Shachi’s
c/o The New York Times
197 Havemeyer St
Brooklyn, NY 11211
view map
718.388.8884
Cuisine: Latin American
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★
Cards: Mastercard and Visa
Price: $$
Hours: Tue-Sun Noon-11pm; Closed Monday
Booze: Beer and Wine
Subway: J,M,Z to Marcy Ave.
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: Yes
The New York Times says:
The arepas at Shachis are the real deal: Mr. Rodriguez gently toasts these cornmeal cakes, giving the outsides a delicate, lacy crispness and warming the center through so they exude the comforting, familiar aroma of cooked cornmeal. Shachis offers an array of simply outfitted arepas — stuffed with chicken, beef, vegetables or chorizo, or, in the case of the “domino,” with black beans and cheese — but my favorites were the more involved creations. The reina pepiada arepa is a chicken salad sandwich that even someone who detests chicken salad could get behind: a mélange of mayo, pulled chicken and cooked potato, given a luxuriously creamy boost by a fan of ripe avocado slices. The pabellon arepa features the classic Venezuelan combination of braised and shredded beef, smoky black beans, caramelized sweet plantains and shredded queso blanco that brings it all together. At lunch, Shachis offers an arepa and a fresh juice for $7, or two arepas and a juice for $11. Add in the snacking value of slender, greaseless plantain chips and piquant salsa that come free with any meal, and that’s a deal worth hopping a J train for. But Shachis isn’t some one-snack pony. Venezuelan-style empanadas ($2) were fine specimens of the type. A side order of guacamole ($4) turned out to be freshly made and exceedingly well balanced, and came with tortilla chips that had just been fried and were salty, pleasingly pliant and a psychedelic blue. The roast chicken, served with vegetable fried rice and aioli, would please a picky Peruvian; the quality of the steak on the Argentine-style churrasco plate — grilled steak with yucca fries — left me wanting, but the chimichurri slathered over it almost made up for it. Mr. Rodriguez’s arroz con pollo — a paellalike dish that marries yellow rice, peppers, olives, peas, chorizo and tender chunks of chicken on the bone — is a fine trencherman’s repast, a dish you could eat for lunch and then plan on eating the rest of the day. The seafood paella is that and more: it takes the same building blocks and adds clams, shrimp, squid and lobster to the mix. Though the dish is offered in two sizes ($18.75 for one, $28.75 for two), the smaller one is enough to fill up two people, especially if those people have wisely partaken of some pre-paella arepas. The dining room at Shachis is simple and small, with seats for about 25 and a bar that seats four, and is boldly painted in the cheering colors of the Venezuelan flag: yellow, red and blue.
NY Mag says:
TAGS: Brunch (Weekends), Delivery, Fairly Cheap, Latin American, Recommended, Restaurants, South Williamsburg, Venezuelan, ★★★ GoodPainted in cheerful primary colors, perhaps as a ward against the bleakness outside—an unenviable spot under the on-ramp to the Williamsburg Bridge, and right next to a decrepit funeral home—Shachi’s proves that this block has more to offer than McDonald’s and fast-food tacos. True to the owner’s Venezuelan roots, the eatery’s specialty is arepas, the South American country’s answer to American hamburgers. Essentially a sandwich wherein the bread is a toasted cornmeal cake, Shachi’s arepas are uniformly excellent, with standouts including the reina pepiada, loaded with a rich chicken salad with chunks of potato and avocado; and the classic pabellon, shredded beef with beans and sweet plaintains. For larger entrées, Shachi’s avoids the usual Venezuelan emphasis on seafood, opting for meatier fare such as the churrasco, a marinated skirt steak topped with zesty chimichurri sauce. Space is at a premium, so it’s a good idea to try to nab a table before the flood of local young professionals flock here for a quick, cheap bite after work.
