Pricey Empanadas Not for Regular Joes

The equation seems simple. Take some combination of meat and cheese and vegetables, stick it in a pie crust, heat it—either frying or baking will do—and there you have it. An empanada.

But it turns out that the perfect empanada is quite tricky to successfully reproduce. It requires a flaky and buttery crust that boasts a touch of salt and is neither too crunchy nor too sweet, and must be filled with a warm mixture of meats and cheeses that melts at the touch of the tongue.

Difficult or not, these savory pastries have become all the rage in Morningside Heights. They were available first at the old staple Havana Central and now at the brand new Empanada Joe’s. The storefront on Broadway between 110th and 111th streets, which opened on Aug. 15, is beginning to elicit responses from students and neighbors who have now had a few weeks to experiment with this Morningside newcomer.

“It’s our goal to put a product out there that we feel is high-quality,” said Steve Fusco, the Director of Marketing for the chain. “Everything tastes better when it’s inside of an empanada.”

And that is exactly what the chefs at Empanada Joe’s are trying to prove, creating a whole new line of products to differentiate themselves from the traditional chicken-, pork-, or cheese-filled pastries.

A few of the new varieties include the Mediterranean Caprese empanada, which is filled with mozzarella cheese, plum tomato, and basil, and the breakfast sandwich empanadas, filled with egg, cheese, and either bacon or sausage.

Daryl Freedman, an Upper West Side resident who had just finished her first Mediterranean Caprese empanada, noted that she thought the “crust was very flaky and the basil was very fresh.”

“We wanted to get empanadas for people who wanted something a little different from your traditional Latin fare,” Fusco said, noting that the inspiration had come from Hugo Contrera, the Argentinian culinary mastermind behind the operation. Though he does not work on-site, Contrera helps come up with new ideas for fillings and also oversees the production of the empanadas from his restaurant outside the city.

The pastries are made daily at the main restaurant, under watch of Contrera, and sent to the different Empanada Joe’s locations like the one in Morningside Heights and those opening soon in both Midtown and Chelsea. “Basically having the making of the empanadas located at a central commissary allows us to have tight quality control,” Fusco said.

One of the main goals of the chain is to use only the freshest and highest quality ingredients to create a product that is both nutritious and appetizing. Along with the organic ingredients, Joe’s strives to make its empanadas healthy by baking them, a process that contrasts with the typically fried traditional empanadas. “By baking these empanadas we wanted to create something that is wholesome and very tasty,” Fusco said, adding that when it comes to quality, baking them “actually enhances it.”

Though it is a plus for many that the empanadas are filled with antibiotic- and hormone-free meats, the cost of ingredients raises the price of the individual empanad­a—and this has become a concern for some customers. “I think they could have been a little cheaper for the size,” said Sam Polan, a student at the Columbia College of Dental Medicine.

As a rival of Havana Central, which sells empanadas for one dollar during happy hour from a cart outside the restaurant, Empanada Joe’s may end up offering more of an occasional indulgence than everyday fare. As Polan said, “I was thinking that at Chipotle you could get a whole burrito for the price of two empanadas.”