Drive-ins and Dives

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Typico Venezuelan breakfast is more like extraordinaria! Valencia Luncheria–Norwalk, CT

Holy Frijoles and Chorizo Batman!

Typico, Not So Typical in CT!

Update: Michael Young has opened up Bodega Taco Bar in Fairfield.

Going to diners for breakfast is such a CT/Long Island kinda thing to do. It’s not to say that diners aren’t great, they are comforting, dependable, and just damn good. But, sometimes you have to branch out and try new things. So, we decided to add some spice to our breakfast by heading to Valencia Luncheria–one of our faves for lunch and dinner, good, down-home, Venezuelan. We walked in just in time to get a table, though it took quite a while for our waitress to take our order. It’s understandable, though, because it was just her taking orders and serving. When we got our meal we were dying of hunger and dove in, but not before taking some good pics. You know, that might be the hardest part of having OmNomCT: delaying our needs and gratifying our hunger just to get some good photos. We like to call it our “saying grace.” :)

Well, let’s get down to it. I ordered the Red Smitty tortilla wrap and it came out much like a burrito, but cut in half. Gooey cheese lined the inside of the tortilla, surrounding beautiful and smoky chorizo. You could taste that they had grilled the chorizo which gives even deeper flavors to the wrap. Throw in some chipotle for additional smokiness and my add-in of black beans and you’re almost there. The real star of the Red Smitty was the egg, though. It was light and fluffy and had such a fresh taste to it. Unable to resist one of my favorites, I asked for plantains on the side and they were fried very well and oh-so-sweet.

Our waitress also gave us a bowl of rice and beans out of confusion, but who are we to deny a challenge? I took that opportunity to try their two sauces: a hot and spicy chipotle sauce and a puréed cold vegetable sauce. The red sauce was smoky and had a really good heat behind it–definitely not subtle. The green (vegetable) sauce was chunky, but not too thick, and had lots of fresh flavor playing off the cilantro. Kristien went wild with these sauces in her dish (which she absolutely loved): the Typico Breakfast. In Costa Rica, they call this Tico Pinto. As she dug her way through the eggs, over easy, beans and rice, and plantains we talked about how much we missed being in Costa Rica and how much we loved the food. Valencia, though, took us back.

Platanos, Por Favor! For the Gringos, That’s Plantains

If you come here, you come here for the amazing food, the freshly made juices, and the authenticity. It’s one of the best dives in Fairfield County for sure. Service might be slow, but if you can get past that, you’ll keep coming back. Also, coming in at just $20, this was a pretty damn cheap meal. It’s also BYOB, so bring $5 for a bottle ($10 for 2 or more) with a nice deep South American red to go with the food here. Jennifer Young (her husband Michael is the chef extraordinaire here) explained, also, that there is no fee for bringing in your cerveza! You hear that Food Plus Beer? Just remember, cash only! Oh, and hey, guess what? Guy Fieri was here!