Midtown Lunch

While wondering around the food carts looking for something good to eat in University City, I saw a new truck that was so plainly decorated I almost passed it by. Thankfully the picture of the arepa drew me in. I found out that Delicias is now in its second week of operation (besides a test run for a few days in early December). The ladies behind Delicias are from Venezuela. The menu has 3 things: variations of arepas (sliced griddled corn patties with fillings inside) and fried empanadas (filled turnovers) as well as choripan (sausage in a sandwich). A picture of the national dish of Venezuela and the menu after the jump…

Pabellon, a mixture of shredded beef, plantains, rice and black beans, is Venezuala’s national dish and what we chose to fill our arepa. Delicias stuffs their arepa with this mixture and tops it with cotija cheese. The plantains were soft and sweet which is a lovely contrast to the cheese and slow cooked tomato infused beef. This is certainly a cold weather appropriate dish. It is served wrapped in foil inside a Styrofoam container, but it is really messy to eat, making it kind of a take back to your office and sit at a table kind of meal.  It cost $5.50 and is hearty enough to make a lunch. Arepas are gluten free and Delicias also offers vegan fillings, so you can please a lot of people here even with the small menu.

As far as I know Delicias is the only truck in the city offering arepas, which are hard enough to find in restaurants. And with Latin Farmer and Far From Home no longer in service, they may be the only truck serving empanadas as well. I also can’t think of any truck serving choripan. So, I encourage you to hit up Delicias for some tasty and hard to find Venezuelan bites. I hope someone can check out the empanadas and choripan and let me know how they  are.

Philly Delicias, 3400 Market St, follow on twitter