Yerba Buena Latin Grill

614.228.4830
Website
Facebook
Current location: Clintonville
4490 Indianola Ave
Clintonville (about five blocks south of Morse Road)
Sept 22nd 2011 update: Carlos says they will be open Noon to 8 pm Monday to Saturday and he said thanks Clintonville for all of the support. Hours will vary as the weather changes.

Yerba Buena is an offshoot of the popular Venezuelan restaurant El Arepazo located on N Pearl St in downtown Columbus. Interestingly, the roots of El Arepazo are in street food – their success in selling handmade arepas at the annual Latino Festival is what led to the restaurant in the first place. Now, six years later, they have a swanky new trailer offering a limited selection from the restaurant menu.

We caught up with them on their first day of operation (at the Earth Day celebration in Franklin Park) so I’m guessing the truck menu may expand over the summer. They plan to be at the major festivals this summer and are looking into weekday locations. For the moment the El Arepazo Facebook page is the best place for information.

We sampled the patacon – which was every bit as good as it is at the restaurant. A flattened and fried sweet plantain topped with your choice of beef, chicken or pork and then topped with lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, avocado and El Arepazo’s famous cilantro salsa. Not the most graceful street food to eat but worth the effort.

The fish tacos were equally satisfying: a flour tortilla with crisp breaded cod hidden under a mound of lettuce, corn, avocado, salsa and that fantastic cilantro sauce. Yerba Buena offers a selection of juices (and also Mexican Jarritos sodas) to wash down your food. I tried the ‘tomatoe tree’ juice (aka tamarillo or tomato de arbol), which has a slightly tangy, not too sweet and complex flavor.

Tags: el arepazo, fish tacos, patacon, plantains, venezuelan, Yerba Buena