Empanadas

Ahhhh, empanadas. Empanadas are my new favorite food.

Most every country has a version ... assorted ingredients wrapped in pastry dough and fried, grilled, or baked.

So good.

They're everywhere around here. From restaurants to mom n pop takeout joints to convenience stores. And there's infinite varieties of fillings and dough types ... from pizza like dough to flaky croissant types to puff pastry types.

Filled with gooey mashes of goodness ... chicken, beef, veggies, cheese, mystery ingredients, you name it. Spanish, Italian, Middle Eastern, Latin American, whatever.

And a hot pocket of goodness that tastes better than most anything you've had in your fluorescent American supermarket world will put you back less than a buck. And just one is kinda enough for dinner when you add a salad or something. And a $4 bottle of great wine.

Previous to being here ... I had had few good empanadas ... ones in Mexico seem to be of very spotty quality ... but they're rocking them here in a big way ... so good, so soulful, so cheap. They're really genius. I'm all about 'em.

The food here is really really great. Like ... strangely so good ... so much better than your typical bizness in the US. Elegant, simple, honest, traditional as well as innovative, it's really a lesson I'm taking a lot of notes on. People here really know how to do it.

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