3/22 Sabora Street Truck

Sabora Street Truck

These nice folks sell “arepas” – which I had never had before. Always game to try something new, I bellied on up to the window.

The dish:
I ordered the chicken arepas, which came with fried potatoes. I also snagged an order of churros, so that I could give you, gentle readers, a full report. See how I sacrifice for you?

If you’re like me, you don’t know what an arepa is. Let me enlighten you – it’s essentially a sandwich on cornmeal “cakes.” Filled with your choice of meat, pico de gallo, and some shredded cheese.

The service:
Pretty good. Although there were a large number of people in line, it went pretty quickly. Considering that it’s a gorgeous spring day, who could complain about standing outside for 10 minutes?

The price
Arepa - $9; Churro - $4

The look:
The arepa dish was very pretty. It smelled and looked delicious as it was passed over to me. For a minute, I considered finding a place to eat in the park instead of walking back to my office. But, reason prevailed, and eating at my desk is better than balancing a potentially messy lunch on my knees. Who wants to wear arepa all day?

The churros were a little disappointing. Two inch segments of fried bread, liberally sprinkled with sugar, and a messy cup of dulce de leche.

The taste:
I’m a tad conflicted with the arepa. I found the corn cake to be very problematic. Too sweet, too dry, and not sturdy enough to maintain structural integrity once the pico de gallo soaked into it. I scraped the insides out (shredded chicken, pico and a little bit of cheese) and ate that on its own, and that was VERY tasty. The potatoes were good too, and were covered in the “juce” from the pico. That made the texture a little “off,” but it still tasted good. I did like that the amount of cheese used was moderate - it complemented the other ingredients very well.

As for the churros – there’s no conflict. I didn’t care for them. In the spirit of full disclosure, the last churro I ate was probably 25 years ago at the Orange Coutny Fair. I remember it being hot, sweet and cinnamony, and was one long piece of pastry. It was so yummy to my young palate that I gobbled it up while it was so hot that it burned all the way down my throat. This was a dish full of smaller pieces, and the coating seemed too thick. All I could taste was grease and sugar; there was nothing delicate about it at all. The dolce de leche didn’t improve the situation- gooey and too, too sweet. I paired it with a cup of strong coffee, which improved the experience a bit, but not enough. I still ended up pitching the dish while it was almost full.

The verdict:

The insides of the arepa were very well done, but completely overwhelmed by the corn cake and the churros were just made of no.

For the price, you can get a better food truck lunch. I spend $13 on lunch and dessert, and much of it was inedible, leaving me with a fairly expensive, fairly light lunch. I won’t be going back – though I should stress that if the components that were so troublesome for me wouldn’t trouble you, then you should try it.