Empanada Mama 04-21-2010

Location: 763 9th Ave.
Time: 1pm
People: Laura and myself

Feelings: I have done several take outs from this empanada joint in the past, but I somehow never bothered to stay for the table service. It is quite cramped and especially crowded during lunch, but we managed to get the last available table. I was also always curious about their relation to Mama's Empanadas in Queens since they both have similar name and distinctive menu. Upon a quick Google search, always dependable New York Times said they are owned by the same people. There is also Papa's Empanadas if you want to try the whole family.

The service is definitely not fast or attentive by any means here, which explains why it's always crowded. If you are thinking of getting some quick empanada, think again and make sure you have definitely more than an hour to dine here. In fact, if you have an hour, you might want to go to Queens to pick up cheaper empanadas at their other locations and still manage to come back to work in time. Fortunately, we had a lot of catching up to do, so I felt that the time passed rather quickly. If this was a business lunch with a boss, I would have shot myself in the head.

We initially ordered two small green salads ($4.95), but the waitstaff recommended to share one large avocado salad ($8.45, avocado, cucumber, tomato, lettuce, cilantro with cumin dressing), which was a wise choice. The veggies were not the freshest I have had, but the dressing was tangy and tasty and made the overall salad experience better.

My corn empanadas, Rice and Beans ($2.35) and Vegetable ($2.35, steamed potatoes, lima beans and carrots) were a bit of the dry side but still flavorful, and I always enjoy the texture of their corn crust. What I enjoyed the most was their famous dessert empanada that we shared, "Elvis" ($2.65, peanut butter and mashed bananas). It was creamy and highly addictive, and it was surprisingly not overly sweet. They already have a large, creative and enthusiastic selections of empanadas, but I am hoping they will add Nutella empanada someday.

This place does more modern take on traditional empanadas, and service is a bit on the slow side, but I always enjoy looking through their fun menu and trying out different empanada flavor combinations.