Opening News
Indie restaurant in Addison serves incredibly yummy Venezuelan food
A Dallas food truck specializing in authentic Venezuelan food has graduated to brick and mortar: Big Yummy Venezuelan Restaurant, which first debuted in 2019, just opened in a more permanent location in a former Subway at 16246 Midway Rd. in Addison, where it's dishing up a late breakfast (9 am), plus lunch and dinner.
Founder Genesys Añez is a native of Venezuela, entrepreneur, and caterer who is serving amazing renditions of the food she grew up with.
Añez previously worked at The Cheesecake Factory; and her husband Alberto, who has gamely taken on front-of-the-house and management duties.
They're doing authentic, carefully-prepared dishes including arepas and empanadas, prepared with that ideal combination of homey-ness but also polish.
There are snacks, sandwiches, entrees, pastries, and sweet breads, and some noteworthy dishes you don't find around Dallas too often.
Arepas are a basic. Like extra-thick corn tortillas with a hollow center, these corn pockets get stuffed with fillings such as meats like shredded beef and pork, and cheese.
Tequeños are a breaded cheese stick, with an outer bread shell enclosing a center of melted queso blanco; it's a popular meal or snack in Venezuela. The dough is wrapped around a rectangle of cheese, then baked or more commonly fried.
Tequeyoyos are a delicious spinoff of tequeños which a filling that includes cheese, plantain, and a slice of ham, that presents more like a turnover than a stick.
Cachapas are like little pancakes, made from corn dough, a traditional dish that's popular at roadside stands in Venezuela.
Parillas are grilled meats; a parilla is the grill where you cook over an open fire. She does options such as Angus beef, offered as a meal, accompanied by fried or roasted arepa, cheese, cream, lettuce, and pico de gallo.
Cabimera, AKA a Latin corn bread sandwich, is when an arepa gets topped with meat, hard-boiled egg, and ham.
Patacón, a dish from the Venezuelan city of Maracaibo, is a sandwich in which the bread is replaced by plantains that have been pressed flat and fried. Fillings can include cheese, diced potato, and diced ham.
Empanadas come in versions both savory and sweet, and they also offer a selection of burgers, but they make them carne asada style, with diced grilled onions, American cheese, and a thick slab of queso blanco.
The restaurant is on the small side and very lunch-counter neat and clean. Service is sweet, although it definitely helps if you know a little Spanish or else know what you want ahead of time.
You order at the counter and get a beeper. There's a small store inside with Venezualan items you can browse while you wait.