arepa café

Leo Matiz and AREPA CAFE 2nd Anniversary

2011-11-10T20:18:00.007-05:00

Arepa Café begun as a project inspired by the progress and growth of the city of Caracas experienced during the fifth decade of the twentieth century. The oil industry had an international presence in the country and its natural wealth started to be translated in public developments portraying progress and urban planning since the time of Gomez whom was one of the first investors of the nations capital of Venezuela.

Leo Matiz was a legendary Colombian photographer of the time, and had the great opportunity of documenting the life of Caracas during the years of bonanza, and particularly the way people lived during those days, in a city where progress gave an opportunity and changed its citizens for ever. His works shows the beauty and hope in the happening for the new Caracas.

A documentary has been shown at our restaurant on Queen Street West, and in our web site to remember the original inspiration, which gave inspiration to the project Arepa Café, we are celebrating the second anniversary of Arepa in Toronto

Continuation of documentaries from arepacafe.ca:
Leo Matiz en Caracas, parte 2
Leo Matiz en Caracas, parte 3

OCT 01

2011-09-30T20:35:00.006-04:00

On Saturday, October First two events will take place at Arepa Café. First, Soupalicious.ca at Exhibition Place serving Pisca Andina creation of Luis Manuel Cordoba, Principal Chef of our restaurant.

WHAT IS PISCA?

A traditional Venezuelan breakfast dish, pisca andina is a type of simple cheesy potato soup that uses cilantro. Most common in the Andes mountain region, pisca andina is said to offer a warming solution to chilly mornings. Usually simple to make, this soup generally uses few ingredients and is often served with arepas, a type of corn tortilla.

_____________________________________

And then, the evening of Nuit Blanche, the restaurant will be open until 4 am, fully license. Come and enjoy a Mill Street Organic Beer or a glass of Niagara Malivoire Wine, last call at four am.
We also serve Rum and Cokes to complete our small bar selection.

Arepas will be served all night. Art, friends, drinks and arepas for a nice break.

Arepa Café is very pleased to present as entertainment, The Upper Canada Choristers with the Latin Ensemble "Cantemos"

This is he begging of October for Arepa Café.

arpa concert - arepa café

2011-08-11T22:59:00.004-04:00

Harp concert at Arepa Café
Sunday Aug 14 at 12:30 pm

Come for Brunch and enjoy life music.

Presentando a Marielba Cartaya
interpretando el arpa, desde las 12:30 pm,
este Domingo 14 de Agosto, 2011

Brunch y Arpa Venezolana at AREPA

en colaboración con

®

2011-06-27T15:30:00.008-04:00

In April 2011, a Registered Trademark was granted to our business Arepa Café.

AREPA and its design are an exclusive registered brand across Canada.

We are proud to have introduced the arepa to the city of Toronto.

Thanks for your support!

Arepa on Tumbl

2011-05-03T12:48:00.006-04:00

by postkard grafiks

CONTACT - PHOTOGRAPHY FESTIVAL - MAY 05 - 31, 2011

2011-04-26T21:17:00.012-04:00

and live music by VIBONICS

EASTER WEEKEND

2011-04-22T09:56:00.006-04:00

EASTER WEEKEND

WE ARE OPEN!

FRIDAY 10 AM - 10 PM
SATURDAY 10 AM - 10 PM
SUNDAY 11 AM - 7 PM

MONDAY CLOSED

We thank all our customers for the great support!

employee of the winter

2011-04-11T12:54:00.002-04:00

DINNER EVENT · Monday, March 28 · 7:00pm - 11:30pm

2011-03-16T12:41:00.013-04:00

AREPA GALLERY

2011-02-01T01:47:00.004-05:00

2011-01-17T21:49:00.001-05:00

5 combos happy holidays

2010-12-09T12:00:00.000-05:00

Happening NOW!

2010-09-19T13:38:00.006-04:00

Brunch at AREPA Café, right now.
Come and visit us in a sunny Sunday!

2010-09-09T17:43:00.000-04:00

MENU AREPA CAFE, 2010

2010-08-18T16:27:00.006-04:00

2010-08-04T01:33:00.003-04:00

verano 2010 en arepa!

2010-08-01T23:37:00.004-04:00

2010-06-29T13:01:00.005-04:00

2010-06-25T20:57:00.005-04:00

suavecitas2 by arepacafe

2010-06-05T19:01:00.003-04:00

INTRODUCING AREPA GALLERY

2010-05-01T19:48:00.002-04:00

2010 Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival exhibitions

From May 1 - 31 2010, 11 venues along Queen St. West between Simcoe and Bathurst Streets will be displaying works from local and Canadian photographers as a part of the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival. Arepa Café is one of those venues.

