The Sainted Arepa Lady to make a San Francisco appearance?

[soupçon]

I follw the Sainted Arepa Lady on Twitter (yes, she's on it) and this is her tweet from earlier this evening:

http://twitter.com/#!/Arepalady/statu...

I'm guessing it may be in conjunction with the Street Food Festival and Conference in August, but i haven't heard it from that end yet.

[jman1]

Fill me in. What's so special? Her's in particular, or Arepas in general?

Wondering because I see that my home town back east now has an Arepa bar on the boardwalk:

http://www.caracasarepabar.com/rockaw...

[Melanie Wong]

Let me share with you some of the early posts on this site about her, the ones where I first read about her saintliness.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/235469
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/237817
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/238209
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/240345

And this one, "SF Treats Its Tamale Lady Better than We Treat Our Arepa Lady ",
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/240549

[jman1]

I didn't realize that she was from NY. I guess that makes sense; I was thinking that she was local.

I only skimmed, but didn't see very much talk about the food itself. But, I see that there is a mystery and fascination.

[soupçon]

The mystery and fascination were largely created by none other than Chowhound's founder, Jim Leff:

http://jimleff.info/arepa.html

She makes Colombian arepas, hard to find around here, and does them very well. Her arepa de chocolo, which uses fresh corn as well as masa in the batter, is particularly notable.

[Dave Feldman]

I guess arepas are "hot," now, but that isn't why you should try her arepas. You should try them because they are exemplars of the dish -- no gimmicks, just great execution. I love the cachapas, too. Maybe even more than the arepas.

[Dave Feldman]

Right you are: http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2011/07...

[soupçon]

Thanks for that. It's also been confirmed to me By Caleb Zigas of La Cocina. I'm under the impression that she'll be at the Street Food Festival (a separate event from the conference) though it'll be nice if she makes an appearance at the Conference as well.