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Time Out Market New York gets a new arepa spot this week
A new arepa spot is now open in Brooklyn after getting its start as a moveable feast with family techniques. The Maiz Project, which began as a pop-up operation, now has a brick-and-mortar outpost at Time Out Market New York.
“We cook everything like our grandmothers did in Venezuela,” says chef Richard Ortega via email. That means that, for Ortega and his team, ingredients are of paramount importance.
“Our specialty is arepas,” says the chef and owner, who was raised in the Venezuelan countryside. “We prepare them using techniques that are practically forgotten in Venezuela. We bring corn from different farms in Mexico, using different types of corn depending on the season (red, yellow, blue), we grind and make fresh masa every morning.”
Those arepa varieties at the Dumbo food hall include steak with white cheese and chimichurri, chicken with avocado and muenster, shrimp with avocado and garlic butter and chorizo with Irish cheddar and salsa verde. Tequeños and ceviche are also on the permanent menu, and Ortega has plans for weekend specials featuring preparations with porchetta or vitello tonnato among his Brooklyn ambitions.
“We want to be able to make NYC fall in love with our arepas,” Ortega says, and “show them the true traditional way of how our grandmothers did it before industrialization with the arrival of pre-cooked flour.”
The Maiz Project is located at 55 Water Street in Brooklyn.
Famous Queens Cuban Restaurant, Rincón Criollo, To Close After Nearly A Half-Century
Family-run Cuban restaurant, Rincón Criollo, at Junction Blvd is shutting down operations after being open for nearly half a century.
The esteemed restaurant was first founded in the 50s when the Acosta Brothers opened a restaurant just north of Havana. Celebrities such as Beny More and Tony y Olga had frequented the restaurant before the brothers moved Rinón Criollo to 40-09 Junction Blvd in Queens in 1976.
Bringing traditional Cuban cuisine to the borough, Rincón Criollo quickly became a beloved neighborhood spot to get dishes like Rope Vieja, Picadillo, and Lechon Asado.
Current owners, Esther and Rudy Acosta, told The City that the restaurant’s closure is primarily a result of the pandemic. The restaurant was forced to do takeout, and the business “never fully recovered.”
Additionally, the threat of increasing rent pushed Esther and Rudy Acosta towards opening a new location on Long Island in Garden City. The new location is expected to open by mid-September, shared The City.
“We kept on going a little further, a little further,” Acosta said. “And we saw this beautiful location with parking, two floors, and we were able to buy it for a reasonable price, no more leasing.”
According to Rincón Criollo’s Instagram, the restaurant hosted its final brunch on Sunday. Apparently the restaurant’s last day will be Thursday, August 31st.
In other news: Shake Shack To Open Its First LES Location
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