The how-to-eat-an-empanada debate might not be as heated as say, the mayo versus Miracle Whip debate, or the splitting-the-Oreo-in-half versus eat-it-whole debate—but it’s certainly more hotly debated than whether it’s cool or not to eat your Snickers bar with a knife and fork. (It’s not cool, even if you’re in the UK.)
So how do you eat an empanada? Pick it up in your hands and go for it, or knife-and-fork it? The light, flaky pastry may feel fancy, but it’s classic street food. (Spanish or Portuguese street food, though? That is a heated debate. We stay out of it by making ours in the Buenos Aires style: baked, never fried.) That the fact it’s all tucked up in a handy pastry means it’s a food that’s meant to be eaten on-the-go. Cutlery enthusiasts: it’s true our menu gets its vibe from beachside vendors, but you just feel free to go ahead and use that silverware if that’s what makes you happy.
We don’t have a set empanada filling on our menu, because our chef/leader, John Manion, is more likely to buy whatever catches his fancy at the market that morning. (No joke—he once created a pop-up dinner menu that listed ‘Things That I Bought At The Market Today Empanadas’.) So, because John likes how food tastes (direct quote: "The older I get, the more simple I like things, the more direct I like flavors"), and we all know fresh food tastes best, we wrap those fresh ingredients in a flaky pastry and serve it up just for you. And really, at that point, do you even need to ask what our daily empanada filling is if you know that what’s inside the package is going to be the very best the market had to offer?
Need to see it to believe it? Just feel like watching John handle some dough? Check out this video that describes John’s empanada process:
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