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| - Their name is Sabor (for you gringos Sabor means flavor/taste in Spanish ) and my goodness does this place live up to their name. Their name should really be El Sabor Mas Rico y Perfecto en Todo El Mundo because this place is spot on when in comes to capturing the true sabor of Latin Street Food.
When you walk in you can tell this place is the real deal. Latin flavor fills the room. The boards are chocked full of Latin Street Food Favorites: Tacos, Arepas, Empanadas, Elote, etc. (I just named all my favorites). Thankfully, I came here on a Thursday at 4pm when the 3-5pm $1 Taco and Thursday's $6 arepa and empanada special were going on. On top of that, I had a Yelp check-in offer for free chips. Altogether I ended up ordering: the chicken arepa, beef empanada, Queso, chips and a Colombiana and it cost me under $10. Unfortunately, I had to make the tough decision to save the Elote and tacos for another time (tears, sniffles).
After collecting some delicious house made salsas off of their complementary, chilled salsa bar (I opted for the verde and spicy pineapple), I settled in to my chair with my super lofty expectations hovering above me.
(A little background here: In my family empanadas are serious business: my cousin and my cousin's wife's Mom (keep up with me here) have this unspoken competition around who makes the best empanadas/pastelitos. Every holiday/family gathering, they are hashing it out over the empanadas. Each of them goes around the room watching each person savor their first bite hoping to be professed the family champ (Which no one ever does because duh then we wouldn't get twice the empanadas every holiday. Whose going to stop that gravy train???) I LOVE empanadas. I could eat them everyday forever and never tire of them. I eat them EVERYWHERE I travel including abroad. I just thought you should have some context here.)
After about 7 minutes, my feast arrived in all of its glory and splendor. I took my necessary pictures (you're welcome) and dug in to the arepa first. This delectable masterpiece is stuffed to the gills with flavor. The meat was moist and juicy, the sauces and toppings melded perfectly and packed a punch without overwhelming the palette. The true star here was the arepa itself. It was flavorful, hot, perfectly crisp with the right amount of softness. It was heavenly. I couldn't stop eating it. I wanted to move on to everything else but I couldn't pull myself away even though I knew I was getting full!
When I was almost to the end, I moved on to the empanada. I bit in and while delicious but it wasn't beef it was chicken. I am super biased to beef empanadas so I had to let them know. They were super generous and let me keep the tasty chicken and made the beef fresh.
Wanting to save room for my beloved empanada, I decided to chill with the arepa and nosh on my chips and queso instead. I truly love chips and queso (despite queso's mostly American roots....honestly I just love melted American cheese, so shoot me). This dip was perfectly creamy and smooth and served piping hot. It was fabulous but the chips stole the show. Served warm, they were perfectly crispy but not greasy or over cooked and tossed in house seasoning.
After 3/4 of the arepa, chips, Queso plus some of my Colombiana and a ton of water, I knew I was nearing my belly's end but I couldn't leave without tasting my beef empanada. Sure enough it came out right on time (cue angelic music). This one was even more beautiful than the last. A bit browner with the light sheen of warm oil still enveloping it, she was a sight to behold (sorry no picture...I was in a state of complete euphoria by this time).
I took a deep breath and bit in and fireworks started to explode. The crispy pastry shell lead the way followed by the piping hot and flavorful ground beef and cheese filling, and laden with authentic flavor. It was truly outstanding. I was completely blown away. Definitely the best pastelito I've ever had (given my author's note this is no small claim). It was perfectly fried, stuffed AND seasoned and (yes my Latinos) greasy juice was coming out of the bottom!!! I normally get three of the above criteria met...but all, almost never, only here at Sabor.
After reveling in the glory of my my first truly great Yelp! find here in Charlotte and literally prying the empanada from my own hands, I decided to take the rest of my feast in a doggy bag that could easily last me a day and a half!!!
I always know when I've truly had a first rate experience because I'm beaming. I always tell the staff about it and then I have to relive every detail for my fellow Yelpers! (Ok, Ok for myself too!)
This place gets my official stamp of approval. So YOU, (si, tú) looking at this review and still wondering if it would be worth it, put down the phone, get in the car and drive on two wheels, ehem, I mean very safely and cautiously to get some of this Sabor Latino!!
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