One of the restaurants that arguably brought Venezuelan cuisine to Toronto (and served some really good garlic sauce) is closing its doors after a decade. 

In a message posted to Arepa Cafe's website, owner Eduardo Lee wrote "For my partner Marc Lukacs and I, it is the right decision. We will continue our contribution within our professional fields. For now, we say goodbye."

Lee cites kitchen staffing troubles as the reason behind the restaurant's abrupt closure, May 4 their last official day of service. He says they were hoping for a more official closing announcement in August, but the staffing challenge accelerated the process.

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A post shared by Arepa cafe (@arepacafe) on May 3, 2019 at 7:55am PDT

An interior designer, Lee will be moving on to working on the architecture and design of the expanding Planet Traveler hostel on College, which will be taking over the buildings at 353 and 355 College. Work on that will start in July.

However, "Arepa Cafe hasn't died," Lee promises. He can't give out exact dates at this point, but says a larger project linked to the brand will start with rolling out the sale of products like tequenos and sauces in stores.

Thankfully, there are now lots of great places to get arepas in Toronto, like Maiz, El Venezolano, Colombian Street Food and even local food truck Queen Arepa.