Empanada Mama
Frankly, we always thought this place in Hell's Kitchen was a bit of a joke, what with its alliterative name and tropical color scheme and all.
Well, the empanadas here, made from either corn or wheat flour, are most certainly not a joke, unless your idea of humor involves scrumptiousness.
We began with an order of yucca fries, bite-sized bits of crispy cassava served with extra-smooth guacamole. Not pictured: the second bowl we were given.
Then we moved on to the restaurant's real draw, bread-wrapped pockets stuffed and baked. These savory pastries likely came to Spain and Portugal via the Arabs in the first century, which somehow makes them related to samosas. We love them even more now!
We ordered rice and beans (dry, unsurprisingly), chorizo (spicy), mozzarella cheese (like a cheese stick, if cheese sticks were actually good), ground beef with olives and potatoes (ridiculously toothsome), and roasted pork (sloppy but nice). When we go back tomorrow and the next six Saturdays, we plan to try several other types off the very long menu, including the USA (apples and cinnamon).
And then there were the drinks. We got an apple soda from Colombia, which was tasty and purple (both pluses), as well as a fruity concoction called a salpicon --- tiny chunks of grape, watermelon, strawberry, apples, and bananas floating in a sweet red sea. It was like a grown-up, healthy Hawaiian punch, like the very definition of fruit punch, like something you'd want to bath in come July. This was absolutely hands down the best thing we drank all year.
Well, the empanadas here, made from either corn or wheat flour, are most certainly not a joke, unless your idea of humor involves scrumptiousness.
We began with an order of yucca fries, bite-sized bits of crispy cassava served with extra-smooth guacamole. Not pictured: the second bowl we were given.
Then we moved on to the restaurant's real draw, bread-wrapped pockets stuffed and baked. These savory pastries likely came to Spain and Portugal via the Arabs in the first century, which somehow makes them related to samosas. We love them even more now!
We ordered rice and beans (dry, unsurprisingly), chorizo (spicy), mozzarella cheese (like a cheese stick, if cheese sticks were actually good), ground beef with olives and potatoes (ridiculously toothsome), and roasted pork (sloppy but nice). When we go back tomorrow and the next six Saturdays, we plan to try several other types off the very long menu, including the USA (apples and cinnamon).
And then there were the drinks. We got an apple soda from Colombia, which was tasty and purple (both pluses), as well as a fruity concoction called a salpicon --- tiny chunks of grape, watermelon, strawberry, apples, and bananas floating in a sweet red sea. It was like a grown-up, healthy Hawaiian punch, like the very definition of fruit punch, like something you'd want to bath in come July. This was absolutely hands down the best thing we drank all year.
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