Sarah Darville

Sarah Darville

Iconic Hand Rolls isn’t the only takeout joint that’s new to the neighborhood: an empanadas spot will host its grand opening tonight, days after quietly soft-opening on East Ninth Street.

Empanadas Bar makes a bold claim on its menu, as you can see below: “We only use organic or local farmer market products.”

“The idea was that New York doesn’t have good empanadas,” said owner Juan Tourn. “Here, everything’s fresh.”

He and another cook, Efrain Sosa, left Novecento, an Argentinian restaurant in SoHo, after Mr. Tourn spent a year dreaming of opening his own small place. Deciding what to serve at Empanada Bar was easy, he said, since he’d been making empanadas for decades, first in Argentina (where he got his dough recipe) and then in Spain.

Will this newcomer fill the void that Ruben’s Empanadas left when it closed on First Avenue? Find out for yourself: tonight’s grand opening starts at 6 p.m. Read more…