Guasaca in Morrisville is another one of the new kids on the block in that row of eateries at Rise Drive on Chapel Hill Road.

It is in good company with a whole batch of other restaurants set up to feed the complex and also the local triangle crowd. Fellow traders include Charlie Graingers,  Jasmin Mediterranean Bistro, and Famous Toastery

I already wrote about Charlie Graingers,which is about 100 yards away; check out this “Charlie Graingers – Hot Dog’s, Brisket and BBQ, plus a lot of house made chili slathered all over the place!”

Today though I want you to go to Arepa heaven and think about Guasaca

They say on their website that “We based our food on Venezuelan cuisine, while embracing some of the wonderful elements of American cuisine.”

Inside to be honest it is a little bit like the subway / chipotle concept where you stand in line waiting to choose the fillings for your arepa from the pots of stuff sitting on the counter.

Everytime I go in they have a pretty long line, so they must be doing something right to keep the customer hanging on for their food.

I am not that patient though so if its a bit too long I just jog on to the next place.

Today though I didn’t otherwise there would be no blog post and I would have an empty belly.

They do have a play list of favoured combinations to select from and it was from that set list that I made my choices. After all the man must have a plan so lets stick with the Guasaca Arepas program!

Basically an Arepa is a sandwich made from Maize in a kind of griddle ‘corn cake’. It is quite a thick sandwich but actually a pretty light bite.

I was really happy with the sound of all of their signature arepas combos, but even with gluttony on my side, the reality was, and is that it is even a stretch to consider ordering more than one.

I ordered two 🙂

First Up for the Chomp:

Avocado Chicken Arepa

My first choice from the Signature Arepa menu at Guasaca was the Avocado Chicken. This was a quite simple filling of “Oven Roasted Chicken & Avocado all mixed together in House sauce”.

The chap behind the counter asked if I wanted more stuff adding into the Arepa but I declined saying I just wanted to try it as they recommended (he looked surprised).

Thinking about it though why have a ‘Signature’ prefix if you are not sure that it is perfect just as you make it? Lets see I bought one anyway 🙂

I loved the flavour of the Avocado Chicken Arepa, It was basically a lot of chicken mixed up with smashed avocado, cilantro, and probably a little bit of green chili?

It was nice but there was not a lot of texture in there which to be honest was a bit on the one note and boring side as suggested it might be by the server. Maybe I should have listened? 😦

I am kind of thinking that some crispy bacon would have sealed the deal 🙂

Second up for a scoffing;

Mechada – Shredded Beef

The Mechada arepa combo at Guasaca is one stuffed with “Shredded beef, Black beans, Pico de Gallo, White Cheese & Red Sauce (Spicy)”

Now this combination was a lot more interesting and tasty than the Avocado chicken one was. There really was a lot going on inside this sandwich both flavor wise and texturally

I really liked that there was a lot of that shredded beef, a I also loved all that melted molten cheese too. The sauce was spicy, but not crazy spicy and the beans and the Pico de Gallo kind of eased things off in my mouth anyway so that we all had a harmonious lunchtime bite scoffing down this baby.

I really quite like this whole stuffed Arepa thing! It is a little bit different and just like the stuff I can get on the street food markets when I am lucky.

I could easily sample my way through the menu and back again, and then start building my own combo’s.

At the moment if I was to bring one street food back with me over the pond to blighty, I reckon Arepas would be a great call! 🙂

This place is well worth a visit, and if not a possible stop off, just look out for the Arepa on the Street wherever you are!

Guasaca is Located at