Ceci's Arepa Joint In East Meadow First All-Arepa Spot On LI

EAST MEADOW, NY—The series of events that led to the opening of Ceci's Arepa Joint in East Meadow in March couldn't have been made up any better by a Hollywood writer. Two years ago, Carolyn Rios, of Elmont, knew her Uber driver looked familiar. She realized it was Mike Barriga, of Hempstead, who she had dated in high school and lost touch with. The couple reunited, sharing a similar family background—Rios is Colombian and Barriga Venezuelan—and a love for the arepas they had grown up eating.

The couple began selling arepas on Instagram and when Barriga was laid off during the pandemic, they decided to make the move to a brick-and-mortar business.

"It's been a rollercoaster," Rios told Patch. "We've gotten a great reception and more and more people have been hearing about our food and coming in."

Rios and Barriga named their eatery Ceci's, after Barriga's mother, who comes in at 6 a.m. to prepare the arepas from scratch. Ceci's makes Venezuelan-style arepas, thick and stuffed with meat and other fillings.

"Most restaurants on Long Island use pre-made arepas," Rios points out, adding that as far as she knows Ceci's is the first dedicated arepa restaurant on the island.

"My grandma taught me how to make them when I was three years old. Arepas are a street food, a comfort food, usually made on Sundays when families get together. A lot of our customers love the food because it reminds them of home."

Rios family recently arrived from Colombia and gave the arepas high marks.

"They said the food is even better than back home."

Rios says she uses high-end meats like gourmet flank stank and organic chicken: "I care a lot about the quality of the food."

And the location of Ceci's couldn't be more appropriate.

"We were looking close to home, and we found an old sushi restaurant. It felt right to us , because it's so close to where we met," at Kellenberg Memorial High School in Uniondale.

"It was such a series of coincidences that led here."