Hola Arepa
Slow-Roasted Pork Arepa – Cotija Cheese, Black Beans, Hola Sauce with Yucca Fries, Aioli Verde
Silver Dollar Cachapas – Bacon, Corn, Cotija Cheese, Jalapeno Peppers, Chipotle Maple Syrup
Mini “Churro” – Cinnamon-Sugar, Chocolate Coffee Sauce
Recently receiving national attention for Asian Street Food spot Hai Hai it was instead that lunch was sought from Birk Stefan Grudem and Christina Nguyen’s Hola Arepa on Sunday, an arrival at 1:00pm predictably finding both indoor and patio seating packed just as it has been since opening in 2011.
Focused on Venezuelan Maize Cakes and born from a Food Truck, the decision to turn brick and mortar welcomed with open-arms by Minnesotans craving bold Latin flavors, Hola Arepa spotlights not only its eponymous item but a handful of plates both authentic and re-imagined while at the same time keeping prices low and ingredients as local as possible.
Preaching sustainability as a core concept, Hola’s scratch-kitchen repurposing a debilitated old space while Hai Hai took over an aged strip club, it was after a brief wait under heat lamps that a two-top was allotted amidst controlled chaos, one group of what appeared to be nurses clearly having had plenty to drink and more-or-less hollering at one another from a table in the corner.
Trying best as possible to tune out the cacophony, a look at the Brunch Menu finding several items not featured during dinner service, it was with three items ordered and requested “as they are ready” that Water was poured, the service attentive and pleasant with the entire order arriving in less than fifteen minutes.
Admittedly surprised by portion sizes, all three plates most-certainly sharable and ranging $3.50 to just $12, it was first that teeth sank warm Masa wrapped around smoky shredded Pork matched to Beans, the “Hola” Sauce tangy but not hot while Yucca Fries cooked up crisp and ready to be dipped in pale green Aioli.
Showing no signs of slowing even as owners have become “restaurateurs,” a trio of seared Corn Cachapas riffing on Johnny Cakes with Bacon and Peppers plus spicy Maple Syrup, it was admittedly a little perplexing that Hola Arepa’s “Churro” embraced neither taste nor texture of the original and instead ate like deep-fried French Toast heavily caked in Cinnamon-Sugar next to a sidecar of what may as well have been sipping Chocolate as that is precisely what it became one the Pastry itself was gone.
www.holaarepa.com
