Arepa’s Place
A bratwurst arepa? Oh, yes, a bratwurst arepa. Cuisine adapts to time and place, after all. So in addition to classic Venezuelan fillings, Arepanitas has one that tops brat slices with tomato and grated cheese. It is, as bratwurst tends to be, delicious.
Formerly a businessman in Caracas, Francisco Mohamed opened Arepanitas in downtown Waukesha in 2016. It’s now the Milwaukee area’s longest-operating Venezuelan restaurant.
Bratwurst arepa aside, Mohamed filled the menu with traditional dishes, from snacks to main dish to dessert. Pabellon criollo is one of the main dishes ($13.99, or $14.99 for pabellon a caballo, topped with fried eggs) — a generous portion of shredded beef served with black beans, fried ripe plantain, rice and an arepa.
There are cachapas, pancakes made from yellow cornmeal and thus much sweeter than arepas. They’re used for savory dishes, with fillings such as cheese ($7.99 or $8.99) and shredded chicken ($9.99).
Appetizers and snacks at Arepanitas were irresistible. I couldn’t eat just one of the bolitas — balls of corn dough fried until crunchy, either with cheese ($6.99) or a bit of fried pork rind ($7.99) at the center. They’re served with nata, the thick Venezuelan sour cream, and a touch of garlic sauce; it’s best to make liberal use of that dip.
Bolitas are rich — a bottle of Polar, the Venezuelan lager, would pair with them, or one of the Mexican lagers in stock. (Arepanitas has soft drinks, too, and some wines.)
And I’ll never pass up an opportunity to order french fries’ cousin, yuca frita ($6.99). Arepanitas cuts the cassava root thin so the sticks fry up crisp. They’re served here with picadillo salad, a salad of cooked vegetables such as green beans and corn in a creamy dressing over lettuce with tomato.
Arepanitas has quite a lineup of arepas, including brunch arepas served Saturdays and Sundays (a couple of scrambled-egg-filled arepas are served any time; the perico especial, at $7.99, is a tasty combination of scrambled eggs, tomato and breakfast sausage).
The version here of reina pepiada ($8.99) — the Venezuelan chicken-avocado salad sandwich so highly regarded that it has in its name — is ultracreamy and the palest shade of avocadogreen. Yes, Queen.
136 E. St. Paul Ave., Waukesha. (262) 309-6471. arepanitas.com
Hours: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m. Monday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. Call ahead for takeout or to reserve a table for up to four in the reduced-capacity dining room or on the three-table patio deck at the front of the restaurant. Pickup and payment are inside the restaurant. Delivery by UberEats. Parking available behind Arepanita’s.
Anytime Arepa
At Anytime Arepa, a food truck parked in the Zócalo Food Park on South Sixth Street, diners design their own arepas, choosing the meat, cheese, sauce and vegetables, if they like.
Leo Farfan, who owns Anytime Arepa with his wife, Maria Salas, likes a traditional combination of beef, black beans, plantains, garlic sauce and salty cheese — Anytime Arepa uses feta.
The food truck’s beef, the carne mechada, is seasoned with sofrito that uses sweet red pepper, onion and garlic; its pork, with a subtle orange note, is particularly distinctive and delicious.
“All these recipes are from our family,” Farfan said.
“The pork is our Christmas recipe,” he said. “It’s a very popular recipe I remember from my father-in-law, so we wanted to honor him.”
The couple emigrated with their two teenage sons two years ago from Venezuela’s Margarita Island, where they’d had a business “until it was not possible to go on,” Farfan said. “We left everything behind.”
They started Anytime Arepa last year, working at farmers markets and small events, as well as catering private events, and taking a slot as one of the rotating food trucks at Zócalo.
This year, Anytime Arepa became one of the full-time vendors at the food park.
Its arepas are $8, and customers choose whether they want beef, pork or chicken; cheddar, jack or feta cheese; black beans and plantains; and garlic, avocado or spicy salsa. On Sundays, an egg-and-bacon brunch arepa joins the menu. (I had brunch arepa with jack cheese and avocado salsa — a great start to the day.)
Besides that, diners can order “party snacks” of cheese torpedoes — tequeños, cheese sticks in tender pastry — and chicken- and beef-filled pastelitos, or little pastries (six pieces for $8 or 12 for $15).
At the food park, customers order and pay online through to minimize contact during the pandemic. Zócalo
The rumbera arepa at Arepa's Place in Brookfield Square stacks roast pork, cheese and avocado on the sandwich.
has distanced outdoor seating at picnic tables under sail cloths and umbrellas, and a walk-up window at its tavern for cocktails and beer.
At Zócalo Food Park, 636 S. Sixth St. On Facebook and Instagram.
Hours: Arepas served 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday (closed 2 to 5 p.m. Wednesdays). The truck will be opening Mondays and Tuesdays to sell empanadas only, made with the same glutenfree dough as its arepas. Ordering is through cashdrop.biz/arepa; customers also can scan a QR code at the truck’s menu board to bring up the order form on their smart phones.
One of my personal rules: When a sauce is offered with a food, always take it. That’s especially true for the house sauce at Arepa’s Place, tucked into the food court at Brookfield Square.
Minced onion makes this lightly creamy sauce with cilantro extra lively; the sauce is Yrvil Perez’s. He and Yelena Yustiz, who are from Barquisimeto in the Venezuelan state of Lara, opened their restaurant last summer.
That house sauce goes well with arepas but also menu items like tequeños ($6.49), the cheese sticks wrapped in pastry — a natural for this deep-friedmozzarella-stick-loving state.
Diners can choose from a half-dozen arepas, like the rumbera, a fine combination of roast pork, cheese and avocado slices ($7.49) or the pelua, shredded beef and shredded gouda ($7.49). Or they can come up with their own combinations.
The meats are held in juices to keep warm; eat those tasty arepas sooner rather than later, so the flatbread stays intact. Food court seating is open, and the sandwiches are highly portable for a summertime picnic nearby, of course.
For smaller bites, there are empanadas in corn dough; for something even larger than the hefty sandwiches, there are dishes such as sabana ($15.99), a small grilled strip steak with sausages, fried egg, grilled queso paisa (a firm, springy cheese) and a steaming-hot arepa, some bread to have with the meal.
The meal is complete with one of the Venezuelan soft drinks Arepa’s Place sells. One that it makes itself is papelon, lemonade made with piloncillo, the robustly flavored unrefined cane sugar.
In the food court at Brookfield Square, 95 N. Moorland Road, at the mall’s back entrance (entry has contactless sliding doors). (262) 327-1845. arepasplacewi. com
Hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Saturday, noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. Order ahead by phone and pay at the counter, or order at the counter. Delivery is through DoorDash, GrubHub and UberEats.
Carol Deptolla has been the dining critic since 2008. Like all Journal Sentinel reporters, she buys all meals, accepts no gifts and is independent of all establishments she covers, working only for our readers.
Contact her at carol.deptolla@jrn. com or (414) 224-2841, or through the Journal Sentinel Food & Home page on Facebook. Follow her on Twitter at @mkediner or Instagram at @mke_ diner.