Cachapas y Mas

"Cachapas y Mas is a Venezuelan restaurant known for its cachapas, patacónes, and more. It remains a traditional Venezuelan dining spot with locations in New York, including Inwood and Ridgewood. The restaurant is popular for its familiar and comforting Venezuelan dishes." - Emma Orlow

"So many options, all of them delicious. Venezuelan street food specialist Cachapas y Mas does patacones, arepas, yoyos, pepitos, and, yes, cachapas as well. They all come with your choice of filling, which means you can get some shredded beef in a sweet corn cake, pollo asado sandwiched between smashed plantains, or chorizo and fried cheese on a hoagie-like roll. Order at the counter, then grab a table inside or on the sidewalk patio and enjoy your over-the-top meal." - bryan kim, neha talreja, willa moore, will hartman

"If you don’t like options, avoid Cachapas y Mas, where the Venezuelan street food is varied, customizable, and uniformly delicious. At this Ridgewood counter-service restaurant—which has another location in Inwood—you can get cachapas, patacones, arepas, and Venezuelan-style burritos packed with your choice of filling. Try some shredded beef bookended by smashed plantains, or enjoy a sweet griddled cachapa stuffed with pernil and four kinds of cheese. Depending on how wild you get with the extras and add-ons, the food can seem cartoonishly excessive, so prepare to unhinge your jaw like Scooby Doo. There are a couple of tables inside, in addition to some sidewalk seating that’s great for a quick, casual, warm-weather meal. photo credit: Cachapas y Mas" - Bryan Kim

"A Ridgewood staple for almost a decade, Cachapas y Mas presents a grab bag of Caracas-style street sandwiches, which come in the form of the titular cachapas. The same fillings are also sold in between thick patacones, the buns of a pepito, or inside a tacucho, an arepa, or a yoyo. For something bigger, order a maracucha: a maximalist burger made of at least four kinds of meat." - Robert Sietsema, Andrew Karpan

"For Venezuelan comfort foods like crispy arepas, plump patacones, and gooey tequenos, Cachapas Y Mas is your best bet in NYC. This family-run mini-chain has two locations — one in Ridgewood and the other in Inwood — and, at both, you’ll be greeted by a smiling ear of corn who appears to be grooving to the ’80s and ’90s Latin music videos playing on a nearby TV. (Only the Inwood location is open until 2am every single day, however.) There are few dishes we don’t recommend from Cachapas Y Mas, but, as you might have gathered from the name, the cachapas here are keythanks. Order them stuffed to the brim with moist, shredded beef and cheese, and get a patacon and a few tequenos for the table. Food Rundown photo credit: Cachapas y Mas Cachapas If you don’t order cachapas here, you’re doing it wrong. Eat at least one plain sweet corn cake while you wonder how they pack so much gooey fried cheese in each bite — or, for something more substantial, order your cachapa stuffed with your choice of pernil, chorizo, shredded beef, or whatever other protein makes you feel most comfortable. The wisest among us will do both of these things. photo credit: Cachapas y Mas Tequenos It’s essential that you eat at least three tequenos here. The breaded and deep fried snacks should be commonplace at all venues that serve finger foods, and the queso blanco inside could probably stretch around your head a couple of times over. Dip your tequenos in a side of pink secret sauce, and pop a Lactaid for this excellent cause. photo credit: Cachapas y Mas Patacones These crunchy, double-fried green plantain sandwiches are loaded with meat and stuffed with lettuce, tomato, and creamy white sauce. Each patacon is about the side of your palm, and you definitely want to try the version at Cachapas Y Mas for a quick lunch or dinner at least once in your life." - Nikko Duren