Husband and wife duo Rosi Pazos and Alfredo Betancourt noticed a lack of Venezuelan food in the Lowcountry when they moved to Charleston from Miami two years ago. With nowhere offering flavors of home, the pair decided to share a taste of their culture’s cuisine by starting Venetown, a Venezuelan food truck.
They initially launched the business one year ago as an online market selling Venezuelan brand name products like Flaquito chocolate wafers, Maltín malt beverages and a popular soda called Fress Kolita. Customers can still purchase these items, but also get a hot home-cooked meal from Venetown’s food truck.
“We want to share the flavors of Venezuela with the community because it’s a completely different taste,” Betancourt said. “When we say we are from Venezuela, a lot of people equate it to Mexican food because it is the food people here know. When people get the opportunity to try our food, it’s awesome because they are exposed to new flavors.”
Customers especially enjoy the contrast of sweet and salty flavors, Betancourt said, which can be found throughout the menu, but singled out cachapas as a prime example of opposing flavors working in harmony.
Cachapas are a sweet corn pancake, often filled with queso de mano, a soft white Venezuelan cheese. When diners order cachapas, they can enjoy them with just cheese, or add proteins like pork belly, shredded beef or picanha (a Brazilian cut of beef similar to sirloin).
The most popular dish on the menu, however, is arepas (flat, round cornmeal cake). The food truck offers four flavors that change weekly.
“Each arepa has a nickname in Venezuela depending on how you prepare it,” Betancourt explained. “We prepare one called ‘llanera’ with grilled picanha, sea salt, and Venezuelan white cheese,” Betancourt said.
Other popular flavors include queso, cochino frito (pork belly), pelua (shredded beef) and catira (shredded chicken). The food truck also serves beef, chicken and cheese empanadas. If you’re looking for a smaller-sized snack, the family-owned business also offers mini empanadas.
Customers can choose from three different sauces to complement their meal: homemade cilantro and garlic, sweet corn and a spicy sauce.
Another popular menu item is tequenos, which are cheese sticks wrapped in dough and deep-fried. Betancourt explained that guava and cheese is an especially popular combination, but customers can also order plain cheese or cheese and plantain.
The sweet and salty goodness does not end there: Enter the golfeado.
“Golfeado is a popular Venezuelan dessert that looks like a cinnamon roll, but it’s more of a bread and it has cheese, but it’s also sweet,” Betancourt said. “Every bite is sweet and salty so it’s a little different,.”
Pazos and Betancourt want customers to feel like they are eating in the couple’s home, and they go to great lengths to source true Venezuelan ingredients. Every two weeks, Betancourt hops in his minivan for the 584-mile drive to Miami to stock up on ingredients that have not made an appearance in Charleston just yet.
“Hard work to have good results,” Bentancourt added.
The food truck owner noted that he is starting to see more Venezuelan products in local stores, but for now, he still makes the trip every two weeks.
If you want a taste of Venezuelan cuisine, head to Container Bar Tuesday through Thursday from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 1 p.m. to 11 p.m.
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