(oil sizzling)
(vibrant music)
- Maria, you guys might have the cutest patio
in all of Chicago.
- We wanted people to feel cozy in a Venezuelan ambience.
(vibrant music)
So we have an enclosed patio with heaters,
so in winter time they can still sit in there
and we have this side that people enjoy in summer.
- [Marley] You start eating arepas
as a child in Venezuela, right?
- [Maria] We made arepas since we were like two years old.
Even my baby, I have a baby
and he's eating arepas all ready.
My husband's studied culinary school
in our town in, Margarita, Venezuela.
He graduated and he started to work in restaurants.
So we moved to Miami.
Then we started to work in a Colombian restaurant
and he was handling the kitchen
and I was handling outside.
So we were like,
"Okay, I think we have some experience here."
Then we moved to Chicago.
Thank God, this city is like the magic city
and we started selling arepas on the street,
then we found this place
and we thought then maybe we have the experience to do it.
- So you're really living the American dream.
- Yeah, well, this is a dream for us.
(vibrant music)
- So we're going to do an arepa that has a beef protein,
but you guys offer arepas of all different flavors.
- We have vegan options, vegetarian options,
meat lover options.
and we also are gluten free.
- It's pretty rare you find a restaurant
where you could bring anybody
with any kind of dietary restriction
and there's something on the menu for them
but they can do it Rica Arepa.
- We're so proud of this achievement,
something that we worked hard
to be in this place right now.
- Should I meet Kharim?
And should we make some delicious arepas?
- Of course, yes.
Let's go to the kitchen.
- [Marley] Kharim, you look like you're ready to go.
You have all the ingredients laid out for arepas
so should we just get going?
- Yep.
We start with corn, the corn dough.
We gotta mix it with water and salt.
So we usually do it by hand
but here in the restaurant we do it with the KitchenAid.
In Venezuela, you can try a different kind of arepa
but I think this is the most traditional way.
Just plain, water, salt and the corn dough.
In every kitchen, you'll see a Venezuelan child
is learning how to make it an arepa.
You can make it on the flat grill or you can make a fried.
So I just learned how to fry them with my mom
but then I met my wife
and at her home they just make under a hot grill.
- And now at your restaurant, you offer both.
- We make like a big part of it.
We gotta make a perfect ball with both hands
and we start to make it flat.
And then you get a perfect arepa in your hands.
So you just have to put it on the flat grill,
takes about five minutes on each side.
This is how it's supposed to open
with enough space just to fill it up, okay?
- And today we're doing a traditional pabellon
and what goes in that.
- First we take the shred beef,
then we have the black beans,
we have cheese
and at last we put three super plantains.
- You have your arepa, I have my arepa
and you guys are BYOB so I brought my own wine.
Should we dig in?
I'm so excited to try.
- Sure, let's try it, okay, enjoy!
- It's such a nice salty, sweet combination
between the beef and the plantain flavor
and the arepa has that nice crispiness from the flat top.
It really, it's such an easy thing to eat.
- When somebody it's new, to the Venezuelan cuisine
they just ask and we just offer this thing
'cause a lot of people, I mean, multiple people love it.
- Really anybody could come in
and make any kind of arepa that they wanted
and if they didn't know what they wanted to order
they could just ask you
and you'd make something great.
- Exactly. Yeah.
We have like 20 different options.
(vibrant music)
We make everything from scratch
and every day we're trying to improve our recipes
and our items and our menu.
- I think what you're doing, you're doing well.
'cause this is delicious. - Cheers.
- I'll be here enjoying mine outside.
You enjoy yours there, on your beautiful patio
and hopefully soon we can share one together.
- Well, thank you so much.
It was a pleasure talking to you, okay.
Thank you, Kharim.
(vibrant music)
(logo whooshing)