CINCINNATI – The Arepa Place will bring a bit of South American culinary flare to Findlay Market when it celebrates its grand opening this weekend.
The family business owned by Isis Arrieta-Dennis will start serving authentic Colombian dishes made from scratch at 10 a.m. Saturday. The Arepa Place is located at 131 Elder St. in Over-the-Rhine.
Arrieta-Dennis's husband Chris and mother Isis will help the restaurateur serve arepas, empanadas, sides and salsas. The eatery will also serve specialty beverages such as Aguapanela and Latin America sodas.
The Arepa Place was one of the inaugural businesses to utilize Findlay Market's Findlay Kitchen when the shared-use incubator kitchen opened two and a half years ago. The eatery has also operated as a pop-up vendor, selling food outdoors at Findlay Market and other venues throughout Cincinnati.
"Findlay Market and Findlay Kitchen will always have a special place in my heart," Arrieta-Dennis said in a press release announcing the grand opening of her restaurant's brick and mortar location. "Findlay gave me the opportunity to offer my food to the people of Cincinnati and to grow my business."
In addition to serving food, The Arepa Place will also include a new market with ingredients and a variety of Latin American packaged food and drink products for sale. An OTR Chamber Business First Grant and a Sam Adam's Brewing the American Dream grant helped Arrieta-Dennis in her effort to open The Arepa Place.
Arrieta-Dennis will sample food starting at 10 a.m. for the grand opening event. The Arepa Place will begin its regular hours of operation at 11 a.m. Its regular hours of operation will then be 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday and closed on Monday.
For more information visit www.arepaplace.com.
