El Peñol

El Peñol is the Colombian restaurant at 54 Bennington Street in East Boston. The official takeout menu and current ordering lists still center on bandejas: bandeja paisa with carne asada, chicharrón, fried egg, beans, rice, sweet plantain, and arepa; a mini version of the same; and Bandeja Peñol with chorizo. Beans are cooked with pork. Arepas come with cheese, chicharrón, or chorizo. Sancocho de res is on the soup list, along with street-food plates such as arepa burgers, Colombian hamburgers, and chicken chuzo with papitas criollas. The site frames the room as a slice of Colombia on Bennington Street, with English, Spanish, and takeout menus. Come for the platter and an arepa, and say so if you need the beans without pork, because the kitchen flags that they contain it.