Eric H.
Yelp
Little Patagonia has recently opened, and is located near the corner of Guadalupe and 30th St with plentiful parking. They have a menu sporting empanadas for less than $4 per empanada (as of July 5th, 2024), and a beverage menu which includes coffee, tea, beer, and wine.
I arrived here on a whim at 10 am, which is when they open; I saw they were offering an introductory promotion of buy twelve empanadas get two free, so I took that opportunity to try out a good chunk of their menu, to-go.
When I entered, the atmosphere was warm and inviting, yet dark and sports bar-like. The floor is blue, with a dark ceiling, with warm wooden tables and matching chairs. They have a neat logo plastered on one of their side walls, as well as all of their to-go boxes on display. On display are empanadas, wine bottles, and coffee bags.
Ordering is done via counter serve.
The food:
This place offers a variety of empanadas. Each empanada is stamped with label indicating their filling. These empanadas are baked. The crust/wrapping is nice and thin with a pleasant crunch, but the bottoms end up quite greasy. The empanadas are small, and are currently offered at a price point of less than $4 each.
I took them up on their buy 12 get two free introductory promotion to get a chance to sample a large variety from their menu. They also kindly offered me a dessert empanada for free.
Once you order, they take the empanadas from the display case and bake them for a few minutes in the oven; then they are ready to go.
I ordered 1x of each of the following: Beef, Spicy Beef, Chicken, Spicy Chicken, Texas Brisket, Spicy Texas Brisket, Tuna, Pork, Spinach, Corn with Béchamel Sauce, Roquefort, Veggie, Lamb, "Cheese Mushroom & Onion", and received the "Guava & Cheese" as dessert.
Out of the 15, I enjoyed the Spinach, Roquefort, and Pork the most. The spinach reminded me of Jeanette's Bakery in Providence, RI with super thin calzone dough when you look at a cross section, stuffed to the brim with spinach and olives. Here, the spinach is less voluminous, but still well-seasoned. The Roquefort had a nice blue cheese flavor, and had some caramelized onions. The pork had a nice refried bean flavor included.
For the remaining empanadas, I can only say they were lackluster. The Corn with Béchamel and Tuna were the definition of bland. All the meat fillings (whether spicy or not) were ground meat, or they surprisingly had meat floss incorporated into them. Meat floss was especially prominent in the brisket and chicken. The tuna and brisket were soul suckingly dry. The seasonings for the beef/lamb/brisket/chicken were all quite similar. The cheese mushroom onion was quite cheesy, kinda like a very cheesy and greasy cheese and mushroom pizza. The dessert empanada I could have done without: it was filled with a guava jelly; there were no discernable chunks of the fruit within, and the cheese was something which tasted similar to a cream cheese--super sweet and a bit disappointing.
I'm sure the empanadas are priced at less than $4 each because of the quality of their fillings is quite low. I would love to support this new business, but at this time, the quality of their empanadas is not up to par, and they are not something I would voluntarily pay for at this time unless they are drastically improved. Del Campo Empanadas in Flower Mound, TX is a great example of an Argentinian Empanada joint that I would gladly repeatedly revisit.
Instead, I would like to give feedback to Patagonia on their food products which will hopefully allow them to improve their product offerings. By using higher quality ingredients for the filling and making each filling option have a more intense and unique flavor would go a long way (most of the meat flavors had quite a repetition in flavor and seasoning). Adding more hints of sweetness or making salt/acidity more prominent could be beneficial. Keeping the fillings moist and not dry would also be helpful. Finally, I really do not understand what advantage meat floss provides in flavoring the filling, especially when present in copious amounts. I don't think it adds anything positive, to say, the brisket. Finally, for the dessert empanadas, if you are able to incorporate chunks of the fruit, rather than just straight jam, lower the sweetness, and showcase the fruit flavors, that would go a long way. I think many currently enjoy the thin and crispness of the baked dough, so that's a plus.
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