August 2007
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Washington, D.C. '07
by Celia Cheng
Julia’s Empanadas
2452 18th St, NW
(Columbia & Belmont Rd)
202-328-6232
1221 Connecticut Ave, NW
(Jefferson Pl & M St)
202-861-8828
1000 Vermont Ave, NW
@ K St
202-789-1878
1410 U Street, NW
(14th & 15th St)
202-387-4100
Julia’s Empanadas has been around since the early nineties. At the original store on 18th Street, looking for some guidance, I asked everyone in line his or her favorite flavor, but everyone gave me a different answer. :( I chose the Chilean style beef with ground beef, raisins, hardboiled egg, onion and olive. Perfection! The baked empanada crust was hard but flaky, and the stuffing inside was juicy and flavorful! I wanted another but didn’t want to spoil my appetite for dinner at Komi. So the next day, I picked up eight empanadas from Julia’s to make sure I got to try the different flavors and that I wouldn’t go hungry on my way back to New York. On the train ride home, I realized that the customers in line the day before weren’t kidding me; they were all good! The empanadas are $3 each, and cocktail sized ones 80¢ each (minimum order twenty-five — what a great idea for parties!). One of the men in line told me he’s been coming to Julia’s for ten years, and the empanadas used to be $1.75 a piece, but he still loves them at $3 a pop. I can see why Julia has such a loyal following!
Here’s a list of the empanadas I tried:
Chorizo
with rice and black beans
Chilean Style Beef
ground and chopped beef, raisins, hardboiled egg, onion and ripe olive
Spinach
spinach, ricotta, muenster and cottage cheese, pine nuts and spices
Saltenas
chicken, potato, green peas, hardboiled egg, green olives and onion
Turkey with Spring Onions
cilantro, onion and jalapeño seasoned with turmeric
Jamaican Style
ground and chopped beef, onion, potato, curry and other spices
A Little Background
Owner Julia Hohman grew up in Santiago, Chile. In 1971 she moved to the U.S., taught herself English and worked as a dishwasher in a D.C. hotel. During that time, she paid attention to the food preparation and worked her way up to chef’s assistant. She then opened a restaurant of her own but realized the workload was too much for her to handle, so she decided that empanadas were the solution! (Praise the lord!) She opened her first store in the early nineties and added an international flair to the conventional dish. Today, Julia’s sells about 5,000 empanadas a day.
Credits:
Background research on Julia’s Empanadas conducted by Spoolia Design.
Photograph of empanadas by Veronika Lukasova.
