FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM FEBRUARY 22, 2018 • BUZZ • THE QUEENS COURIER 65
dining out
Photo via Google Maps
Arepa Lady in Jackson Heights will move into a new location.
Jackson Heights’ Arepa
Lady will be moving to
a new location nearby
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com / @angelamatua
Arepa Lady, a popular Colombian
restaurant in Jackson Heights, has fi nally
found a new home aft er a false start.
In August 2017, the owners announced
that they had six months left on their lease
because the building at 77-02 Roosevelt
Ave. would be demolished. Th e developer
will turn the two-story structure into a
seven-story, mixed-use building.
Th ough Arepa Lady found another
location on 79th Street, owners could
not come to an agreement with the landlord.
Since the building also housed a
Starbucks, the restaurant would not be
allowed to sell coff ee.
But on Feb. 12, the restaurant
announced on Twitter that they would
move into a building at 77-17 37th Ave.,
which used to house City Coff ee. It’s
located one avenue away from the current
location and owners plan on opening the
new site “as soon as possible.”
Th e eatery started as a food truck at
79th Street and Roosevelt Avenue by
Colombian immigrant Maria Cano in
the ’90s. In 2014, Cano and her son
opened a brick-and-mortar store in 77-02
Roosevelt Ave. In addition to arepas,
the eatery serves dishes such as chicharron
patacones (fried plantains with pork
belly), chuzo (meat skewer) dishes and
desserts like fl an and tres leche cake.
Cano was a judge in Medellin, Colombia
but fl ed the country with her family in the
’80s due to the drug war, Grub Street
reported. Her food cart gained notoriety
and became popular within the borough
and across the city, which allowed her to
open a shop with her family. Arepa Lady
also operates out of Brooklyn’s DeKalb
Market Hall.
Cano hasn’t operated the food truck
since last year, according to Grub Street
and her son Alejandro Osorio, has taken
over operations.