Arepas and Empanadas in Smyrna, TN — Picanna Grill Express at Rock Springs Market

An arepa is a flatbread made from precooked white cornmeal, pressed and grilled or fried until the outside is crisp and the inside is soft. They come from Venezuela and Colombia, where they're as common as a sandwich is here. The texture is unlike most things you'll find at a gas station — dense enough to hold fillings without falling apart, but light enough that you're not weighed down afterward.

What goes inside varies. Shredded chicken, beef, black beans, cheese, avocado — the combinations are regional and personal. Picanna Grill Express at Rock Springs Market in Smyrna makes them fresh daily with rotating fillings. If you've never had one, the learning curve is zero: you pick it up and eat it.

An empanada is a stuffed pastry — dough folded around a filling and baked or fried. The word comes from the Spanish "empanar," meaning to coat with bread. The difference between a good empanada and a mediocre one is the dough: frozen or mass-produced empanadas tend to be thick and starchy, with filling that tastes like it came out of a can.

Picanna Grill Express makes their empanadas with fresh dough and real fillings. The crust is thin enough that you taste the filling in every bite — not just starch. They come out of the fryer hot and crisp, which is not something you can say about most gas station food. If your only reference point is a frozen empanada from a grocery store, these are a different thing entirely.

Picanna Grill Express operates inside Rock Springs Market at 2124 Rock Springs Road, Smyrna, serving arepas, empanadas, and fresh-brewed coffee daily. The menu is built around rotating daily specials and a core set of items available during all operating hours.

The concept is simple: food made fresh, served fast, priced for a lunch break. You're not waiting 20 minutes. You're in and out in the time it takes to get through a drive-through line, with food that's actually worth eating. Check the menu board when you walk in — if something looks different from the last time you came, it probably is. The menu moves with what's fresh.

Smyrna's lunch options have historically meant driving to Murfreesboro, defaulting to a chain, or eating what you packed. Picanna Grill Express on Rock Springs Road changes that for anyone working near the Nissan plant, along Veterans Parkway, or anywhere in the Rock Springs Road corridor.

The math is straightforward: one arepa or two empanadas is a full lunch for most people. The price point lands below any sit-down option nearby. You can pull in, order, grab a drink from the Beer Cave, and be back on the road in under 10 minutes. That's the pitch — and it delivers consistently.

Picanna Grill Express is inside Rock Springs Market at 2124 Rock Springs Road, Smyrna, TN 37167. It's not a separate storefront — it operates as a grill counter inside the market, which means food, drinks, and gas are all in the same stop.

Store hours are Mon–Sat 5am–11pm and Sun 6am–10pm. For questions about today's menu or specific items, call (615) 267-0008. Rock Springs Market is also the home of Hunt Brothers Pizza, fresh-brewed coffee, and the Beer Cave — so if you're coming in for lunch, it's easy to grab a drink without a second trip.