Welcome to the amazing world of arepas, Colombian, and Venezuelan stuffed corn cake with lots of goodies on the inside. You can try these at our favorite new restaurant Arepas Pues in Down Town Silver Spring, just 10 min walk from Red Line Metro Stop. Since we are always hungry, we tried all of their arepas for you, and we took 1 or 10 for the team. From super friendly stuffed, delicious food and spicy sauce, this is a must-try place. Or the first visit wasn’t just about the food, and our server was so beautiful that we hungry for more than food. Sadly we haven’t seen him since. :'( Back to the food! The arepas are a popular dish from Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, and Ecuador. This type of dish originated from two indigenous tribes in western Venezuela known as Timoto and Cuica. You can order your tortilla either baked, grilled, or fried.
This restaurant quickly became one of our new favorite places that we have visited several times to compile the full list of all Arepas. It’s not hard to do when each arepa only cost $7. The restaurant actually has a full menu with lots of other dishes, but we never desire to try them. We are here for Arepas nomnom! Maybe also hoping to see the hot water again ;). Located near Sushi Jin (reviews) which a very popular sushi restaurant in Down Town Silver Spring. There is always a line, but fear not, we’ve never had to wait for a table.
#1 Reina Pepiada (5 NOMs)
Oh, yea, who doesn’t like some big chunks of chicken, avocado, and mystery sauce! Together with corn tortillas, they make for a great and filling nomnom. You get to enjoy the ingredients’ full flavor because everything is cut into large portions and not heavy on the sauce. Just for extra flavor or kick, you need to try their special sauces.
#3 La Pelua (4 NOMs)
An order for a hungry meat lover! It’s all about that shredded beef here as the main ingredient with some cheese. We sure love the meat, but also love more things. It left us wanting some sweet plantain, avocado, or some other great toppings they have.
#4 La Catira (4 NOMs)
Don’t melt the cheese. Now that’s the motto of this place as many arepas cheese is cold. At first, we thought it was a bit weird since it’s a hot dish, but don’t knock it until you try it. You really get this sharp cheese flavor combined with grilled chicken breast and sauce together. We are fans of the sauce as there was a lot of it, yet it wasn’t overpowering. Little advice, take some cheese out and add it as you eat, so there always some in every bite.
#5 Perico (4 NOMs)
Breakfast arepa is a breakfast of champions for lunch and dinner. Now, this egg lover’s tummy is super excited—lots of eggs, spices, onions, peppers, and tomatoes love the fact you can taste the eggy goodness in every bite. Goes great with grilled corn tortilla, spicy and mild sauce. Great dish, but not as flavor punching as other Arepas. Still, we enjoyed it and would totally order this again.
#6 La de Pernil (5 NOMs)
Pork pork pork! La de Pernil quickly became one of our favorite orders because of all that pork shoulder goodness. It was so flavourful and tender that you might orgasm in your mouth. Seasoned to perfection and combined with their special sauce, this makes for one great nomnom in every bite. The large raw tomatoes were kind of strange but didn’t take anything away from the dish. Only minor suggestion to maybe cut them not as thick. Worked great with their mild and spicy sauce. This is one of those dishes you might want to slow down and savor every bite.
#7 La Surenal (5 NOMs)
Forget just one meat. Go for two with grilled chicken and chorizo (pork sausage) with avocado and white cheese. One of our favorite arepa orders from this place. It’s the two meat combination with avocado that makes it so good. Definitely a must for chorizo lovers! It also one very beautiful Arepa that screams for you to eat it. Careful with adding more spicy sauce, chorizo has a nice kick to it already. Tip from us. This goes great with a bit of spicy sauce and some light sauce.
#8 La Vegetarian (3 NOMs)
There are arepas even for vegetarians here. After all, it would help if you always got your greens. It has way more toppings than the meat version with tomatoes, lettuce, onions, peppers, and avocado. Sadly no cheese, but hey, you can always add it for an extra cost. Not our favorite as their meats taste way better, but I think this is a solid and good nomnom.
#9 La Safrina (4 NOMs)
Similar and yet different, this dish taste kind of like the #4 La Catira, but this one has different sauce and avocado. Avocado always makes things better, and this was no exception. While it didn’t wow us since we tried something very similar, it’s a great way to enjoy more toppings without paying extra. Plus, with more sauce and avocado, it made for a more gooey arepa.
#10 Pabellon (4 NOMs)
We are making our way through their meaty things with Pabellon arepa, shredded beef with large slices of sweet plantain. Plantain combined with meat always tastes great. It’s all about that different flavor combination. One of the more heavy dishes since they pile all that meat on top. Oh, My!!!
#11 La Rumbera (4 NOMs)
You know you love your meaty meats like the roasted pork shoulder in La Rumbera arepa. It may contain only two ingredients, but there is enough pork for two toppings. We are big fans of big meat 😉 Well seasoned and very tender, it makes for a great combination of cheddar cheese and spicy sauce. Like other versions, the cheese is not melted, which we actually like because you can truly taste it. Add some nice sauce, and enjoy it even more.
Build Your Own
You don’t have to order from the menu and instead can build your very own ultimate Arepa. With so many different toppings, you can come back and always create something new. Few toppings are not even included in the regular menu, like Ham, Bacon, Fried Pork Rings, and so much more. Especially since most include meat, we created a few fun vegetarian builds. It’s good to get your greens whenever you can.
Sweet Plantain (5 NOMs)
There is more than just cheese in there. Trust it. Even though it’s fully drowning in cheese, you can still taste the sweet plantain, avocado, and tofu. Together they make for a great flavor and texture combination. You get this nice savory and sweet flavor combination. Sadly on our recent trip, we found out that they no longer serving tofu.
Vegeterian (3 NOMs)
This our take on veggie. After all, it’s good to get your daily dose of greens. Even if they are inside a fried tortilla, the veggie toppings tasted very fresh and flavourful that even meat eater would enjoy.
8555 Fenton St Silver Spring, MD 20910