Empanada Mama

I've mentioned Empanada Mama on Scoboco before, and how it's one of my favorite Quick Bite places in town, either for an on-the-go snack (empanadas make excellent ambling food), an inexpensive sit-down lunch, or a fun, tasty pre-theater dinner, such as the one I had with Mom, Debbie and Erika in April before The Year of Magical Thinking.

Anyway, I was reminded again last Saturday how much I (and my daughters) like this place, when the three of us squeezed in a meal between the MoMA and a movie. On this day I wandered a bit across the menu and tasted disappointment, but if you stick to any of the over 30 varieties of empanadas—wheat flour or corn, fried or baked, savory or sweet—you're pretty much guaranteed happiness.

For example, the Broccoli and Cheese Corn Flour Empanada: Co and I get this every time, unable to resist the sweetness of the corn, the salty cheese, the firm broccoli. Co also loves the lively Cuban, on Wheat, which houses the usual ham, pork and cheese. The Reggaeton is delicious (roast pork, sofrito, yellow rice, peas) as is the Cheese Steak, and the Brasil (ground beef with onions, peppers, olives and potatoes), and the Pernil (spicy shredded pork), and the Chorizo.

Bo tried the Pizza for the first time, and devoured it, declaring a new favorite. Even the garlic-laden Viagra (shrimp, scallops and crab), which I had in April, is so good that it's almost worth the discomfort of those around you for the rest of the night. For dessert we've enjoyed the Guava and Cheese, the Figs, Caramel and Cheese, and the Belgian Milk Chocolate with Banana. Obviously, these are not your empanadas of yore... but if you purists out there can stomach a few cutesy names and Hot-Pocket-esque combinations, you're in for a treat.

Like I said, they do serve other dishes here, too, but I'm not sure it's worth the risk. In April my Chicken Arepa was great; in June, tired and stale. But the worst mistake in my dozen or so visits has to be Saturday's Italian Parsley Salad, which, for $6.95, was basically exactly that: a mountain of parsley, getting no support from the scattered grains of bulghur wheat nor from the alleged lemon and oil dressing. Stick to the right side of the menu, then, and you'll do fine.

Empanada Mama is on Ninth Avenue between 51st and 52nd Streets, a short (10- to 15-minute) walk to most Broadway theaters. Apparently there are other locations in Queens, where co-owners Socrates Nanas and Javier Garcia grew up, but I've never been.

Casellula

It's only been about 18 hours since I polished off the last of my heavenly, cheesy creations at Casellula, but already I'm craving more... especially of that Pig's Ass Sandwich, a definite nominee for my favorite dish of the year.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Casellula is a Cheese and Wine Cafe that opened about a month ago in a pleasant, airy room in Hell's Kitchen. The staff couldn't be more excited about the place, manifested both in their friendly, infectious enthusiasm—server Perri sparkled, fromager Tia Keenan stopped by for a chat, as did the host, as did a young man whom I guess was a line cook—as well as in the obvious love that goes into this food. Basically? From start to finish, this was one of the best meals I've had in a while.

I began with three fun and flavorful Chistorras in a Blanket, spicy, skinny chorizos wrapped in crispy pastry, topped with a lovely radish pico de gallo that was sliced so thin, it was like eating vinegary flower petals. Next came my "composed cheese plate", the excellent Gratinéed Comté—a generous slab, soft and nutty—combined with a pile of rich oxtail rillet, glazed little onions, perfectly pickled ramps and slices of fennel, and enough slices of toast to scoop it all up. I loved both of these dishes. And then my dinner got even better.


It was the Pig's Ass Sandwich that got me in the door to Casellula (New York magazine's Underground Gourmet gave it a rave), and it'll be the Pig's Ass Sandwich that keeps me coming back. Combining fatty, juicy, marinated pork butt with two kinds of heady cheese—cheddar and foi epi (like a swiss)—and sweet B&B pickles, all pressed together on wonderfully crunchy ciabatta and served with a side of chipotlé aoli, this pseudo-Cuban sets off beautiful explosions of flavors and textures and amazingness in your mouth. Finally came dessert, an intense Lemon Tart with roasted pistachios inside and out, paired with a mound of goat cheese ice cream which, honestly, I wanted to be more interesting, but which did provide a nice creamy coldness to things.

Casellula in located on 52nd Street, just west of Ninth Avenue. In addition to the prepared dishes menu from which I ordered (and, by the way, the amount of food I got would have been enough for two), there's also an extensive cheese menu, divided into sections such as Bloomy, Uncooked, Washed and Blue, from which Tia would be happy to prepare a flight or two. This place hasn't really been discovered yet—there were plenty of open tables last night between 7:30 and 8:30—but with food this good, it's only a matter of time. Enjoy it in peace while you can.

Villa Pizza

Two of my favorite movie theaters in Manhattan—stadium seating, plenty of leg room, excellent sound, a few monster-sized screens among the 38 total—happen to be across the street from each other in one of my least favorite parts of town, 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues.

When you're inside the theaters, it's all good. Outside? Yeah... not really. And if you need to grab a quick bite before your show—a not unusual situation, and one that Bo, Co and I found ourselves in last Saturday evening—then what? Are you going eat at McDonalds? Yoshinoya? How about, god forbid, Chevy's?! I've tried them all, to much intestinal discomfort.

Enter Villa Pizza, which serves up surprisingly good and satisfying slices, both thick "Sicilian" style as well as regular NYC foldables, right on the corner of 8th and the Deuce. I've now eaten here several times since last winter and the pizza's been consistently decent (pizzafficiando Debbie was the one who first suggested it, and also gave it her approval): the Sicilian has a pleasing crunch, the regular is not too greasy; the ingredients are fairly well balanced and actually have some flavor; the sauce is not too sweet, not too garlicky; the place seems busy enough that you needn't fear the meat slices, which actually have a nice, safe spicy-ness to them.

The atmosphere is as unlovely as you'd expect—and not helped by the inevitable flies that come through the wide-open front door—but the food-court sensibility and cafeteria-style service definitely provide for a speedy meal. In other words, this restaurant knows its job, and it does it well.

Villa Pizza is on the corner of 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue. Sicilian slices, with toppings, cost around $4. They also serve steam-table things like pasta and chicken wings, as well as make-your-own salads, but I have never felt the urge to go there. The two movie theaters mentioned are the AMC Empire 25 and the Regal E-Walk Stadium 13, both of which are right nearby on 42nd St.