Interations

Tori Foster and Jesse Colin Jackson

Arepa Café

490 Queen street West

Through the transparent overlay of panoramic composite imagery, Iterations captures the dominant and divergent patterns created by typologies in the city. Images centered on instances of the same building-type are superimposed, permitting juxtaposition of the common and unique characteristics of each panoramic scene. Consistent elements reinforce each other through repetition, while inconsistencies are ill-defined, rendering the typologies’ archetypes.

UN JUEVES EN AREPA

2010-05-01T19:27:00.000-04:00

The house of gluten-free sandwiches, called arepa. It is a place to come for delicious foods from South America, desserts, natural juices, our famous sugar-cane lemonade, or a creamy coffee.

Arepa Café is a place to enjoy an afternoon reading, or a relaxed meeting; located in the middle of urban Toronto on Queen Street West there is the place for late breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Venezuelan Urbanity in Toronto.

INTRODUCING AREPA CATERING

2010-05-01T18:41:00.001-04:00

Catering # 001

BIA Queen Street West

Nocturne Club

http://www.queenstwestbia.ca/index.html

VENEZUELAN CULINARY TRADITIONS, AND TORONTONIANS

2010-03-22T11:56:00.000-04:00

La Reina Pepiada (the curvy queen)

Thanks Toronto for a great welcoming!

Arepa Café opened few months ago offering a new dish to the urbanity of the city, the arepa. Daily, our corn meal sandwich becomes an alternative meal to hungry urban citizens looking for healthy food, and we appreciate your support.

We are Venezuelans, and our food is unpretentiously delicious. Food made from traditional recipes keeping authenticity in flavors adapting to fresh local ingredients. Our creative team brings unique Latin American dishes made from scratch with hard work, and passion.

We are also Canadians, understanding culture provides wisdom to help market the arepa, adding culinary richness of around the world to the city of Toronto.

Arepa Café is an effort contributing positive thinking through simplicity, beauty, and delicious food. Everyday day we hope for a good Venezuela.

photos by Vince Talotta.

Las arepas invaden Canadá

2010-02-18T15:52:00.000-05:00

Por: Sara Nader
Las Frívolas conversaron con Eduardo Lee, dueño del restaurante Arepa Café

En Toronto, Canadá se encuentra Arepa Café, un restaurante sofisticado que ofrece arepas de todo tipo, lo divertido es que mantuvieron los nombres originales en español, es decir, el menú dice en la sección de Arepas: La Pelúa, La Sifrina, Reina Pepiada, entre otras. La carta también ofrece platos típicos venezolanos como: pabellón criollo, tequeños, cachapas, yuquitas, entre otros.

Flor Alicia Anzola y Elizabeth Fuentes conversaron con Eduardo Lee, dueño de este innovador establecimiento, confesó que a pesar de llevar 14 años en Canadá nunca ha dejado de comer arepas.

El es arquitecto y diseñador de interiores pero siempre ha sido amante de la gastronomía, por lo tanto, decidió fusionar ambas cosas en un proyecto llamado Arepa Café. Te invitamos a que veas las fotos de este estableciemiento en nuestra galería.

“¿El canadiense la primera vez que muerde una arepa sabe de que se trata?” preguntó Elizabeth Fuentes. Lee respondió que al principio no saben en que se están comiendo, ellos le explican que es como un sánduche. “Primero lo ven con cierto recelo, pero cuando dan el primer mordisco se les ilumina la cara y quieren comérselo en dos mordisco” agregó.

san valentine

2010-02-11T16:30:00.001-05:00

We are OPEN!!!

2009-12-01T16:58:00.000-05:00

On November 19th, 2009 Arepa Café is open to the public.

The turn out was really fantastic on the opening night, we served 150 people in 3 hours.

Thank you all for the support!

Since then, we have been opened six days a week experiencing an interesting response from the general public, Venezuelans cheering the accomplishment; and Torontonians curious with the new addition to Queen Street West.

From Dec 01, Arepa's hours of operation are:

Monday, Tuesday 10 am - 7 pm

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday 10 am - 9 pm

Sunday 11 am - 6 pm

Come over and try our delicious arepas, cachapas, tequeños, and desserts.

All very nutritional and healthy.

