Midtown Lunch

When the Palenque truck debuted downtown back in March of 2012, I rushed over to eat what was perhaps my first Colombian arepa. That first experience was something of a shit show and reminded me of why it’s a good idea to wait a bit to check out a new truck. I somewhat enjoyed the arepa I got there, although it suffered a bit in transit, and when the truck was parked near my office last week I decided to give them a second chance. While my lunch was good, I question the value of the food I got for nearly $10.

That first time I got a corn arepa with angus beef topping for $8. This time I switched it up a bit since I spotted a lunch special for $9 which included a corn arepa with beef or chicken, the tomato and green onion topping hogao, and mashed red beans along with the standard arugula, Oaxacan cheese and chimichurri sauce.

A picture of that first arepa (on the left) show a pile of beef atop an arepa that was smaller than the paper plate it sat on. It’s kind of hard to tell because it’s from a different angle, but the chicken one I had last week was quite a bit smaller, and I paid $9.80 for it because they add tax. Yes, there was a fair amount of chicken underneath the hogao and cheese, but it wasn’t all that filling for the amount of money I paid for it.

I can’t tell if I’m just being cheap and expecting more food for my money, or if Palenque is really not a great value. If any of you want to weigh in, feel free to do so in the comments!

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