"The focus of this column is the year-old outpost of Arepa Factory at Turnstyle food hall, which comes courtesy of Maracaibo-born Monica Muzzo. The kitchen, under the oversight of chef Rafael De Garate, makes the soft, aromatic cakes at the East Village flagship (est. 2015) before shipping them to Midtown, where they’re heated to order. Counter workers fill the handheld pockets with ingredients that range from traditional — shredded chicken, pork, avocado, or cheese — to more adaptively international, like short ribs showered in cheddar or Peruvian ceviche. The correct order is the pabellon, a classic blend of heady shredded beef, sweet fried plantains, and Guayanés cheese, a stupendously delicious Venezuelan milk curd whose concentrated dairy punch equals that of good mozzarella di bufala. You eat half the $9.74 pocket with a fork before even daring to pick it up as a sandwich. The robust cakes stand up to the ingredients with more strength than, say, a typical American slice of white bread. There is, I should note, another starchy option for the pabellon or any other preparation at Arepa Factory — the regal cachapa, a lumpy pancake of sorts that’s laced with fresh corn and folded like an American brunch omelet ($12.40). It is intensely sweeter than an arepa, and, without question, a perfect foil for the salty-dairy punch of the Guayanés." - Ryan Sutton
