Articles:
It was Bobby Flay who inspired this visit to Mil Jugos in Santa Ana. Actually, reporter Niyaz Pirani (king of deep-fried foods, remember?) was watching Food Networks Throwdown with Bobby Flay and the shows episode was on making arepas, Venezuelas beloved corncakes that are typically stuffed with cheese or meats.
So Niyaz rounded a few of us up for an arepas (ah-ray-pas) lunch. Mil Jugos has been on my unwieldy to try list for years but I kept forgetting. Which of course, turned out to be my huge loss as I have been missing out on the tastiest sandwiches all this time The arepas are essentially little discs of corn bread that are cooked on a griddle they make for perfect palm-sized sandwiches with a variety of fillings like shredded beef and chicken (pictured above) all for around $3 to $4 a pop. The pollo, likely the most commonly ordered arepa at Mil Jugos, was some of the juiciest and most flavorful shredded chicken Ive had.
The Carne Desmechada (shown on the first photo, bottom right) came stuffed with shredded beef cooked in garlic, tomatoes, onions and red bell pepper. My personal favorite after the chicken is the Pabellon, which came with shredded beef, black beans, grated white cheese and plantains (make sure to specify you want plantains added), which provided a winning hit of savory and tangy. I think the Pabellon made Niyazs eyes roll to the back of his head. In case youre wondering how many arepas it takes to satisfy your hunger, the answer is two, my friends. **Update: Just went there for the third time: If youre a fan of potato salad, do yourself a favor and get the Reina Pepeada, which comes packed with a scoop of creamy chicken potato salad with avocado.
Designed by Geoffrey Oropeza
