Arepa City Latin Eatery - Harrisburg

A few Fridays ago, Mary, Natalie and I went to Arepa City in Harrisburg - a quaint little restaurant serving Venezuelaian fare. We all tried an arepa (we had to since it's the eatery's namesake!) - a fried corn bun stuffed with various meats, veggies and sauces. There are 14 different arepas on the menu. I tried the reina pepiada which is a chicken salad with chunks of avocado. Mary had the pabellon - shredded beef, black beans, fried plantains and white cheese. Natalie tried the chorizo con papas - chorizo sausage and diced potatoes.

Reina pepiada

Pabellon

Chorizo con papas

As I showed before, we had the tostones. For only $2, trying these is an absolute must!

The chef - who cooks everthing from scratch and then serves his creations to the patrons - makes three mayonnaises to eat with your arepas and tostones. There is a garlic & carrot spicy sauce, a mojito mayo (my fave) and a guansacaca (Venezuelaian style mayo) made with cilantro, avacado, onion, salt, pepper and lime.

Each table gets a sqeeze bottle of each kind. Before each bite if my arepa, I made sure to add a big squirt of mayo! Oh I'm sure the calories added up at this lunch!

Arepa City also offers empanadas with various fillings and entrees such as steak, rice & beans and plantain rellenos. For dessert they have homemade flan (various flavors), pineapple upside down cake and cheesecake.

The atmosphere of the restaurant is very laid back with beige walls and few decorations. With soft salsa music playing in the background, the dining area had a light and airy feeling - a nice Latin vibe! There is also outdoor seating available.

We were there during the lunch hour and it was very crowded and there was only one waitress. We waited for a very long time for our food, but it was worth it! Later that evening I was at a bar across the street with some friends and we were hungry for an arepa (two in one day, you ask?! Oh yeah!) but they closed at 9:30, even though they advertise they stay opened until 2am on Friday and Saturday nights. I'm assuming they were short staffed or ran out of food.

I'm looking forward to visiting Arepa's soon... I'm sure it will be a nice alternative to a 2am slice of pizza!