Other offerings include La Reina Pepiada with avocado chicken salad; La Tropical with sweet plantains, avocado, and Venezuelan cheeses; and La de Chicharrón, a fried arepa made with pork belly in the dough and filled with queso de mano.
Osorio’s favorite is La Carupanera, which features Venezuelan chorizo and morcilla, or blood sausage, topped with tomatoes and garlic-cilantro sauce.
The restaurant also serves gluten-free empanadas filled with beef, chicken, cheese, seafood, or cazón, which is marinated shark meat.
The restaurant is named for Carúpano, a small fishing town on Venezuela’s coast where Osorio’s grandmother grew up and operated an arepa restaurant, with her mother and aunts helping in the kitchen as children.
The restaurant was ultimately short-lived, but cooking remained central to the family.
Osorio said preparing Venezuelan food gives her a way to share that history with customers.
“When I cook for people, I am bringing with me the ways that my mother, aunts, and grandmother cooked for me when I was a child,” Osorio said. “I can give a part of my entire world to somebody.”