The Arepa Stand in Mar Vista: Inside Its New Storefront

In 2019, two siblings set up at the Sunday market at Grand View and Venice Boulevard and started selling crisp Venezuelan arepas named after Los Angeles freeways and neighborhoods. Seven years later, The Arepa Stand has its own address on the same boulevard, 12906 W. Venice Blvd. It keeps breakfast-through-lunch hours, six days a week.

The counter closes at 4 p.m., and the space behind it is where the next chapter at this address gets decided. A small cocktail room is planned there, to work alongside the restaurant. Whether it opens, and on what terms, is being worked out at Mar Vista Community Council meetings that anyone in the neighborhood can join.

From a Sunday tent to a Tuesday breakfast

The business belongs to Mercedes Rojas, the chef, and her brother Zeus Ferrini, who runs operations. Their mother, Belinda, helped them build it on family recipes. Rojas has more than a decade of professional kitchen experience, including time as chef de cuisine at Lucques under Suzanne Goin, according to Westside Current.

They started small. Spectrum News 1 reported in 2021 that the stand sold 160 arepas on its first day of farmers market service. Back then it only operated on weekends, at markets, breweries and cafes. From the Mar Vista market it grew into markets in Playa Vista, Torrance and Hollywood. In February 2026, the Los Angeles Times included the stand in its arepa guide and still described it as a weekend farmers market pop-up.

The storefront soft-opened in late August 2026. Rojas told L.A. TACO that the family had "been actively looking year after year after year," and that customers would finally "be able to have us as many times as they want in the week." For seven years, Mar Vista could only get this food on weekends. Now it can get it on a weekday morning.

Address: 12906 W. Venice Blvd., Los Angeles 90066

Hours: Tuesday through Sunday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Closed: Mondays

What's on the counter

Most of the arepas are named after places around the city. Market regulars who already have a favorite will find it here, plus a few they may have missed. From the official menu and opening coverage:

• The 405: braised beef, black-bean purée, fried plantains, cotija and cilantro
• The Westsider: chicken salad, avocado, gouda and herbs
• East LA: chorizo, eggs, plantains, garlic sauce and gouda
• Notti's: fried egg, avocado, queso de mano and plantains
• Hills: black beans, greens, sofrito, plantains, avocado and cilantro
• The Inglewood: braised BBQ pork, chile de árbol salsa, avocado and queso de mano

The L.A. Times singled out the Westsider as the stand's take on the classic reina pepiada. Eater LA added The Arepa Stand to its Hottest New Restaurants map in the October 1, 2026 update, about six weeks after the soft opening. Eater lists the hours as "breakfast through late lunch, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m." The Eater heatmap mostly covers restaurants that have been open six months or less. The stand made it onto that citywide list in its first two months on Venice Boulevard.

The room behind the counter

What could happen at 12906 W. Venice Blvd. after the arepa counter closes is the subject of a city planning case.

A company called Good Standing Venice LLC, with Sara Meyer as applicant, filed case ZA-2026-3205-ZV-CUB with Los Angeles City Planning. The filing asks for two things. One is a Conditional Use Permit to sell a full line of alcohol for on-site consumption with a new 1,602-square-foot restaurant. The other is a zone variance allowing zero on-site parking spaces where the code requires ten. The council's committee agenda describes it as a "small cocktail bar located behind the Arepa Stand restaurant space," with food served in partnership with the Arepa Stand.

So far, the case has moved like this:

1. June 23, 2026: The case is filed with City Planning.
2. July 31, 2026: City staff are assigned.
3. September 10, 2026: The applicant presents to the Mar Vista Community Council's Planning and Land Use Management committee. The motion is not seconded, so no vote is taken, and the applicant agrees to come back.
4. September 17, 2026: The council's Board of Directors agenda includes a funding request for door hangers to promote a future committee presentation on Good Standing.
5. October 8, 2026: The project is back on the committee's agenda.

The city's case page now marks the case "On Hold," with no hearing date and no Zoning Administrator action listed.

The plan has been described two ways. The city filing, repeated on the October 8 agenda, lists about 50 interior seats and permitted hours of 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily. The presentation to the committee in September described about 38 seats, indoor-only service, no outdoor alcohol service and no live music.

Neighbors raised specific questions at the September meeting, according to the committee's minutes:

• Parking. The applicant's parking study found about 28 available spaces in the surrounding commercial area at peak hours. The discussion also touched on possibly using nearby lots, including Venice High School parking areas.
• The rear patio. Adjacent neighbors asked whether a future operator could open it to customers. The applicant said outdoor service isn't part of the proposal.
• Sound. Neighbors asked about amplified noise. The applicant confirmed that no live entertainment is proposed and that service would stay indoors.
• Trash. Neighbors described existing dumpster pickup and access problems along Beethoven. The applicant agreed a contingency plan should be considered.

Where the decision gets made

Those concerns are all about the block, not the food. If the permit is approved, 12906 W. Venice Blvd. would be an arepa counter by day and a small bar into the evening, inside the space the application describes. Who weighs in on that is also local. The council's committee meetings are now held virtually under California Senate Bill 707, with call-in public comment on each agenda item. Agendas and minutes are posted on the Mar Vista Community Council's committee page, and the city's case number is the simplest way to follow the file itself.

The arepas themselves needed no permission from neighbors. A farmers market vendor grew a following for seven years, and that following made the storefront possible. What the counter's back room becomes will go through a neighborhood council vote, a city review, and the questions neighbors already asked in September about parking, sound and trash.

A Venice Boulevard weekend around the counter

Halloween weekend is a good chance to try the new spot alongside other Mar Vista standbys.

Saturday, October 31: Breakfast at The Arepa Stand, which opens at 8 a.m. Then the free Halloween event at Mar Vista Recreation Center, 11430 Woodbine Ave., from noon to 4 p.m., with carnival games, a costume contest and cookie decorating for all ages.

Sunday, November 1: The Mar Vista Farmers Market at Grand View and Venice Boulevard, where the stand got its start, runs 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and is open rain or shine except on major holidays. The arepa counter is open Sundays too, so you can stop by both.

Any afternoon: The Mar Vista Community Council's self-guided art tour, posted August 31, 2026, has phone and printable maps, including a route called "Art on Venice Boulevard." It's an easy walk to pair with a late lunch before the counter closes at 4.

New businesses along Venice Boulevard, and the permits that follow them, change how buyers see the blocks nearby. If you own a home close to the corridor and want to know how changes like these show up in its value, Scott Price Realty can walk you through it block by block. Discover Your Home's Value.