ISO venezuelan sandwich

[52X]

i believe it's called patacones or patacones rellenos: "Shredded beef, special sauce, ketchup, mayo, lettuce, fried cheese, on a double-fried plantain bun." (http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2009/11/off-the-beaten-path-patacon-pisaos-carne-mechada-patacon-elmhurst-queens.html

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i visited family/friends in ny during thanksgiving when my buddy turned me on to this fantastic venezuelan joint specializing in this type of plantain sandwich in elmhurst. check out the pics from the link and the pic i took below. are there any venezuelan spots in the bay area that makes this stuff?

the only thread that seemed remotely close was one about Pica Pica: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/615976.

any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks so much.

[tomatoaday]

I had a sandwich at Sol in San Rafael recently that had sliced beef, avocado, cheese, some type of mayonnaisy sauce and grilled onions on toasted plaintains that was good. Maybe not quite what you described but a good sandwich with similar ingredients. Each table holds bottles of a vinegary hot sauce that punched up the flavor in a good way.

My DC had a daily special of chicken pieces (roasted? anyhow, dry, not brothy) with rice, plantains and salad that he enjoyed and was a portion that he couldn't finish.

Edit: it was the Bistec sandwich, ordered on tostones, listed as their gluten free option. Sauce is garlic mayonnaise.

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Sol Food Puerto Rican Cuisine
901 Lincoln Ave, San Rafael, CA 94901

[52X]

interesting. i'm not very familiar with puerto rican food at all. but it does sound pretty similar. thanks so much for clarifying that! patacones or not, that bistec sandwich sounds pretty tasty. definitely need to do another northbay trip real soon.

[Robert Lauriston]

I think Pica Pica is it for Venezuelan around here these days, and it's sort of Americanized / yuppified.

El Majahual has Colombian-style patacones.

[Melanie Wong]

Don't forget Coupa Cafe in Palo Alto or the branch on the Stanford campus. Pabellon's on the menu, maybe they'll sandwich it between fried plantains.

[52X]

thanks a lot melanie. any idea how much their pabellon is? i couldn't find the price on their menu online for some reason. their arepas and spicy hot chocolate (!) sound delicious as well.

[Melanie Wong]

No prices on the menu (.pdf).
http://www.coupacafe.com/menus/CC_PA_Lunch_Dinner.pdf

My cachapa and hot chocolate was $16 last year.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/577122

[bbulkow]

Coupa Cafe is a relaxed casual place with great wifi and lots of students tapping on computers. On a cold evening they might have the fireplace going in the back room, on warm days the sidewalk seats are good. An empty seat can be hard to find. Regardless, the food's quite good. They always have a nice selection of Venezuelan red wines, too. I don't know the prices, but I think I end up walking out for about $15 when I get a couple of aerepas and a glass of wine. Maybe $20. It's not *super* down home because we're talking Palo Alto, but it's not tablecloths --- simple counter service.

The spicy hot chocolate there is one of the best around, according to my girlfriend who has made a study, although she prefers the traditional french style at the place in Los Gatos. Coupa Cafe's second to that.

CC's probably a once a month place for casual dinner for us, especially on cold nights when thoughts turn to hot chocolate. Not really a destination, though.

[bbulkow]

Ordering the Pabellon entree gets you a bunch of the shredded meat, some funny madaline-like starch items, some seriously tasty beans and rice, and plantain chips. Thinking like a sandwich, I tried putting various things on various other things. It all tasted good.

[Melanie Wong]

Thanks for giving it a try. Did you ask if it could be served in patacones form? And, do you remember the price for the pabellon entree?

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Coupa Cafe
538 Ramona St, Palo Alto, CA 94301

[bbulkow]

Sorry, I didn't ask about the patacones form.

The price was reasonable - somewhere around $12 and $14 or so.

[52X]

thanks for the lowdown on pica pica. i'll be sure to check out the patacones at el majahual real soon. much appreciated!