Viva Las Arepas a bright spot near the Naked City

Twenty years in Florida, dining at some of the best Cuban restaurants in the state, and never did I have a tostone as good as the ones I had at Viva Las Arepas.

In case you’re not familiar with them, tostones are sort of like refried green plantains. The plantains are fried, smooshed flat in a press with a shallow cup-like structure on one half, then fried again, resulting in a crispy, thickish patty. And the ones at Viva Las Arepas ($3) were what I have to think whoever originally created them had in mind. They were hot, golden crisp and free of grease, and best of all, they actually tasted like plantains, which is way, way more rare than you might think.

We couldn’t go to Viva Las Arepas, of course, without trying an arepa, a Venezuelan specialty that starts with a soft but crisply crusted pancake of cornmeal, folded around any of a wide variety of fillings. In our case, it was the Cachapas ($6), fresh corn with cheese, which had an appealing, sweet touch from the corn that played neatly off the earthier nature of the stretchy melted cheese, which was in abundance.

Viva Las Arepas smokes its meats with mesquite; you can see the wood stacked in a hallway and catch the lovely aroma in the air. We tried the shredded beef in an empanada ($3), which was different from a lot of empanadas in that it was made with corn flour, so it was not flaky like most but still delicate, and perfect with that smoky meat filling.

Fried plantains ($3) were perfect, the plantains — sweet and ripe in this case — gently browned until they caramelized. And black beans, served with white rice ($4), were seasoned just enough.

And let me point out that everything came out at the same time and all were hot and crisp, executed perfectly.

Viva Las Arepas is a counter-service place; you order and pay at the counter, and they call your number when the food is ready. The employees we encountered were friendly and helpful, and when we tried to clear our foam and paper servingware, a worker pitched in to help.

We also liked the decor. Viva Las Arepas was born in a booth in the parking lot at Dino’s and now is in a building just to the south, with a patio, lots of windows and walls painted in sunny oranges and yellows, adorned with equally bright, large color photos of the various dishes.

Coupled with the excellent food and rock-bottom prices (our dinner was $23), Viva Las Arepas is a bright spot in the shadow of the Naked City.

Las Vegas Review-Journal restaurant reviews are done anonymously at Review-Journal expense. Email Heidi Knapp Rinella at hrinella@reviewjournal.com. Find more of her stories at reviewjournal.com and bestoflasvegas.com, and follow @HKRinella on Twitter.