Northampton Neighbor Article: Primo's Venezuelan Street Food

This article first appeared in the June 2019 edition of the Northampton Neighbor:

Primo’s Venezuelan Street Food is the food truck located in the parking lot of Harvest Market.  The truck has been open for business for about two months, and I predict that the Venezuelan comfort food on offer will be very popular.

Owner Yohannattan (Jonathan) Toro came to this country from Venezuela three years ago and went to work at another food truck in the area.  He has learned from his experience and developed a set of Venezuelan recipes for his own venture.  He credits strong support from his family for making this business possible—his brother Alfredo is his partner, and he got ideas from his daughter Mariana and nephew Samuel.

What should you get if you’re going for the first time?  A very popular choice is one of the burgers.  They are made with the usual lettuce, tomato, and bacon, but become unique with the addition of Primo’s sauce, ketchup and mayo, ham, and a special white Venezuelan cheese.  A finisher that I particularly enjoy is the heaping handful of potato stix, included in all their sandwiches.  The regular burger is 5.5 ounces, and you can scale all the way up to the Vergataria Burger—a beef patty, chicken breast, fajita meat, and pork chop with bacon and all the fixings that weighs in at 24 ounces.  Better come hungry or split it four ways.

Chef Toro recommends the Og Pepito, a sandwich with a choice of protein (chicken, steak, pork chop), cole slaw, Primo’s Sauce, potato stix and cheese, topped with a fried egg on a sub bun.  It’s served open faced but the bread is substantial enough to pick it up.

One recommended side is the Pasteles Andinos, a crisply fried pastry filled with ground beef and rice.  The texture is marvelous, and the sauce gives it a great flavor.  Another is traditional Venezuelan arepas, kind of like an English muffin.

It’s worthwhile to be adventurous ordering a drink.  I’ve had a Frescolita, a South American canned soft drink that reminds me very much of San Antonio’s signature drink, Big Red.  But an even better one is the papelon con limon.  Made with lime juice and brown sugar, it’s a strong and refreshing accompaniment to the belly-satisfying food.

Chef Toro would like to expand and have more trucks, but he has no desire at this time to open a brick and mortar restaurant.  He likes the freedom of the food truck.  We’re fortunate to have this addition to the diversity of our local cuisine.