We are located on 490 Queen Street West, Toronto

Photos by:

Viviana Varela

Enrique Tezpa

AREPA CAFE OPENING INVITATION

2009-11-11T19:23:00.000-05:00

AREPERA EN TO. opening soon

2009-10-14T22:56:00.001-04:00

☛Arepa Cafe Store Front
490 Queen Street West, Toronto

Design Team:
Victor Pastore
Eduardo Lee
Allan Ryan

PICNIC AT THE BRICK WORKS

2009-10-05T16:00:00.000-04:00

From left: Marc Lukacs, Carlos Fuenmayor (Sabrosito), Eduardo Lee, Adrian Marquez

☛Arepa Café founder Eduardo Lee and partner Marc Lukacs got together with Chef Carlos Fuenmayor to reaffirm a great connection and excellent team work at the Brick Works Picnic showcasing Sabrosito.

The picnic was a fundraising event in support of Evergreen and Slow Food Toronto.

"The theme of this year's Picnic was " locally global" in recognition of the many cultural groups from around the world who make Toronto their home and enrich the city through their diverse food traditions. Connecting the global palate using foods grown locally is a wonderful opportunity to bring environmental and cultural traditions together, and in the case of the Picnic, into a delicious mouthful." www.evergreen.ca

Sabrosito served a delicious organic Delicato Squash Stew with locally made Queso Fresco, topped with a siqui-siqui sauce.

Arepa Café team is proud to participate with chef Sabrosito, creating a network within Toronto's culinary experts, and supporting events like this towards our integration in the city's gastronomy.

THE M5V COMMUNITY

2009-09-27T23:57:00.000-04:00

☛The event at St. Andrew's Farmers Market left us with a wonderful feeling of community.

Meeting neighbors reaffirmed the potential of our chosen location for Arepa Café at 490 Queen Street West.

The people around the M5V area of downtown Toronto welcomed our ideas and flavours with an intelligent smile.

We thank your support, and we are eager to serve AREPAS to you all.

Here are some photos of the event, where we served cachapas con queso y albahaca (fresh corn pancakes with fresco cheese and basil) deliciously made by Sabrosito.

The corn was donated by Sandra and John Paul Mooney from Godelie Family Farm.

Arepa Café @ St. Andrew's Farmer's Market

2009-09-24T13:03:00.000-04:00

☛Located in the parking lot at the corner of Adelaide Street West and Maud Street, every Saturday from June 1st to October 31st, from 9 A.M. to 1 P.M., you will find the HISTORIC ST. ANDREW’S FARMER’S MARKET.

Saturday September 26th AREPA CAFE consultant chef Carlos Fuenmayor from Sabrosito will be making free sample CACHAPAS (Fresh Corn Pancakes) with Queso Fresco and Basil at the market. We will have Arepa Café t-shirts for sale with lots of enthusiasm embracing our store opening soon at 490 Queen Street West.

Come and enjoy our delicious dish prepared with local products.

The St. Andres's Market was started in 1837 and is known as Toronto's third public market after the St. Lawrence Market (circa 1803) and the St. Patrick's Market (circa 1836)

The uniqueness of this market is that the product is provided by real farmers. Each week enjoy local fruit, vegetables, honey, flowers, local musicians and amazing chefs. Visit a living part of Toronto's historical part, and welcome Arepa Café's involvement with its community.

arepa playlist 1

2009-09-07T20:11:00.000-04:00

AREPA Café has a home!

2009-08-28T12:19:00.000-04:00

The place of Arepas in T.O.

☛490 Queen Street West is our new home, located in the heart of downtown Toronto is our address from SEP 01, 2009. We purchased a coffee shop business operating there until the end of August. The store will be close for renovations, hopefully for about two months.

It took us about six months to encounter the right location with the right conditions. We are excited to have found it, and ready to start our venture with the business of arepas in Toronto.

Stay tune, the opening process will be documented in here for you to follow. Thanks for your support and don't forget to tell a friend about us.

Arepa Café, Inc.

venezuelan urbanity

490 QSW, Toronto

VENEZUELA IN TORONTO

2009-08-27T17:12:00.000-04:00

☛On August 22nd 2009, Venezuelans celebrated the summer by organizing a picnic for its community and the general public, it took place at Mel Latsman Square, North York. The picnic event was made real by the people of 'Fundación Cultural Alma Llanera'; organization founded in 2003, and supporters of talent, tradition, and culture from Venezuela.

