beXnlog

Empanada Mania

I know i've already blogged about Mama's Empanadas at least 4 times in the past year, but if you don't try an empanada after this post then i'm surely a marketing failure!

What makes Mama's empanadas so good is no secret. They come with over 40 different fillings in either crunchy corn or flaky wheat patties, they're cooked to order and the green hot sauce is amazing! (Red is good too, but green is hotter and tastier.) Some notable empanadas: broccoli & cheese, pizza, Hawaiian (ham, cheese & pineapple), chili-dog, tuna fish, Polish (keilbasa & sauerkraut), Italian sausage, Reggaeton (rice, green peas & ham) and "Biagra" aka "Viagra!" There are many other vegetarian offerings besides the usual queso, too.

We always end up going to the Jackson Heights location but note there's one in Sunnyside and another right outside the Queens Center Mall. An empanada fix sure hit the spot after checking out the newly renovated and insanely busy Queens Center, but i like the original Jackson Heights location the best because it's open 24 hours on Fridays and Saturdays, plus it's always busy and fun.

Tonight we took P to Mama's for a double dinner after Thai at Dow Thong. She had a chicken empanada with lots of delicious green hot sauce, be had a cheese and i opted for the Elvis - a fried wheat empanada filled with a mashed sweet banana and peanut butter mixture. It was surprisingly very tasty! I imagined it to be banana chunks swirled into peanut butter; good thing the mixture had a better consistency than that!

But Astorians and Manhattanites neverfear: Papa's Empanadas (with a shockingly similar logo) is on Steinway btwn 25th and 28th Aves in Astoria, and Empanada Mama is on 9th Ave at 51st St in Manhattan. According to this article in the NYTimes:

Empanada Mama is (and if you need to diagram here, feel free) a venture of Socrates Nanas, a first-time restaurateur, and Javier Garcia. They grew up together in Jackson Heights, Queens. Mr. Garcia owns the three Mama's Empanadas shops scattered across Queens. Mr. Garcia started Mama's Empanadas with another friend from the neighborhood, Alberto Bastidas, who has since left the Mama family to open Papa's Empanadas in Astoria. The Mama/Mama's folks disavow any relationship with Papa's, but a quick scan of their menus reveals that all offer a number of the same distinctive empanadas.

I highly recommend the cheese, broccoli & cheese, Greek (spinach, feta and mozzarella) and the Elvis. I can't wait to try the pizza, fig caramel & cheese and the chocolate & peanut butter. I wasn't so into the USA (apples & cinnamon) and although i always get the vegetable ones, they're alright - just trying to eat less cheese, you know. Note the Jackson Heights location now offers a Value Menu: the smallest is 2 empanadas and a soda for $2.50, the largest is 24 and a 2 liter soda for $22.75. That is a lunch option i wish i had in Midtown!

posted by beXn @ 1:44 AM