Welcome to the fantastic world of arepas, Colombian, and Venezuelan stuffed corncakes with lots of goodies on the inside. You can try these at our favorite new restaurant, Arepas Pues, in Downtown Silver Spring, just 10 10-minute walk from Red Line Metro Stop. Since we are always hungry, we tried all their arepas for you and took 1 or 10 for the team. This is a must-try place for super-friendly stuffed, delicious food and spicy sauce. The first visit wasn’t just about the food; our server was so beautiful that we were 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 dish originated from two indigenous tribes in western Venezuela, Timoto and Cuica. You can order your tortilla either baked, grilled, or fried.
This restaurant quickly became one of our new favorite places, and we have visited several times to compile the complete list of all Arepas. It’s not hard to do when each area only costs $7. The restaurant has a full menu with many other dishes, but we never want to try them. We are here for Arepas nomnom! Maybe I’m also hoping to see the hot water again ;). It is located near Sushi Jin (reviews), which is a very popular sushi restaurant in the town of Silver Spring. There is always a line, but fear not; we’ve never had to wait for a table.
#1 Reina Pepiada
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. You need to try their unique sauces just for extra flavor or kick.
#3 La Pelua
This is an order for a hungry meat lover! Shredded beef and cheese are the main ingredients here. We love the meat, but we also love other things. The order left us wanting some sweet plantain, avocado, or one of their other great toppings.
#4 La Catira
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 get this sharp cheese flavor, grilled chicken breast, and sauce. 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 is always some in every bite.
#5 Perico
Breakfast arepa is a breakfast of champions for lunch and dinner. This egg lover’s tummy is super excited—lots of eggs, spices, onions, peppers, and tomatoes. I love the fact you can taste the eggy goodness in every bite. Goes great with grilled corn tortilla and spicy and mild sauce. It is a great dish, but not as flavor-punching as other Arepas. Still, we enjoyed it and would like to order it again.
#6 La de Pernil
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 with their special sauce, this makes for one great nomnom in every bite. The extensive raw tomatoes were strange but didn’t remove anything from the dish. The only minor suggestion is to cut them, but maybe 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
Forget just one meat. Go for two with grilled chicken, chorizo (pork sausage), avocado, and white cheese—one of our favorite arepa orders from this place. The combination of the two meats with avocado makes it so good. A must for chorizo lovers! It also has one beautiful Arepa that screams for you to eat. Be careful when adding more spicy sauce; chorizo has a nice kick to it already. Tip from us. This goes great with a bit of tangy sauce and some light sauce.
#8 La Vegetarian
There are arepas even for vegetarians here. After all, it would help if you always had your greens. The vegetarian version has way more toppings than the meat version, which includes tomatoes, lettuce, onions, peppers, and avocado. Sadly, there is no cheese, but you can always add it for extra cost. It’s not our favorite, as their meats taste way better, but I think this is a solid and good nomnom.
#9 La Safrina
Similar and yet different, this dish tastes like the #4 La Catira, but this one has a different sauce and avocado. Avocado always makes things better, and this was no exception. While it didn’t wow us since we tried something similar, it’s a great way to enjoy more toppings without paying extra. Plus, more sauce and avocado made for a more gooey arepa.
#10 Pabellon
We go through their meaty things with pabellon arepa and shredded beef with large slices of sweet plantain. Plantain combined with meat always tastes excellent. It’s all about that different flavor combination. It’s one of the heavier dishes since they pile all that meat. Oh, My!!!
#11 La Rumbera
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 like because you can taste it. Add some nice sauce, and enjoy it even more.
Build Your Own
You don’t have to order from the menu; you can build your ultimate Arepa. With so many different toppings, you can come back and always create something new. Few toppings are included in the regular menu, like Ham, Bacon, Fried Pork Rings, and so much more. Since most items included meat, we created a few fun vegetarian builds. It’s good to get your greens whenever you can.
Sweet Plantain
There is more than just cheese in there. Trust it. Even though it’s 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, we discovered they no longer serve tofu on our recent trip.
Vegetarian
This is our take on veggies. After all, it’s good to get your daily dose of greens. Even inside a fried tortilla, the veggie toppings taste fresh and flavourful, and even meat eaters would enjoy them.
