Papa Luna's Empanadas

I'd been seeing the ads in City Beat for awhile now and thought it was high time to finally  go here...

Even though we have Maye's Empanadas in Bonita, this new'ish empanada place had me quite curious. I normally avoid PB like the plague. I fkg hate the parking and traffic here especially on the weekends....

After our delicious triple flavored gelato treats at the nearby Gelato Bus Stop, I asked Bert if we could go there, pretty please with a big fat cherry on top.

Mind you, we'd already had lunch at Hodad's and just had our dessert, so this visit was strictly for take-out and of course, a look see (for 'research purposes', heh heh)...

One girl was working the counter and she was very patient as we agonizingly made our choices, of which there were many.  I hadn't been here before, but from reading the recent yelp reviews, this place had a tiny bit of a makeover. Well whatever they did, it was quite nice and inviting inside.

Their wide variety of choices, both savory and sweet.


Their menu:

And their handy dandy guide with directions for reheating. Each flavor has it's own "letter" code (you will see why in a few seconds)...

Our empanadas came individual wrapped...

And here they were, sitting pretty, waiting to be eaten for dinner later that evening.  There were two types of sauces, a Sriracha cream sauce and a chimichurri (that was given with the Thai Butternut Squash; an odd pairing if you ask me). Hidden under the business card was the Camarones y Tocino empanada which was filled with Tiger shrimp, white sauce, smoked bacon, and garlic.

If you remember the handy guide, the "A" stands for the Crab+Andouille, which was Bert's choice. I liked the hand crimped edges of this. The size was also fair. Not tiny and dinky but not a huge ass piece either.

This one was shaped like a fortune cookie - the "H" stood inexplicably for the Thai Butternut, which was flavored with coconut milk, lemongrass, and curry. It was also vegetarian. Of the three selected, this was my least favorite.

Our salad for dinner later that evening - a mix of spring greens and rocket salad ($2 each at Fresh & Easy) with yellow and red cherry tomatoes, yellow raisins, and a sprinkling of pistachio nuts. It's been our favorite salad for the past week or so. A quick 8-10 minutes in a 400F oven did the trick and these babies were ready to be sampled.

Our empanadas were surgically divided into thirds by the very precise Bert.

The top was the Thai Butternut Squash, the middle was the Crab+Andouille and the last one in the foreground was the Camarones & Tocino. Of the three, I liked the shrimp the best. That was packed full of flavor. The Crab one had too much filler. This was kind of a rip. We would have preferred less rice and more sausage bits and crab! TC's favorite was my least favorite, the squash. It was a bit too soft and mushy for me.

Their sauces...we liked both but I preferred the Sriracha mayo with the empanadas.

There are more flavors that we want to try at Papa Luna's and I'm glad we stopped by.

They had a good selection of flavors there and I thought the prices were fair. Of course, making your own is more economical but for when you are lazy and just want to eat your meal one handedly, you could come here!

Who else went to Papa Luna's?

Hot off the press is Darlene's review from My Burning Kitchen where they tried both the savory and sweet pies.

[Update on 1/25 - Simon Baer, the owner of Papa Luna's commented on Darlene's post and said in the future, folks will have the option of having their empadas baked or FRIED!]

Reviews & articles:
yelp - I liked one review that said this place must do good business with all the drunken people looking for late night eats...
SD Reader - Papa Luna's Perpetual Empanada Eating Contest (What? Sign me up!)
City Beat - Much Better than Hot Pockets (written by Marie of Meandering Eats)

Papa Luna's Empanadas
1404 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109
(858) 255-8875

papalunas.com

Our outings always end up being food crawls of some sort. We had one more place to "check out" and it was just a few steps away. I guess we would have to see the recreation of Cabrilho's galleon, the San Salvador another time!

Up next...even more sweets!