Cafe Azul – Caracas de Ayer is reopening this summer at the Station at Riverdale Park after closing its location in Hyattsville’s Arts District due to the pandemic.

First opened in 2009, the Venezuelan restaurant is slated to reopen in July on 45th St., next to MOD Pizza.

Owner Mickey Torrealba, who is originally from Venezuela, told the Hyattsville Wire the new space has around 1,300 square feet with additional designated sidewalk seating outside.

Originally known as Cafe Azul, the now-closed Hyattsville restaurant shifted from general South American cuisine in 2018 to focus on authentic Venezuelan food serving homemade arepas, empanadas, cachitos, tequeños, cachapas, hallacas, and Cuban sandwiches. Torrealba said the menu at the new location in Riverdale Park will be even more extensive.

Over the years, Cafe Azul – Caracas de Ayer has received many accolades from D.C. publications including Eater D.C., who named it among the nine best places for arepas in the greater Washington area in 2018, and in 2016 it made the annual influential Washingtonian’s “Cheap Eats” list.

It was also a runner up in the Hyattsville Wire’s “Best of Route 1 ” reader poll in 2020 for Best Latin American restaurant.

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