Ranch tomatoes, mustard greens, and secret sauce. There are also aguas frescas with white peach, mint, and basil, and another with yuzu, tamarind, and mint.
“We feel very proud,” Ferrini says. “There are not many Venezuelans in Los Angeles, and the arepa is not well known here. We just want to show a little bit of our culture to the L.A. community and be like, ‘okay, this is the Venezuelan culture. This is the food. This is what we eat,’ and show a little bit of where we're from.”
12906 Venice Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90066
GOOD ALLEY RESERVE ~ ARCADIA
Good Alley Reserve is now open in Arcadia from the team behind Good Alley, intended as a fancier version of the regional Chinese comfort food spot, as indicated by the addition of “reserve” to its name.
There is Sichuan pork belly with garlic sauce; glazed kurobuta pork ribs with pineapple in aged vinegar; organic, Chengdu-style chicken; soup dumplings with A5 wagyu or pork-and-crab inside; Chinese burgers built around A5 Miyazaki wagyu or cumin lamb; crawfish with handmade spinach noodles; a dry-pot cauliflower with house-smoked pork; and dan dan noodles, among the many dishes that are making us very hungry as we write this.
56 E. Duarte Rd. #107 Arcadia, CA 91006
CURTIDO ~ HAWTHORNE
Curtido is a newly opened Hawthorne restaurant coming from a truck of the same name, cooking both Mexican and Salvadoran dishes, sometimes within the same dish.
This means there are handmade pupusas stuffed with carne asada, fajitas, or birria, depending on your pleasure; empanadas with chorizo and cheese; sides of fried plantains, yuca frita, and chicharrones; chicken soup; and quesabirria tacos, among other dishes.
The restaurant also serves an all-day breakfast of eggs served with your choice of chorizo, asada, plantains, and queso fresco.
12920 Hawthorne Blvd. Ste. 103 Hawthorne, CA 90250
PAGU @ XUNTOS ~ SANTA MONICA
Tracy Chang, the triple James Beard-nominated chef-and-owner of Pagu in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is coming to L.A. for one night next week. Chang will cook some of her most popular dishes alongside chef Sandra Cordero at her Santa Monica restaurant, Xuntos, on Tuesday night.
Chang, who trained under three-Michelin-starred chef Martín Berasategui and was a nominee for the Basque Culinary World Prize, will prepare dishes with Cordero that bring together Spanish and Japanese influences, such as piquillo peppers stuffed with bonito; duck paella; shio koji-roasted corn; tempura string beans; and a Japanese hamachi crudo, with black sesame mochi to end the evening.
Aug. 25, 5-11 p.m., 516 Santa Monica Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90401
DOUGHZZA ~ STUDIO CITY
Eccentric pizzas baked on a stone and sandwiches served on pizza dough. And other stuff.
That’s our elevator pitch for Doughzza, which is now in Studio City, serving hand-stretched pizzas with mortadella-and-pistachio; Philly cheesesteaks on the aforementioned pizza dough bread; Nutella pies; citrus shrimp bowls; smoked salmon pizzas; hot dogs loaded to the gills; wings; and cinnamon rolls. Cuz sometimes you want salmon pizza and cinnamon rolls without having to cross the street.
4362 Laurel Canyon Blvd. Studio City, CA 91604
