February 13, 2008

Isn’t It Amaize-ing?

Pica Pica Maize Kitchen Opens

You’re practically fluent in Spanish. You speak taco and burrito all the time.

Time to expand your vocabulario — and your appetite — to include arepa and cachapa at Pica Pica Maize Kitchen inside Napa’s new Oxbow Public Market.

The corn-centric fast food joint is one of the only places in Northern California where you’ll find authentic Venezuelan grub.

Lesson numero uno: choose an arepa (grilled corn flour flatbread) filled with chicken salad and creamy avocado or pabellon (shredded skirt steak with fried plantains and black bean paste). Numero dos: try a cachapa (sweet corn pancake) filled with salty queso blanco. Can’t decide? The maize’wich (grilled cheese on sweet cornbread) is a sabroso combo.

Advanced students add on tostones (fried plantains), yucca fries, or hearty homemade chupe. For extra credit, call your server “chamo” or “pana.”

Muy bien.

Pica Pica Maize Kitchen, 610 First Street, between McKinstry and Juarez Streets, Napa (707-251-3757 or picapicakitchen.com).