By Carla Zanoni
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
INWOOD — Tacos trounced patacones in a culinary battle on Sherman Avenue, when a restaurant owner decided too many Venezuelan restaurants sell the popular plantain sandwiches throughout Upper Manhattan.
Just three months after opening the Venezuelan restaurant Hallacas, owner Miguel Acosta decided to change the restaurant and menu to serve Mexican food and appeal to a broader customer base as sales had been unimpressive since the restaurant opened in early December.
Junior’s Tacos: Tex-Mex Grill, his new venture located at 253 Sherman Avenue, started serving traditional Mexican fare such as tacos, burritos and chimichangas on Saturday, and has already been a great success, according to Acosta, who also owns Mimosa Cafe, a bar next door.
"The neighborhood has a lot of knowledge of Tex-Mex food," he said. "With the other food, there was too much explaining we had to do."
Some residents said they were disappointed to see the demise of the Venezuelan tequeños (tubular fried dough filled with cheese), sweet plantain-filled cheese or meat 'yoyos,' and corn dough with cheese or meat filling ('arepas'), which have made way for the food of Mexico.
But others said Venezuelan food, which is sold throughout Inwood and Washington Heights, may have reached its tipping point, and the area couldn’t support selling more patacones — the flattened fried green plantain patty sandwich stuffed with meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato and special sauce.
"Too many Cachapa spots uptown!" wrote Twitter user STACKTEAM.
