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| - I am the first to admit that when it comes to Latin American food, especially South American, I am as picky and demanding as they come. I grew up eating the stuff, empanadas were to me what peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are to most kids. Its hard for me to find an empanada here in Toronto that impresses me, specially since my grandma's and sister empanadas are so delicious!
Jumbo Empanadas is a small, dark and boiling hot restaurant offering three items: Empanadas (chicken,beef,veggie or cheese), Humitas, and Pastel de Choclo (Savoury Corn Pie). I came here with my mom totally famished and looking forward to some comfort food.
To start, this place is crazy busy. The line to place your order is pretty long, and it doesn't move particularly fast. Once you get to the front of the line, you will be greeted by what is possibly the crankiest and most antisocial, too cool for school girl I have ever seen. This chick is totally pms'ing hard core. Anywho, I placed my order of one corn pie, one humita, and 1 beef empanada. I then went to sit and wait for my food to be warmed up and brought to me. About 5 minutes later the same sour faced girl came out and dumped our food on the table without a word. Whatever, I came here for the food.
Now, the food... The humita was seriously horrendous. Humitas are made of fresh grated corn, mixed with fresh cheese and cilantro (optional) wrapped in corn husks and steamed or baked to a perfectly coagulated and doughy consistency. If made correctly, humitas can be addicting and delicious. This however was not the case at Jumbo's. Yuck, that's all I can say. We had one bite and left the rest. Totally tasteless and undercooked. My mom (the humita queen) should go and give the cook a few tips.
The pastel de choclo was equally disappointing. Not as bad as the humitas, but equally bland and devoid of seasoning. When corn pie is made correctly it is sweet, salty, and smoky all at the same time. This pie was none of these things. It was one dimensional and boring. It is filling though, and I guess it is good if you don't know any better. However, I've had the real thing, and this just wasn't up to snuff.
Now, the Empanadas. These were good. The filling is traditional (black olive and boiled egg included). These reminded me of my last trip to Chile and all the empanadas I wolfed down. Yummmm! The empanada was so good that I lined up again and got 4 more beef and 4 cheese to go. Hey, if something is good, you better stock up! Plus, these are great for breakfast.
I'll definitely be getting more empanadas from here, however I won't ever be eating either the corn pie or humitas again. Next time I have a craving for an humita I'll just wait for my mom's yearly gigantic humita bake off.
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