If you've been to Second Street Market, you were already excited by the title, weren't you?
Arepas Opens in Kettering
If you’ve been to Second Street Market, you were already excited by the title, weren’t you?
Arepas & Co. set up shop downtown a few years ago with the idea of bringing Colombian street food to Dayton. With simple recipes and a variety of dishes you can only find in a few other spots in town, this spot has built a following among Dayton’s hippest foodies, and now it’s set its sights on a new location in the suburbs.
What’s an arepa, you ask? Actually, it’s sort of like a sandwich. Arepas uses a choclo (Peruvian corn)-based tortilla filled with meat, cheese and veggies; I preferred the pork, with some black beans, a crumbly queso, and sauce. It’s a convenient finger food and the ingredients are relatively healthy, too, making it a chance to grab something you’ve never tried before and really get to enjoy it.
While I was there, I couldn’t resist…I grabbed some fried plantains, too. Those, of course, are a kind of savory banana often eaten in Cuba and around the Caribbean, topped with just a little bit of salt and, to offset the sweetness, a light sauce made of pineapple. It’s an unusual side dish, indeed!
Latin American cuisine has many familiar ingredients but the end results are very different, the fried plantains (patacones) can be the basis of a dish with meat, beans and cheese. There are also empanadas, the familiar fritters, which make a savory meal, too.
While it’s located in a long-challenging spot at 1122 E. Dorothy Lane that has seen a lot of other food, including some other Mexican-themed spots. But Arepas already built a following before it came to Kettering, and it’s apparent in the dishes you try here.
Arepas & Co are currently open Monday to Saturday 11 am to 9 pm. Check their facebook page for more details.
