Bellevue just expanded its “taste” a little more. To be sure, Bellevue has one of the more diverse groups of restaurants around for a town our size. When looking at menus across the city, patrons can order Greek, Mexican, Italian, Vietnamese, Barbeque, Korean, Chinese, Thai, Hawaiian, El Salvadoran, Japanese, Soul Food, and American, among others.
You can now add Venezuelan to the list.
El Arepon Venezuelan Restaurant is beginning its soft opening today, Thursday, June 16. Initially starting as a food truck, the business continued to grow. Most recently, they operated out of The Switch – a food hall off of 38th & Farnam in Omaha, featuring a variety of restaurants.
El Arepon is the only Venezuelan restaurant in the state of Nebraska, and head chef and owner Richard Mendoza decided Bellevue was where he wanted to be. “I think Bellevue has such a potential for restaurants like mine. Something maybe a little out of the comfort zone for people… to try a little more of what the world can offer. Bellevue has a lot of diversity – especially with the air force base here.”
Mendoza continued to elaborate and share what makes El Arepon different from many national and regional restaurants. “There is a lot of fast food in my area and we offer something different than that. Fresh, homemade food… and I work hard to make sure customers get a lot of food for the price.”
The location was formerly home to both El Rio and American Heroes restaurants. Mendoza and his family have completely remodeled the inside of the restaurant, and it now has more seating and even includes a separate bar area.
The restaurant is located at 1021 West 23rd Avenue, near the Olde Towne Offutt gate entrance and across the street from the former Olde Towne Bakers grocery store. El Arepon opens for business at 11 am, seven days a week. They usually close at 9 pm. However,on Fridays they are open until 10 pm, and Sundays they close at 8 pm.
There are several ways to contact El Arepon. The phone number is (402) 403-8146 for placing to-go orders. They can also be reached via eMail at info@elareponomaha.com, and the Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/elareponomaha.
Like all restaurant soft openings, it is wise to remember that they will still be getting the kinks worked out of everything, as well as training staff, and they are also still hiring. So please be patient kind when stopping by the first couple of weeks.
Pictures courtesy of El Arepon Venezuelan Restaurant
