QUEENS — A Forest Hills restaurant wants its patrons to get a taste of Venezuelan Christmas.
TuArepa Pizza Cafe, which serves a unique combination of Italian and Venezuelan cuisine, kicked off the holiday season by introducing several Venezuelan Christmas delicacies to its menu, which will only be available till the end of the year, the owners said.
Among the treats are hallacas, Venezuela’s version of the tamale, which contains a mixture of pork and chicken stew served with olives and raisins folded into cornmeal and wrapped with banana leaves.
In Venezuela, according to Ysabel Chang, one of the restaurant owners, hallacas are typically served during Christmas and the restaurant will be selling them only until the end of the year.
“This delicious Christmas savory treat is one of my favorite holiday traditions," Chang said, adding that usually families gather to prepare hallacas together, a process which can take up to 12 hours, she said.
“For us it's like cooking turkey for Thanksgiving."
She also said that hallacas are part of what she called a traditional Venezuelan “Christmas plate," which also contains a piece of olive bread with bacon or ham (pan de jamon), hen salad, and a piece of roast pork (pernil).
Those who don’t like pork, Chang said, replace it with roast beef (asado negro) or a piece of turkey.
Hallacas at TuArepa Pizza Cafe cost $8 each (those who want to order 10 hallacas or more have to place their order a week in advance). The restaurant, at 100-22 67th Ave., also offers pan de jamon, pernil and asado negro.
