El Cocotero (Spanish for “The Coconut”) is easy to miss if you’re walking down West 18th Street. From the outside, the restaurant is non-descript. Inside, it’s blue and yellow colored walls, palm trees and a large Venezuelan flag. Latin pop music plays and lots of Spanish is heard being spoken.

This is a casual, local’s place, but people travel from all over the city for the Patacón Maracucho, one of the few places in New York to get it and especially in a sit-down restaurant. It’s a pocket made with crispy green plantains and filled with a full variety of choices. The Reina Pepiada is one of the most popular and a classic dish in Venezuela: a combination of shredded chicken, avocado, and cilantro.

El Cocotero’s menu is very typical Venezuelan cuisine with a nod to roadside food. Arepas (baked corn flour pocket sandwiches), Empanadas (white corn turnovers), and Especialidades de la Casa like roasted pork and hallaca (corn tamal).

This is one of the few restaurants that serves Chivo En Coco, young goat stewed in red and green pepper coconut sauce served with rice, black beans, and green plantains. An enormous helping, though a tad chewy, the rich dark meat is covered in a rich almost mole-like red and green pepper sauce. They also serve Baby shark empanadas. The shark has an almost meat-like consistency and the empanadas are light and crispy. Less pastry and more savory.

For dessert, classic Torta Tres Leches (three milk cake), which is a cake soaked in three kinds of milk: evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream. The result is a dessert that is very moist, rich with an almost caramel flavor.

Owner Luis Quintero moved to the states from Venezuela in 1985 and first worked as a dishwasher in an Italian restaurant in midtown. One week into scrubbing pots, the boss recognized his cooking potential and put him behind a stove. From that day on, it was his dream to open an authentic Venezuelan restaurant. In 2004, that dream was realized.

Luis had always kept two residences, one in New York and the other in Mariara, Venezuela. But when Hugo Chavez came into power, Luis sold the Venezuelan house and used the money to open El Cocotero.

The atmosphere is very laid back, almost tropical. They do serve beer and wine, but don’t over look the Jugos Frescos, which range from watermelon to tamarind to mango.

Recommendations

Luis Quintero’s recommendations for Venezuelan drinks and where to eat Latin American food.