Best Sandwiches in America 2019: Beef

Winner: Arepa Pabellón

Restaurant: Pica Pica Arepa Kitchen, San Francisco

Units: 1 

Price: $11

Food cost: $2

Creator: Adriana Lopez Vermut, proprietor

Ingredients: A grilled corn pocket stuffed with slow-cooked shredded beef, simmered with cilantro, garlic, cumin, bay leaf, leeks, bell peppers, onion and other spices, layered with black beans, fried sweet plantains and salty queso fresco with the restaurant’s signature Pica’Pun hot sauce (a family recipe).

What makes it special: Considered Venezuela’s national dish, the pabellón is typically served on a plate with rice, beans and plantains. It brings together flavors from the Caribbean, Spain and South America, which together represent Venezuela’s mestizaje roots. Here, however, the ingredients are stuffed into a grilled white corn arepa, which is a flat, round unleavened patty of maize that comes from indigenous tribes in the region. “I like to refer to this dish as Venezuela in a pocket,” Lopez Vermut said.

See all of the 2019 Best Sandwiches in America here >>