A Fork On the Road: Caballo Viejo

One of the biggest sandwiches in Miami is served at the small Caballo Viejo Restaurant. The comfy space in Tropical Park Plaza is an ode to all things Venezuelan, with hearty portions of home-cooked food. Unlike most grab-and-go spots that serve Venezuelan snacks, it’s sit-down with tablecloths. The name is from a folk song about an old horse (‘‘caballo viejo”) that falls for a filly, suggesting that love knows no age. Owner Nilma Fernandez was the chief financial officer of a multinational company in Caracas but left in 1998 to join her older sister, Mardely, in Miami. She combined her passions for finance and food by buying the restaurant and enlisting family to help run it. Her husband, Gustavo Gonzalez, and sister-in-law Susana went to culinary school and run the kitchen. Mardely is the manager and Nilma does the books.

Breakfast is only served Saturday and Sunday, but it is worth waking up for the mixed plate of black beans and guyanes (soft, salty, white cheese), eggs and shredded beef with arepas (white corn cakes). Start lunch or dinner with triangles of deep-fried paisa (country-style) cheese, yuca sticks or plantain puffs, all served with guasacaca, the ubiquitous Venezuelan dip made from avocado, green pepper, hot chiles, cilantro, vinegar and oil.

Specialties include sancocho (chicken soup with tubers and vegetables), solomo a la parilla (grilled, thick-cut, top sirloin steak) and the aforementioned sandwich, the Patacon Maracucho — so big it has to be deconstructed to be eaten. Flattened slabs of twice-fried green plantain overflow with seasoned shredded beef, grated cheese, lettuce and tomato. It can also be had with pork or chicken.  Hallaca are corn tamales steamed in banana leaves with a mixture of chopped beef, chicken, pork, olives and raisins, served with chicken and potato salad. Asado negra is another signature dish with fork-tender slices of pot roast in a sauce of brown sugar, spices and Coca Cola. There’s also garlic shrimp, whole fried fish and pasticho (lasagne). Homemade coconut sponge cake with rum sauce and meringue is called bien me sabe, ‘‘Tastes good to me.” And it does.

This story was originally published August 18, 2010 at 9:08 PM.