The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Arepa Grill to add location
Second spot coming soon for fast-casual Venezuelan eatery.
A few weeks ago, a reader tipped me off to Arepa Grill, a Venezuelan fast-food stall inside Plaza Fiesta on Buford Highway. It took a couple of visits — and looping through the maze of shops and kiosks to locate it at the rear, near the kiddie playground — before I finally got my hands on their in-demand arepas.
On my first visit, I arrived too late on a Sunday, and they’d sold out of the fried corn cakes, slit and stuffed with all manner of protein.
“Sundays are crazy,” co-owner Claudia Cardenas later told me in her native Spanish, when we spoke on the phone.
The following Sunday, I beat the rush, and arrived when the doors unlocked at 10:30 a.m. I came away with four of these hot pockets: the highly recommended reyna pepiada, filled with shredded chicken, creamy avocado and mayo; the pabellon, with shredded beef, black beans, plantains and cheese; the perico, whose filling of scrambled egg whites, tomato and grilled onions makes this handheld a fine changeup in place of a breakfast biscuit; and the black vegan arepa, with black beans, sweet plantains and avocado.
Cardenas couldn’t be happier with the positive reception for the spot that she launched in the fall of 2019 with husband Pedro. After all, the couple waited 10 years to bring Arepa Grill to fruition. They own La Norteña Restaurant, a taquería
that also is inside Plaza Fiesta, and which they purchased in 2009. But, it always had been her goal to open a Venezuelan restaurant that paid homage to their native country. The catch: They didn’t think there was enough of an audience in Atlanta; it’s only been in the past four or five years that a sizable number of Venezuelans have moved to the area, Pedro said.
What excites them, though, is that the clientele isn’t limited to Venezuelans hungry for a taste of home in the form of arepas, pastelitos (a roundshaped cousin to empanadas) or tequeños (fried cheese sticks made with a soft, white cheese known as queso de mano — order the ones that come with a touch of sweet guava). A diverse crowd has discovered the casual Venezuelan fare coming out of the tiny kitchen, and they’ve learned to chase it down with a chicha (a rice-based drink reminiscent of horchata, but thicker), a can of bubbly Frescolita (which tastes like red cream soda), or a bottle of the malt beverage Maltín, made with real cane sugar.
“We are thankful that we’ve been so well-received by the community,” Claudia said.
Considering the large role corn plays in Venezuelan cuisine, the Cardenas attribute some of their success to the increased interest in glutenfree eating. But, there are other reasons, like the walkup window that enables them to open a half-hour before the mall itself, and take midmorning orders from taxi drivers. There also are the four umbrella tables on the patio for al fresco dining, a plum feature for a restaurant during a pandemic.
Business has been so encouraging that the Cardenas are opening a second Arepa Grill location at 5302 Buford Highway, next to popular taqueria El Rey del Taco. Slated to debut in early June, the sister restaurant will have a dining room seating more than three dozen, and a menu that includes not only Venezuelan fast-food favorites, but also homestyle preparations, and a bar serving beer and wine.
Once it is up and running, weekend specials will spotlight the global influences on Venezuelan cuisine, including Italian, Spanish and Arabic.
If Sundays are a “locura” at the Plaza Fiesta location, get ready for the same sort of crazy weekends a couple of miles down the road.