Guasaca....Have I Got an Arepa For You!

Sandwiches, I do so have a love hate relationship with them. Love them because like a slice of pizza they are the convergence of what can be the perfect bite of food with some type of bread, a meat, a cheese, a sauce and some veggies—-all in one bite that can be filling, fulfilling and maybe even flavorfully transcendent depending on what combinations one creates. Hate them because some places take them and try to turn them into grandiose things to seemingly justify charging well beyond $10 for something so quintessential to many peoples lunches (and sometimes dinner) because of the mere fact of their easy to make-ness and affordability. In this instance I am not going to stand upon my soapbox and rail against the destruction of our wallets in order to enjoy the humble sandwich as I have done so often over the years. Instead, as I give away the plot early, I have come to praise this version of a sandwich by way of South America that everyone should at least give a try.

I’m talking about an arepa which is essence is a sandwich but instead of boring old white bread, the fillings are enshrouded by ground maize formed into round shapes similar to a bun. Come to think of it, using one of these instead of a bun when you have a burger sounds kind of intriguing, someone needs to get on that! Now, I’ve had a number of iterations of these over the years and stumbled across them here in Durham on one of those food delivery sites that was pushing an order now get fee delivery thing and out of boredom and hunger, I scrolled through their choices and landed on Guasaca.

I think for me it was something different for change which prompted me to try them. A good enough reason for eating. Scrolling through the choices they have quite a fare number of set options, but what caught my eye was you could just customize them to suit whatever food mood you were in an that seemed like the better option as the pricing for these from $6-$7-ish was the same whether you got a standard choice or something you created on your own. Wanting to try as many variations as I could, this was the way to go.

You get to choose between white or yellow corn for the arepa part and then mix and match meats with toppings and also sauces. Wanting to hit all food groups I land and sea’d it to varying degrees and cheese.

tilapia arepa

This was a yellow corn arepa with seasoned tilapia, lettuce, salsa, cheese and a sour cream sauce. For the most part this was fine though the fish was slightly fishy and maybe cheese wasn’t the best choice to go with it. And the sour cream “sauce” was actually just sour cream. I think I might have liked it better if it was a piece of fried fish or something. I mean the fish here was cooked fine and all but, personal taste, not sure I liked how it was with arepa.

fried chicken arepa

Here is the crispy chicken with slaw and the red spicy sauce on white corn. Trust me, it was white corn, I think the coloring was off on my pic. What can I say, I do so like a fried chicken sandwich and this was pretty good. The red spicy sauce could have been kicked up a bit but overall I liked it.

pork arepa

This is the shredded pork on yellow corn with grilled onions, tomatoes, cheese and cilantro sauce. This was also a winner though, again, I probably should have ditched the cheese. You do get a lot but I think it would have been better without. The pork was tender and juicy and I did enjoy the cilantro sauce as it had a small bite to it which complimented but didn’t overwhelm the pork. Add in the sweetness from the corn, tomatoes and onions and this was a good combo choice.

Beyond my insistence on getting cheese on everything (it is like butter to me!) I have to say, considering they were delivery, everything held up well when it reached me. And just to make sure it wasn’t a one time thing, I have had them again since and they still held up. I went grilled steak, chicken and pork again since it was good the first….and good the second time. Too bad for me this place isn’t within walking distance to my hovel otherwise I’d probably be there at least once a week as, while they may look small, they are quite filling and make a good meal. AND ARE UNDER $10!! Which makes Guasaca a good place for an affordable lunch for those near I’m sure. Just as I’m sure I’ll get by there without a delivery service and enjoy the spoils of a good sandwich I won’t have to bitch about later! (unless I’m in one of those moods—who knows)