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Attendance policies:
a) Three (3) no-shows without updating your RSVP (for standard meetups) and you will be banned from this meetup.
b) For any meetups in which food has been pre-ordered family-style, any no-shows may result in an immediate ban.
c) If you've RSVP'ed "YES" and changed your RSVP to "NO" within 3 hours before the event starts (Unless you have a REAL emergency), I will consider you as a "no-show".
Chicago is a wonderfully diverse city; each culture has its personality, language, customs, traditions, and cuisine. Each month we will explore various geographical regions by visiting restaurants deemed representative of the cuisines of those regions.
Each restaurant has been selected based on critical reviews, uniqueness, or Zagat or Michelin recommendations. Selections run the gamut from simple street food to 12-course meals fit for royalty. This means sometimes there will be dishes and dining practices that are very unfamiliar, but that's the fun of culinary exploration.
All meetups have been planned with the goal of enjoying a wonderful meal with wonderful company in mind. However, while meeting new people and reacquainting with old friends make the meal more enjoyable, the meal is, and always will be, the chief focus of each meetup. Please do not take up precious spots if you are not interested in the main attraction (like going to Garlic Fest if you don't like garlic in your food or a "meat-heavy" dinner and you're vegetarian).
If the presence of another member makes you uncomfortable, please let us know immediately so the offending member is removed and banned.
Banned members will not be reinstated. There is no period after which a banned member can re-apply to join.
Anyone who has been banned or has had their membership revoked and attempts to attend an event either by attending as another member's guest or without a proper RSVP may be asked to sit elsewhere if the event is held at a public venue or asked to leave if the meetup is a private event.
For more meetups, be sure to check out our sister groups: Chicagoland Culinary Explorers and Adventurous Eating. Chicagoland Culinary Explorers focuses on casual and fine dining restaurants in and around Chicago, while Adventurous Eating focuses on unusual culinary experiences.
Click here to learn more about ISCChicago.
Let's explore authentic cuisines together!
Upcoming events (1)
See all- Venezuelan cuisine @ Rica Arepa - Lakeview (Patio)Rica Arepa | Venezuelan Restaurant, Chicago, IL$2.00
*NOTE: The $2 meetup fee is charged to pay for fees charged by Meetup.com. Payment can be made via Cashapp/PayPal/Zelle - I will PM you payment details upon RSVP.*
*PLEASE BRING CASH - the restaurant can only accept 2 checks per table.*
*Rica Arepa is BYOB.*
Menu: https://www.ricaarepachicago.com/_files/ugd/f99177_db191f42e6ff4d029b3abb9ed49bd6c4.pdf
Patio Table for 12 at Rica Arepa, a Venezuelan restaurant in Lakeview. The restaurant has other locations in Hermosa and Dunning, and has been featured in Chicago Magazine and Block Club Chicago. From Block Club Chicago:
"Just a decade ago, María Uzcátegui and her husband, Kharim Rincón, were selling arepas out of a carefully packed blue cooler.
This fall, the couple opened their third restaurant.
“When we first started selling them, people didn’t know what arepas were. I would always open the cooler first so they could smell them,” Uzcátegui said with a laugh.
Uzcátegui and Rincón opened their latest Rica Arepa location in October at 7534 W. Addison St. in Dunning. They opened the first Rica Arepa in 2017 in Hermosa and the second in 2021 in Lakeview.
When the couple opened their first location, they were one of maybe two Venezuelan restaurants in Chicago, with the other one being BienMeSabe, Rincón said.
As Chicago’s Venezuelan population has grown in recent years, so has Rica Arepa’s reach.
“We’re building a brand, not just for ourselves, but for Venezuelans in Chicago,” Rincón said.
Over the past eight years, Rica Arepa has expanded its menu far beyond arepas.
Diners can find Venezuelan classics like the pabellon arepa, which features shredded beef, black beans, cheese and sweet plantains. Rica Arepa’s offerings also include tequeños, a fried cheese stick; and cachapas, a sweet corn pancake topped with ham and cheese.
The chain’s parilla mar y tierra features sirloin steak tips, chicken, chorizo, shrimp squid rings, mussels, lettuce, tomato and avocado served on a bed of fries, and traditional beverage options include the chicha venezolana, a rice milk drink."
