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| - Empanadas are pretty easy to make. You have your filling - usually some kind of meat, some spices, onions, make it the night before, stick it in the fridge - and you have your shells - usually made out of masa harina. When you're ready to serve them you plop a spoonful onto the shell, roll it up, squeeze the edges and drop them into the fryer.
It's not haute cuisine. Every culture has some kind of dough-and-filling staple whether it be Polish pierogis or Chinese dumplings. It's so basic it's hard to believe anyone could fuck it up.
Unfortunately, someone has. These are, by far, the worst dough-and-filling creations I've ever had. The dough was soggy, the filling was dry, it was paradoxically bland and salty. The mushrooms in the mushroom and cheese empanada tasted like they were on the verge of going bad. Also, they should be fried. Not baked.
Granted, I ate the empanadas during Thanksgiving break when not many students are on campus so maybe the management didn't really think it'd be worth it to make fresh empanadas. Then again, empanadas should never be made hours beforehand to sit under a heat lamp. You want to save money? Close up shop instead of serving an inferior product.
Finally, it was overpriced (3 little empanadas for 6 bucks) and the service was lousy. The place felt kind of disorganized and grimy, the employees were lackadaisical. I don't expect the corporate shine and whitewash of a Jimmy John's. A little dirt can be ok, I appreciate texture, but I also like a little bit more professionalism.
If the owner wants to make some real money I'd say get rid of the pizza, get rid of all the empanda options except for maybe the top two flavors (a spicy ground pork one Colombian style and maybe a vegetarian option), reduce your staff, get an industrial deep fryer, drop the price of each empanada to $2, make it three for $5, offer free salsa to top on the empanadas and stay open really late on the weekends. Let the smell of the fried goodness waft over the street and watch people line up outside of your door.
Empanadas are blue-collared, street food in Latin America. They're also great when you're drunk or high and got the munchies. This place should be so much better.
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