As a wanna-be foodie I love trying new restaurants, new cuisines, and watching the food shows on tv. Today's post will bring the three of those together. As my first 'Around DC' post I am going to give you my review of La Caraquena in Falls Church, VA which I first heard of on the Gone Global episode of the Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.
We ate at La Caraquena on Friday August 10, 2012 and I wrote my review the following Monday. Enjoy!
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| Image from http://www.lacaraquena.com/ |
This weekend we ate at La Caraquena.
Our trip to La Caraquena was inspired by my finance's new found
enjoyment of the Food Network's Dinners, Drive-ins, and Dives
(DDD). From watching DDD we knew this was one of those hidden
restaurants. It's located in a local motel, and although we'd driven
past it a hundred times we'd never given it a second look before.
La Caraquena is Latin American Food
and in particular mostly Venezuelan. Before we went, we noticed their
website offers reservations through Open Table. Although it was 7pm
on a Friday night when decided to go to La Caraquena, we had no
trouble booking a table for 8pm. And we are GLAD we did. When we
arrived the place looked busy, the parking lot was filled, and a few
groups were waiting for tables. With our reservation we were asked to
wait a few minutes, but an eager busboy saw us and cleared a table to
seat us right away. After that the extent of the great service ended,
luckily the food made up for it. Once seated we waited quite a while
to order drinks and food. While eating we would have ordered more
drinks plus waters if the waitress had stopped back, but we never had
the chance.
Now the important stuff... Food.
The food was very good. I don't know
anything about Venezuelan but our entire table, including a
vegetarian friend left happy. We started with the Tequenones and
Platanos Fritos. Both were a great way to start the meal and the
Tequenones, glorified mozzarella sticks, where very indulgent. La
Caraquena is know for their Arepas so we had to try those as well. An
arepa seems to be what other countries call saltenas and empanadas.
We tried the Reina Pepeada which was smooth and refreshing, although
to go again I'd want to try another one. Our vegetarian friend had
the Perico arepa as his main course and while the arepas don't seem very
large, he claims it plus the appetizers filled him up.
For the main dish I had Pabellon
Criollo, which at first sounds a lot like a burrito bowl with
shredded beef served on rice and beans. And to some extent it is a
very nice burrito bowl, however it tasted light and fresh and I was very happy
with it. My fiance had Pabellon Completo which is the Pabellon
Criollo with the addition of an egg and cheese, and he left very
satisfied as well.
I'd love to go back, try more food (and take some photos for this blog). I'd also hope to return with my fiance's brother who lived in Venezuela for a few months to see how this food compares to his experience. Hopefully, I'll be able to return and update this blog entry in the future!
Summary:
Slow service but the food makes up for
it. Make sure to get a reservation and to try as much as you can.
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