Venezuelan cuisine @ Rica Arepa - Lakeview (Patio)

*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."