.Best CornbreadAn end to the cornbread wars?

Aficionados of cornbread are typically beholden to one and only one style: sweet, spicy, or plain. Once you have committed to a particular type, there is no crossing over. Devotees of the unadorned type consider themselves to be the only true believers; spicy fans think they’re much hipper than either of the other two camps; and those who prefer sweet know they are universally disdained (yet don’t particularly care). But let us celebrate a way to cornbread détente: the trans-Brazil stylings of Café de la Paz. This “Gourmet Ghetto” restaurant’s cornbread can truly be all things to all cornbread lovers: forthright corniness via fresh corn kernels, a hint of heat courtesy of jalapeño shards, and just enough sweetness to make the palate yearn for more. Sit near the kitchen for weekend brunch and you can watch the chefs pulling pans of this buttermilk and cornmeal concoction out from their ovens and scoring it into cubes to be delivered to your table piping hot and crunchy along the edges. For the more advanced palate, try the cafe’s popular cachapas de jojoto, Venezuelan corn pancakes embellished with a red chile crema and a pleasing mound of queso fresco. ¡Excelente!