"Latin American Fusion" family restaurant is how Summersville's Original Flavor Bistro bills itself, with influences from Puerto Rico, Cuba, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela and more.



That is a lot of ground to cover - and the expansive menu reflects that: Arepas, cachapas, street food sandwiches, Polish sausages, mofongo, yucca, plantains, and a whole host of entrees that include churrasco steak, pork chicharron, fried swordfish and more.



I tried an empanada platter, which had 5 one-inch half-moon fried corn pastry stuffed with one of each: shredded roast beef, cheese, chicken, black bean and pork. These were also served with 5 different sauces: Rose Sauce (mayo-ketchup), Garlic Sauce, Chimichurri Sauce, Guadacaca Sauce (avocado), and Aji Spicy Sauce. I absolutely love the variety here, but they were a bit too oily for me, which was the overwhelming flavor.



We also tried a cachapa with cheese, which is a sweet cornmeal pancake cooked in butter and filled with white melted oaxaca cheese. I enjoy the touch of sweetness here and would love a flash of freshness, too.



Also had a Reina Pepiada, which is an arepa with pulled chicken, mayonnaise, and avocado. This is a savory cornmeal pocket and the pulled chicken is a cold chicken salad. That surprised me, because I was thinking a hot pulled chicken sandwich. But, not bad.



Patacones Sampler - 4 fried plantain green topped with 1 chicken, 1 pork, 1 beef and 1 shrimp, topped with coleslaw. This was fun, too, because it was a nice sampling of so many different flavors. All of which are good. The crispiness loses some crisp when the ingredients are piled on, but maybe I just n eed to e aat more quickly next time.



Grade: B

Elkins is such a cool little town. They have a neat little arts scene, a nice brewery and some great restaurants. El Gran Sabor is an authentic Venezuelan restaurant. Elkins, West Virginia, has authentic Venezuelan food? Yep. The short version: Derdlim Masten (head chef and co-owner) came to the United States from Venezuelan to visit her cousin. She fell in love with the town, met her husband and opened the restaurant.

And we, the people of West Virginia, are so benefitting. The restaurant was pretty busy (a good sign!), so we sat outside to wait until a table was ready. I talked with some other folks who were waiting about their favorite dishes. The "cachapa" was the crowd favorite. After a 20-minute wait or so, we were seated and looked over the menu.

And there it was - the cachapa. The menu says it's their most popular dish. You can get a veggie cachapa, a surf 'n turf cachapa, a beef cachapa, a chicken cachapa, a cheese cachapa, a pork cachapa, or a ham and cheese cachapa. It comes with a choice of latin rice and black beans and choice of soup or salad.

I ordered a pork cachapa with their shrimp squash soup. At first, I wasn't super impressed with this soup. But as I tried it more, I was able to detect some more rich flavors - almost reminded me of a curry. But pretty good.

And the cachapa was excellent. It was tender, flavorful pork encased in a sweet corn pancake. The salty and sweet combo was so, so good. Plus there were two sauces - one that was like an herb dipping sauce and the other I loved but can't remember what it was (this is what happens when I'm so behind on posts; I started to forget). This was DELICIOUS, though. The beans and rice were meh, but the cachapa had a perfect balance of flavors. Plus the sauce was like the find touch to help it all come together.

Between the cool vibe and excellent food, this was one of the better restaurants I've had in quite some time. Even if it did start out with a bit of a wait.

Grade: A