Review: Candela Arepa Bar Shines Brightly in Station North

A visit to Candela, Irena Stein and Mark Demshak’s long-awaited arepa bar in Station North, is a trip to the tropics. There’s the warm, inviting accent walls in shades of guava and coffee inspired by famed Mexican architect Luis Barragán, colossal plants that evoke Stein’s Venezuelan homeland,  and rows of neatly arranged toppings at the prep counter including mango slaw and piloncillo glaze.

The word Candela—“fire” in Spanish—is an appropriate name for this 40-seat casual cousin to the couple’s Alma, just a few steps away on the same block.

Like all of Stein and Demshak’s pursuits, the restaurant is a true passion project. Ever since Stein introduced arepas at Café Azafrán at Johns Hopkins, she’s kept the fires of her beleaguered home country burning. She sold a variety of international offerings, but arepas—the ancient, moon shaped corn cakes considered a cornerstone of Venezuelan cuisine—were the item that always sold out.

In 2015, Azafrán begat Alma, initially conceived as an arepa bar in Canton. Over time, the arepa bar became a fine-dining Venezuelan restaurant. When Alma got a new address in Station North in 2021, Stein continued to offer the portable pockets, but kitchen space was limited and the chef at the time had other interests.

“The idea of an arepa bar was always in my head,” says Stein. So in 2023, she took that idea and wrote the world’s first arepa cookbook, Arepa: Classic and Contemporary Recipes for Venezuela’s Daily Bread.

“The arepa is a vehicle that symbolizes the migration of Venezuelans into the world since 2013 [after the election of Nicolás Maduro],” says Stein, who holds a master’s degree in cultural anthropology. “It’s an ambassador for our country—I couldn’t let go of it.”

Baltimore will be glad she persisted. Arepas, handheld flavor bombs that often taste of the tropics, are fantastic no matter what’s in them. Candela features seven iterations, including one stuffed with shrimp, mango slaw, and guasacaca, a sauce that’s Venezuela’s version of guacamole, plus a meatless version with queso de mano (white cheese), guasacaca sauce, and a delicate heart of palm salad.

Several arepas are collaborations with area eateries including one filled with chicken from Rooted Rotisserie and another loaded with brisket from Blue Pit BBQ. In the months to come, Stein says there will be “arepas with flavors to represent all the continents of the world—the arepa is our daily bread but you can fill them with your culture.”

Sides will taste familiar to anyone who has ever eaten at Alma. The tequeños, fried white cheese wrapped in a sturdy pastry dough are Venezuela’s elevated answer to cheese sticks, while the yuca fries are the country’s answer to the prosaic potato. Tostones, fried green plantain disks, are given the tropical treatment—topped with mango slaw and mango dressing.

In addition to arepas and sides, there are bowls, essentially featuring arepa ingredients but served on a bed of rice. Don’t be fooled by the touchscreen kiosk when you place your order. The food, overseen by Fernando Bertelsen, the former sous chef at Alma, is entirely chef-driven and is as elevated and delectable as any fine-dining spot in the city.

This time around, these arepas are not going anywhere.

CANDELA AREPA BAR: 10 E. Lanvale St. HOURS: Wed.-Thurs., Sun. 11 a.m.- 8 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-9 p.m. PRICES: Arepas: $12-15. AMBIANCE: Casual.