{"id":180025,"date":"2026-02-16T11:46:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T11:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/180025\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T11:46:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T11:46:07","slug":"best-venezuelan-and-colombian-spots-for-arepas-in-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/180025\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Venezuelan and Colombian spots for arepas in Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the streets of Cartagena, Colombia, cumbia musicians beat tambora drums and blow into flautas, women in red, yellow and blue ruffled dresses whisk by, and sweating food vendors push carts, their arepas sizzling.<\/p>\n

Among the music and striking color of Cartagena, my dad handed me my first arepa. Arepas are the most essential dish of Colombia and neighboring Venezuela, centered around South America\u2019s most treasured crop: corn.<\/p>\n

To prepare an arepa, corn kernels are ground into flour or pre-ground corn flour is used (often the iconic yellow bag of Venezuelan brand P.A.N.), and mixed with water and salt. The soft dough is then fried, grilled or baked into a pancake-like shape. The result is delightfully simple yet endlessly customizable.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy memory of arepas is eating them morning, afternoon and night,\u201d said Yesika Baker, owner of Chamo\u2019s Venezuelan Cuisine in Pasadena. \u201cIn Venezuela, the areperas are open 24\/7.\u201d<\/p>\n

The arepa has deep roots. Before Colombia and Venezuela came to be known as separate territories, they were unified by Indigenous groups with similar culinary traditions. When the Spanish first arrived in South America, Indigenous women were cooking corn cakes similar to the modern arepa, meaning the tradition likely goes back thousands of years, according to University of Venezuela anthropology professor Ocarina Castillo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Today, the arepa is popular in both countries. In Colombia, an arepa tends to be simple: topped with cheese by street vendors, filled with egg for a tasty breakfast or, most often, served as a side to a hearty meal. Some say the masa of a Colombian arepa tends on the thinner side as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up in Colombia, the arepa is like the Mexican\u2019s tortilla. Everything comes with an arepita,\u201d said Santiago Restrepo, owner of Sus Arepas in East L.A. \u201cVenezuelans, on the other hand, use it like a pita \u2014 stuffed. With Venezuelan-style arepas, you can really have fun with the fillings.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Venezuelan arepa \u201crellena\u201d or stuffed style, is one that you\u2019ll see dominate this list, with an experimental appeal that makes them a favorite for Angelenos. One of Venezuela\u2019s most popular arepas is the Reina Pepiada, which translates to \u201ccurvy queen\u201d and is typically filled with shredded chicken, avocado, cilantro and mayonnaise. According to Castillo, the name is in honor of a real beauty queen, Susana Duijm, the first Venezuelan to win Miss World in 1955.<\/p>\n

In Colombia and Venezuela, it\u2019s common to eat arepas at least once a day, especially at breakfast. But for a dish so essential to millions of people, for a long time, arepas were underrepresented in L.A.\u2019s food scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first moved to L.A. [in the \u201880s], you couldn\u2019t find arepas anywhere,\u201d Restrepo said. \u201cUp until 2020, I wouldn\u2019t have considered them a popular dish here. But just in the past few years, they\u2019ve exploded.\u201d<\/p>\n

Restrepo credits their meteoric rise to a photogenic appeal. If you\u2019re an avid consumer of food content online, then you\u2019ve likely seen the arepa rellena \u2014 after a typical wait time of 20 minutes, they come layered and overflowing with ingredients like shredded beef, stewed beans, melted cheese or plantains.<\/p>\n

\u201cA good arepa rellena is all in the fillings,\u201d said Mercedes Rojas, chef of the Arepa Stand, which pops up at local farmers markets on the weekends.<\/p>\n

From creative picks stuffed with mango and cheese to a Koreatown-inspired arepa with bulgogi and plenty of traditional options, this guide features nine standouts in L.A.\u2019s growing arepa scene.<\/p>\n

Although, for your sake, don\u2019t try to ask which country created the arepa, or who does it best. \u201cIt\u2019s a long fight, amiga,\u201d Baker said. \u201cFrom Venezuela or Colombia, we defend our arepas.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the streets of Cartagena, Colombia, cumbia musicians beat tambora drums and blow into flautas, women in red,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[85453,85458,85452,85456,85459,35078,8179,24746,48,52,51,85455,47,50,49,57446,1457,85457,9298,72,85454],"class_list":{"0":"post-180025","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-arepa","9":"tag-arepa-stand","10":"tag-arepas","11":"tag-black-bean","12":"tag-chainsaw","13":"tag-cheese","14":"tag-colombia","15":"tag-east-l-a","16":"tag-la","17":"tag-la-headlines","18":"tag-la-news","19":"tag-local-farmer-market","20":"tag-los-angeles","21":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","22":"tag-los-angeles-news","23":"tag-plantain","24":"tag-restaurant","25":"tag-shredded-chicken","26":"tag-venezuela","27":"tag-year","28":"tag-yesika-baker"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}