Venezuelan Chamo Cuisine — Restaurant in Pasadena

I recently discovered this place when I saw a line out the door of people waiting for food while I was driving down Colorado. I decided to try it on a weekday instead to avoid the crowd and had a good experience here.

My fiance and I ordered several items: the tequeños, reina arepa, and carne molida empanada. The tequeños came out first. They had a crispy fried outer layer with a cheesy inner filling and came with two different dipping sauces. I absolutely loved these and couldn't resist eating almost two of them before the actual meal came. Writing about them now is making my mouth water. Next came the reina arepa which was like a chicken salad sandwich with avocado. This paired nicely with the other food since it wasn't fried and tasted lighter/healthier. I kind of wish it had some crunchy cucumber in it though! Last was the carne molida empanada. This was definitely the heaviest item we ordered and we were only able to take a few bites since we had filled up on the other dishes, but we definitely took this home to eat for lunch tomorrow. It had a very delicious ground beef inside and the outside was great in all its crispy goodness. It was super hot though so we had to open it up for it to cool down.

Since the sun was setting and it was a good temperature outside, we decided to eat in their outdoor seating area. A portion of Colorado street has been blocked off for restaurant dining and this is one of those portions. Since it was a Monday night, we were the only customers and enjoyed the place to ourselves. Staff and customers are both required to wear masks here. Ordering is done inside prior to sitting...

This was my first time having Venezuelan cuisine. The restaurant is colorful and has a nice atmosphere. I went with my boi, so we decided to split our dishes so we could get more variety. We ordered two arepas An Arepa is cornmeal slightly doughy on the inside disc that is cut in half to be filled various fillings, like a pita. I tried two kinds... Arepa Pabellon - Juicy shredded beef, sweet plantains, black beans and crumbled cheese in side an arepa. Definitivamente, mi favorito entre los dos. I think you'd like this one for sure! Arepa LLanera - flavorful Steak, sliced riped tomatoes and avocado, and white cheese. Its a solid choice, but the Pabellon is my recommendation. And empanada de queso - it was like an empanada except the shell wasn't much of a pie crust. It was the cornmeal dough stuffed with salty white cheese cheese and deep fired. It was really good. The outside was crisp and golden brown and the inside was soft and fluffy filled with that delicious cheese. A little small for the price, but still good.

The appetizer Tequeños de Queso - is a thicc salted white cheese stick wrapped in dough and fried to perfection. I really enjoyed these. I think you would like them too. It comes with two dipping sauces: a creamy green flavorful one and a creamy spicy red one ( not real spicy, but if you are sensitive to spicy stick to the green).

And we washed it all down with some Parchita, passion fruit juice.

Overall, we had a good experience at Chamos. It seems like it was a...

Chamo Venezuelan Cuisine was my first time trying Venezuelan food of any kind. There are not that many of these kinds of restaurants in LA, so I had to travel a bit to get to this place in Pasadena. I was quite impressed with their food. Their specialty there is the arepa, which you can get in many selections. I got the cochino frito arepa, which is like fried pork with tomato and avocado. This was a great choice. The pork tasted very good in this sandwich. I like how fresh it tasted, since everything there is fresh made. If you haven't had an arepa before, it's like a flatbread that tastes a little bit like a biscuit, but with more of a corn flavor. This is really some of the coolest new sandwiches to come to town, and could become a trending item if more of these arepa shops open.

I also got the carne molida empanada, which was also tasty. This empanada was big and had a crispiness to it that I don't taste in a typical Latin American empanada. The taquenos were also a standout. The dough had the perfect crispy texture with that amazing cheese filling inside. I feel like I can eat these all day.

This is a restaurant I would definitely recommend. I heard many Venezuelans drive far to eat at Chamo, which is a good sign. Everything tasted great, was fresh, and clean. There is also plenty of parking in the lot behind the building. I shot a Youtube video at Chamo, which you can see on my Youtube channel, Rockstar Eater. This review is looking...