Weekly Lunch Pick
Arepa Café
We stop by Queen West’s new Venezuelan sandwich shop to see if its arepas could be the new burrito By Andrew Brudz
Sweet and fresh: the cheese and plantain
dessert at Arepa
Image credit: Matthew Fox
The place: The two-month-old Queen West café (in Green Abbey’s old digs) oozes Venezuelan urbanity, with exposed brick, sleek white walls and patches of colorful, overblown pixels. Of all the traditional Venezuelan dishes on offer, most patrons order the eponymous arepas: cornbread patties filled with various meats and vegetables.
The crowd: On this snowy Tuesday afternoon, only a few cool young couples are eating in, but it is easy to imagine the place overtaken by hordes of hungry and parched Queen West shoppers come summer.
The deal: There’s an assortment of arepas ($6–$9) stuffed with such intriguing taste combinations as beef tenderloin with avocado and tomato ($9), chorizo and egg ($6.50), and pickled octopus with citrus marinade ($7). Expats and nostalgic travellers find joy in the selection of Venezuelan favourites, like pabellon (rice, beef and beans, $9.50–$10.50), tequeños (cheese-stuffed bread sticks, $4.50) and cachapas (corn pancakes, $8), along with salads, daily soups and desserts.
The dish: The adobo-roasted pork arepa ($6.50) with peppery annatto is a touch dry but helped out considerably by sweet caramelized onions; chayote coleslaw ($3) provides cool, crisp company. Plantains with queso fresco, pistachios and honey makes for a relatively guilt-free but satisfying dessert ($3). A few alfajors—small sandwich cookies with dulce de leche ($1.75)—for the road will appease office mates who couldn’t make it to lunch.
The time: A swift 35 minutes, from entrance to exit.
The cost: $17, including a sweet-tart sugar cane lemonade ($1.75), tax and tip.
Arepa Café, 490 Queen St. W., 416-362-4111, arepacafe.blogspot.com.
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