We went to this Venezuelan restaurant in Chelsea –El Cocotero. I’ve never been in such a dark restaurant for lunch.
Sam and Chris ordered the Sampler Platter and an Arepas each. Those Arepas were a lot bigger than I expected. But probably makes sense since they were more around $9 each.
I ordered the La Bandeja Doña Barbara (grilled beef, Chicharrón crackling pork rind, fried egg, rice, red beans, sweet plantain, chorizo & avocado) for $23. Kind of expensive for a lunch. The Chorizo sausage was the best thing on there. The Chicharrón was mostly inedible.
Service was interesting. The waitress kept trying to take our order every few seconds, when we weren’t ready. Food came out all different times. Had some of the food and my beer taken away when we weren’t finished. All this rush when the place was pretty empty. By the end of our meal, the restaurant started to fill up and we tried to get our check. We had to ask three times and it took around thirty minutes. It’s funny. We felt like they were trying to rush us from the beginning, but then they didn’t want us to leave after we were done.
The restroom was cool. Had some water pipes in a window frame thing.
El Cocotero – 228 W 18th St (btwn 7th & 8th Ave) New York, NY 10011
