La Nueva Arepera, Orlando

I bookended my trip to the airport (a gastro-copalypse of Vail and Denver that hit almost every Guy Fieri, Anthony Bourdain and Adam Richman recommendation and climaxed with me eating bulls balls at the Buckhorn - like a virgin, munched for the very first time) with a stop at this Venezuelan restaurant on Friday night. It is on 436 in between 50 and 408. It is a rectangular space that is mostly counter top (they have some seats up front). It seats about 40. It was about half full at 10pm. It is a plain, white walled space with the grills against the wall. I had an Arepas (white ground corn bun) stuffed with shrimp for $5. They gave me an ungodly amount of shrimp. I used most of it to make an extra sub with the next day's Subway tuna sub carcass that I ate the tuna out with chips. Subway should really consider selling a shrimp salad sub. The part of the Arepa I left "as is" tasted ok. A little bland with either the garlic are ultra hot sauce they served as a condiment. I grew some jalapenos a few years ago and made a salsa out of them when they turned red. Maybe this was what they use. Maybe it's habaneros? It's an ass burner. The shrimp looked like the ones you buy at the supermarket in one of those shrimp cocktail trays. Quantity versus quality. I also had a mixed Cachapas of shredded chicken and cheese for $8. I made the double mistake of not reading the menu thoroughly enough and getting two things I didn't really need on something I had never had. That made the price go from $3 to $8. A Cachapas seems to be a thick, sweet, yellow corn pancake. It came with the aforementioned shredded chicken and cheese. The chicken was fine. I didn't specify which of the four (white, yellow, guayanes and mano) cheeses I wanted, but, I received the one that looked and tasted like mozzarella. It was a huge slab. Too much for this dish or your bowels to process. I ate some of the plate "as is" and transferred most of the cheese to the Arepa to make a "Caracas" grilled cheese. That is purely from my imagination. I'm sure there was nothing named that until right now. Feel free to run with it. The Cachapas is good, but, the sweetness wears out its welcome fast. You definitely don't need it and an arepa. The restaurant was more than I expected. I expected just a few Arepas and maybe some grocery store items. They had a pretty extensive menu. The things I have already mentioned (with many iterations) plus breakfast plates, empanadas, empanadillas, soups, chicken cutlets, fried fish, steak, pork chops, sides and desserts. They are open 24 hours. Parking is limited. They speak English. The menu is in English. I have no problem with you trying this place out. The neighborhood is scary, but, the people inside are nice. Plus how many restaurants can you choose from that deliver a Venezuelan experience? It may be the only way many of us get to experience the culture.