Smile Politely

Have you been to El Paraiso in Downtown Urbana?

El Paraiso header
Alyssa Buckley

This October, El Paraiso opened their new location in Downtown Urbana and expanded their menu of delicious Latin American dishes. Formerly, El Paraiso was located inside Broadway Food Hall.

Photo by Alyssa Buckley.

Now El Paraiso has their own restaurant space, where The Dancing Dog Eatery & Juicery used to be. Diners order at the counter and then seat themselves in the dining room.

El Paraiso’s menu offers a variety of entrees: tacos, arepas, paella, pupusa, jibarito, hornado, chicharrón, and more — plus desserts like tres leches cake, flan, and fried sweet plantains with a choice of filling. Jess loves El Paraiso’s mofongo. You can read the whole menu online.

Photo by Alyssa Buckley.

We ordered the chicken arepas ($9.50), which was two fried, handmade corn crisps sandwiching a big portion of a cold, creamy chicken salad — and it was yummy.

El paraiso flautas. Photo by Alyssa Buckley.Photo by Alyssa Buckley.

El Paraiso’s chicken flautas are some of my favorite flautas in town. These three flautas were absolutely delicious. They were perfectly crispy and served piping hot with a cheesy chicken filling. The sides of white rice and beans were tasty, and I liked the side of pico de gallo a lot.

Photo by Alyssa Buckley.

Have you been to El Pariaso’s new location?

El Paraiso
126 W Main St
Urbana
T-F noon to 3 p.m. + 4 to 8 p.m.
Sa noon to 6 p.m.

Top image by Alyssa Buckley.

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