'That Is a Good Empanada'

Try an empanada at Donde Jorge, an eatery in the heart of southern Chile.

ByABC News
June 7, 2007, 5:33 PM

June 8, 2007 — -- If you happen to find yourself at the very southern tip of the Pan-American highway that connects North and South America, and you are waiting for the ferry to take you across the first fjord, don't worry about food, because there are two terrific empanada restaurants that are ready to serve you while you wait.

The two empanada joints and the ferry dock are about all there is in tiny Caleta La Arena, or Sandy Cove. The playful rivalry between the two eateries is apparent.

The place on the north side is called Donde La Pola." The restaurant on the South is called "Donde Jorge." The names refer to the owners, Pola and Jorge.

Even with the competition, they have a captive market in all the people sitting in their vehicles waiting for the ferry to take them across the fjord to the next stretch of road.

Rodrigo Infante, a regular visitor to the area, advised that we try Jorge's empanadas.

"This place Caletta Arena, you can have these wonderful empanadas, which is a typical dish from Chile, which in fact comes from the culture of the Spanish," he said.

Think of empanadas as Latin American fast food. These delicacies were around centuries before Big Macs and Col. Sanders came on the scene, brought to the area by the Spanish.

These empanadas are very practical. The pastry covering makes them easy to carry and easy to eat. Here in Chile, it's usually a choice of meat, cheese or seafood.

I asked Sylvia Gallardo, the cook at Donde Jorge, "How do you make a good Empanada?" She told me that she mixes seafood with chopped onion, a little cilantro, some pepper and then some salsa.

So, what makes one empanada better than the next?

"I think it has to do with the taste and how it's prepared," said Infante. "You have two types of empanadas, could be fried empanadas or cooked in the oven.

"For me, I prefer the fried empanada of seafood," he said. "They also have one with razor clams that are very nice, here especially. In this place, they have both types of empanadas that are very good, and we have tasted them and they are very nice."