Amara Cafe: Hot Chocolate for the Soul.

There is a place we go when we want to treat ourselves, those treats that warm your heart like hot chocolate on a cold day.

It is Amara Café in Pasadena, here in California, a place created by Amara Barroeta and her husband when they came to live in the United States from their native Venezuela, after studying at UCLA.

Its concept is simple and wonderful, honoring the food and customs of Venezuela, from the already famous arepa to my favorites, the cachapas (a kind of corn pancake, sweet and with salty fillings that range from shredded beef to delicious Venezuelan white cheeses…or all that together, as I’ve enjoyed many times).

Their menu represents the variety of flavors of Venezuelan cuisine, where you can walk through the plains, the center and the west with a Pabellon Criollo (your choice of: Shredded Beef, stewed chicken, spicy shredded pork or vegetarian style with Avocado instead of meat, with platanos fritos topped with queso fresco, black beans, Basmati rice with corn & nata criolla on the side), try any variety of fillings for the arepa or cachapa, and even snack on churros with chocolate.

If there is a place that we go to as a family repeatedly, it is precisely Amara, for the food and for the careful attention of the team of these two entrepreneurs that we appreciate so much. They can also recommend what to try or what to take home from their selection of flavors to take away, (we suggest and almost forgot the famous tequeños, a kind of Venezuelan white cheese dumpling wrapped in flour dough that is baked or deep fried and is never absent from Venezuelan parties).