Arepa Café team assisted the event and met a vibrant community working and living in the city of Toronto, we talked with our fellow venezuelans and introduced them to the arepa plan, we also were approached by some of the people asking about our location, welcoming the idea and expressing their support. We were happy to inform our progress and make new friends.

The group tasted some of the foods being sold, only to be delighted. The event was busy and happy with Venezuelans feeling at home, and visitors all excited about the splash of culture. They where eager to try the tasty dishes of our nation like: corn cachapas, golfeados con queso, tequeños, chicha, parrilla con yuca y guasacaca, cachitos among so much more, while the bands play in the open amphitheater. Vendors and artists placed in an urban setting all together to celebrate our heritage.

Arepa Café is a Venezuelan inspired project, and it is grateful to participate, contributing to the enjoyment of our community, and helping showcase our traditions.

Babalao Stereo Club

AREPA tee's

2009-08-18T19:06:00.000-04:00

STREET SCENE: Natural Transportation

2009-08-15T17:21:00.000-04:00

Love to eat and run (bike)
by Jerry Waese.

Location, location, location

2009-07-29T11:26:00.000-04:00

Location is one the most important elements for a successful restaurant.

So far, we have invested four months on finding the right location for Arepa Café in the city of Toronto, and we agree with what we keep reading from experienced owners:

"The real statement is the right location, right location, right location. Naturally, food preparation, ambiance, service, price and convivial attitude of the staff are all important equal elements in the equation of success that should all be weighed equally, but the right location is more important and holds more weight in the future success of a profitable restaurant."

It is a long, and complex process to find the right location, and the right landlord. It also can be very quick and simple, it depends on luck and resources. In our case, there have been three potential locations on the desk with signed offers that has not materialized, but they have provided experience, and growth to our business.

The first offer was for a cute little place on Baldwin Street (location # 1), then we put a second offer on College Street (location # 2), and the third went for a beautiful place on Queen Street West (location # 3). While negotiating the lease on the first and third locations, other offers came to the game and win the places over ours, the second it was our decision to move on.

These are the three try-outs so far:

A new location is on the sight, again around College street, just west of Bathurst. Since the beginning, we imagine Arepa Café to be a relaxed and trendy place with healthy food for students and younger crowds. The closer to colleges, universities, offices on a high traffic street of pedestrians and cars would make our best location.

A solid business plan opens doors to be considered as a good tenant, the complexity of a restaurant project usually makes Landlords turn into simpler projects like offices, and retail stores. The better organized you present yourself the better location and landlord you will get. It has been challenging the understanding of commercial real state in Toronto.

It is difficult to find, but less difficult than creating a good idea, and putting together a business plan to find a loan for implementation. Our search continues...

Thanks for you support, and keep following our 'restaurant opening' process.

2009-07-20T21:39:00.000-04:00

EL COMIENZO

2009-06-08T21:29:00.000-04:00

Han pasado casi doce meses desde la introducción de nuestra arepa a algunos torontonias, colégas y amigos que tuvieron la oportunidad de probar las primeras.

It has been almost twelve months since introducing our arepas to some few torontonias, colleagues and friends had the opportunity to taste our first arepas.

Desde ese dia el trabajo ha sido arduo, hemos creado Arepa Café, Inc., un documento explicando la idea del negocio, y la metodologia para su creación e implementación. Luego de revisiones y asesorias cocluimos con el documento de negocio, el cual ha ayudado a visualizar el proyecto en general.

Since then, we have done lots of work creating Arepa Café, Inc., a document explaining the process to create and to operate our business of arepas, after several revisions and research the result is an informative guide illustrating Arepa Café, it has helped to visualize the big picture.

Recorrimos el centro de la ciudad de Toronto en busqueda de un local comercial para implementar el proyecto. Se ha creado una imagen gráfica para presentar el producto al público, el logo. Se han acumulado proveedores, contratistas y asesores como base inicial en el comienzo de la operación.

We searched commercial locations in downtown Toronto, we created a graphic image to present the product to the public, the logo, we accumulated suppliers, contractors, and advisors as a start of the operation.

...y cocinamos las ricas recetas de nuestro menú.

...and we cook the delicious recipes in our menu.

AREPA CAFE, INC.

2009-04-15T13:17:00.000-04:00

On April 15th, 2009 AREPA CAFE is a corporation.

The business of arepas in Toronto.

Welcome to AREPA cafe

2009-03-03T18:57:00.000-05:00

A Venezuelan inspired arepera in Toronto.

Thanks for your support!