Palenque

We didn't finish our WWC2015 recaps before the end of 2015, so let's see how quickly we can get them up in 2016...

One of our favorite teams during the 2014 World Cup was Colombia, and we felt a little bad that when we did our World Cup challenge meal back then, we had only stopped in for an empanada and a buñuelo. We were hoping to rectify that with a full Colombian meal for the Women's World Cup challenge, but instead we ended up just grabbing a snack. At least this time it was an arepa, which could qualify as a full meal for one of us.

We had gotten Korean mandoo earlier in the afternoon but found ourselves a little peckish as we walked home so we stopped by the Palenque stand at one of the Urbanspace markets. I had remembered Palenque from the food truck that used to roam around town selling arepas, and while they always looked good, they were a little pricey for a work lunch. (I wasn't sure one would be enough, and even the smaller size approached my $10 target.) The arepa prices still weren't that affordable (we seriously miss Farmers so much), but we decided to try them anyway.

To start with, A picked up a Colombian soda, which was basically just like the Peruvian Inca Kola. If you've never had one of those before, they taste a bit like bubblegum.

For our arepa, A chose the one that was made with Colombian chorizo (and in the large 7 inch size). On top of the corn base, they piled on lots of slices of chorizo, tons of Colombian cheese, and arugula, and served it with sides of chipotle mayo and cilantro salsa. The toppings were far more generous than we had expected (a good thing).

We were pretty happy with this arepa. The chorizo and cheese had so much flavor. The only thing we wish it had was a touch more vegetable matter outside of those little green leaves you can see in the pictures. We would probably treat ourselves to this again sometime.