Food Truck Foodie (Episode 1: Sabora Street Arepas)

Welcome all! "Food Truck Foodie" here. This is the first in what I hope to be a weekly series of articles in which I present to you the best and worst of rolling cuisine--that is, food truck food! Though I mainly eat from food trucks in the Washington, DC area, I will be sure to include any noteworthy additions from trucks I visit in other parts of the world. I hope you enjoy!

Longaniza and Spanish Chorizo Arepa with Fried Yucca--$9



What a food adventure! I don’t know where to begin. So I’ll start with the arepa, specifically the top (and bottom) of the arepa—the arepa cakes. The arepa cakes were fried to perfection. The maza and flour combination took on such a delicate but pronounced sweetness and richness that I wondered aloud whether creamed corn was a secret ingredient. Biting into the arepa cake by itself tastes like biting into a simultaneously sweet and savory deep-fried Johnny cake. In other words, it’s just short of heaven. It reminded me of the authentic arepas I used to eat during my summers at the now-defunct Taqueria Fiesta in Mt. Prospect, Illinois. In between these delightful corn cakes is a mélange of flavor and ingredients. As I noted at the outset, I got the longaniza and Spanish chorizo arepas. So, the main ingredient is chorizo—obviously. Sabora Street certainly did not skimp on their helping of chorizo in my arepa. The sausage was very good, but lacked a certain paprika-based punch I have come to expect with Spanish chorizos. I guess it must be the influence of the longaniza sausage, which has black pepper and nutmeg instead of smoked paprika like the Spanish chorizos do. That minor criticism aside, the chorizo was good enough that I didn’t leave any on my plate. Part of that undoubtedly had to do with the fresh pico de gallo that was generously mixed in with the chorizo. You could taste bright notes of crunchy jalapeno peppers, red onion and tomato, with just enough hint of lime to bring it all together. I’m usually not a fan of pico, but this did the trick, and added a lightness to the arepa that helped complete the dish, particularly from a textural standpoint. It’s always nice to have that contrast of crunch and velvety soft within a dish. High marks for that. Rounding out the arepa was the dry sharpness of the Cotija cheese—always a nice touch with Latin cooking.

The fried yucca took on what, for me, embodies the best characteristics of a French fry—crisp on outside, velvety soft root on the inside. And the salting was perfect. I’ve had yucca before that did not cut the mustard for the simple reason that there was nothing savory about it. Untouched, yucca has a blandness to it that makes one wonder whether it has any redeeming qualities at all. But a simple commitment to spice this fantastic side dish can easily bring it to another level of culinary wonder. Here, they seasoned the yucca with what appears to be generous (but not too much) amounts of Kosher salt and finely chopped chives. Add to this mixture the sweet piquancy of their garlic lime aioli, and these yucca fries are anything but the bland root they often can be.

All in all, I’d say this was a pretty good introduction to Sabora Street. Aside from the slight flavor unexpectedness of the sausage, I’d say the overall flavor profile was a success. And the authenticity level was truly spot on. I will admit that $9 for one arepa and a side of yucca did strike me as a bit much for this dish. But once I bit into it, my fears of a $9 lunch easily left my mind. The portions were more than generous (something I can’t always say for some other, higher-priced food trucks that rhyme with The Schmobster Truck--$17 for a tiny lobster roll? Really? That I had to wait 45 minutes for? In the rain?). I eagerly look forward to Thursdays in the future when the people at Sabora bring some more Sabor to our Metro Center streets.

Rating 7.3 out of 10. (This would have been slightly higher if the price was a bit better.)