Empanadas

Yum yum, I love empanadas.

I first heard about Empanada Mama around the time of the bar exam. I think I read about it in some NY magazine or maybe the NY Times. I remember that it caught my eye because it was near the passenger ship terminals, which is where I was assigned for the bar exam, and all the past times I had been to the terminals, there was never anywhere that I could think of to eat nearby. (Of course I worried about what to do for the bar lunch! It's not like I was taking the exam in a hotel and could keep a stash of food in my room. Instead 3000 of us were all going to be streaming out of the same place at the same time, looking for energy food!)

Tonight we went to the restaurant for the second time. (The first time was in the fall soon after moving in, and we've been meaning to go back again sooner, but often get lazy with so many restaurant choices on the blocks inbetween... especially when it's cold!) It was delicious.

They have the "classic" type of empanadas (like pollo and queso), but also some more "exotic" empanadas, like those filled with cheeseburger or peanut butter & bananas. I got the spinach & cheese in wheat flour and a chicken in corn flour; Alvin got the Polish (sauerkraut and sausage) and cheesesteak. And then - since I didn't remember these being on the menu last time - we split a chicken arepa. So good, and so inexpensive for so much food!

Now, arepas have their own story. A group of us went to Miami during senior year of college and happened to be there during the Calle Ocho festival. They had arepas there, and I've had a thing for arepas ever since. Mmmmmmmmmmm.

But back to dinner. We didn't just stop there. We had dessert. :)

Dessert empanadas!

Last time, we tried guava & cheese and (I think) fig caramel & cheese. They were actually pretty good. I wasn't sure what to expect with the guava/cheese mix, but it's very good. So good that I planned from the beginning to order it for dessert. Alvin tried the plaintains & cheese one for dessert this time. Maybe one day we'll go there and just get dessert empanadas. They're yummy.

And I really should be sleeping right now, as it's 1:15 and I need to be awake in a little over 5 hours for "stupidclass." I think I'm still up because I'm so excited that tomorrow is the last one, but I need to remember that it won't be the last one if I can't get there in time!

Good night!