Not too long ago, we got lunch from a truck parked at 38th & Broadway. After getting our food, we crossed Broadway and walked right by a cart selling deep fried empanadas that we hadn’t seen before, on the NW corner.
It’s not like we get to this part of town too often, and after talking to Tony today, he told us that he has only been there a few months.
The sign on the side of the cart just says Epanadas Beef Chicken Cheese, but on the back of the cart, there’s a sign that says Tony’s Empanadas that he proudly pointed out.
Empanadas were $2 each, so we got to try each one of their empanadas and still only spend $6 on lunch.
It took us about 10 minutes to get back to Columbus Circle, and our empanadas were still warm, even though the temperature was less than 40 degrees outside.
These empanadas were large, about 6″ across, and were deep fried.
We couldn’t differentiate, and our first one turned out to be beef. There was a nice amount of ground beef inside, and it was very lightly seasoned. Not much more than the beef itself.
Tony offered hot sauce when we ordered, which had a good kick. It really helped pick up the flavor of the beef.
The second Deep Fried Empanadas were cheese. Looking inside after taking a bite, it seemed to be mostly air, but the cheese was thick and flavorful. Not sure exactly what type of cheese, but it tasted kind of like a salty mozzarella.
When you look at the photo, it looks like mostly air, but there’s no way you could fill up this empanada with cheese without it being too rich. We would have liked a little more cheese, but the cheese taste definitely came through.
The chicken was the tastiest empanada of the bunch, and the most stuffed. The chicken was shredded and tasted like it had been cooked in chicken broth. There was both white and dark meat mixed together, which was moist and flavorful.
On all of the empanadas, the crust was light and puffy, and didn’t have an excess of cooking oil. Some oil is unavoidable with deep frying, but these were drained well.
You won’t find Tony’s Empanadas on twitter or facebook, but you will find him on the NW corner of 38th & Broadway.
At only $2 each, they are good for a quick snack, and 2 or 3 are good for lunch, depending upon the size of your appetite.
