I’ll admit that the first time I ever bought anything from the Pastelitos Papichy’s food truck — which has been located in the same plaza as LA Fitness and Five Guys Burgers & Fries south of County Line Rd. and west of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. in New Tampa for about two years — was a few months ago, when I first heard that owners Ruben Caridad and his son, Ruben, Jr., were opening their first brick-&-mortar location in the Grand Oaks Plaza at 26242 Wesley Chapel Blvd. in Lutz (photo below).
But now, I’m definitely a fan. And, considering that one of my daughters-in-law is from Venezuela, as are the Caridads, I probably should have tried Papichy’s sooner. The entire menu is a variety of fried Venezuelan items, from savory to more dessert-oriented. Open for a few weeks at our press time, the new location is the seventh Papichy’s for the Caridads, who also have their food trucks off Waters Ave. in Tampa and in Odessa (FL) and Orlando.
Since “Pastelitos” is part of the place’s full name, I first tried a guava and cheese pastelito, which was crispy and delicious, but be warned that the guava jelly is molten-hot, but worth it! A box of 25 assorted (there also are chicken, pizza, potato-&-cheese, ground and shredded beef varieties) mini-pastelitos is shown at the top of the page.
Since then, I also have sampled the mini-empanadas (available in many of the same savory varieties, as well as filled with ham & cheese, fish, black beans, bacon, seafood & more), as well as tequeños (cheese sticks) and my surprise favorite — the mandocas (cornmeal doughnuts shaped like teardrops). They’re all just so good.
I was so impressed that I brought 100 assorted Papichy’s treats to the Volunteer Day at the future home of Sgt. Quincy Lopez in Wesley Chapel and they were all quickly gobbled up. You definitely should try Papichy’s if you haven’t already!