It seems every country in the world has its portable, pastry-wrapped snack, from England's Cornish Pasty to Jamaica's patties, with tiropitakia from Greece, Indian samosas, Russian pierogi, and pork shui mai buns from China in between.

Bolivia specializes in salteñas, Salvador in pupusas, and the area supports a number of good sources, for these and empanadas:

La Casita Pupuseria & Market, 8214 Piney Branch Rd, Silver Spring, MD, 301 588 6656, serves tamales, pasteles, tacos, enchiladas and a number of main course dishes as well as excellent pupusas.

Julia's Empanadas makes these delicious and varied pastry wrapped goodies, at 2452 18th St NW; 1221 Connecticut Ave (where they also sell them tiny for order-in-advance cocktail parties); 1410 U St, 1000 Vermont Ave.

Havana Breeze, 1401 K St. El Patio, an Argentinian bakery and market at 7968 Washington Bld in Jessup, just this side of Baltimore, 443 755 0385, makes really fine empanadas with good and generous fillings in light flaky pastry, and tortillas.

El Patio also has an authentic Argentine restaurant in Rockville, at 12303 Twinbrook Parkway, 301 231 9225/9226, with folk music a couple of nights a week. The food is good and the local Argentine community often gathers there to watch soccer matches on their big screen TV.

Other South American menus can be found at Pike Pizza, 8417 Georgia Ave, Silver Spring; 4111 Columbia Pike, Arlington

Cecilia's, 2619 Columbia Pike, Arlington

La Copa Restaurante, 5171 Lee Hwy, Arlington

Tutto Bene, 501 N. Randolph St, Arlington

Las Palmas, 5902 N. King's Hwy, Alexandria

San Antonio Bar & Grill, 5177 Leesburg Pike, Baileys Crossroads (in the Skyline Mall)

Victor's Grill, 436 S. Washington St, Falls Church El Pike, 6138 Arlington Blvd (in the Willston Shopping Center)

My Bakery & Cafe, 3508 Courtland Dr, Falls Church

Luzmila's Cuisine, 809 W. Broad St, Falls Church

Related Information...

3 Comments

1. El Antojito

   Makes delicious salteñas and empanadas. Check out our website, www.elantojitoinc.com. 18068 Georgia Ave. Olney, MD 20832
   301-570-3331

2. Mauro

   was reading this article and could not pass the little mistake on it, Empanadas Salteñas are named after the city where they have its origin, the city is actually Salta, ARGENTINA not Bolivia, thats why they are named SALTEÑAS.

3. German

   Saltenas are actually Bolivian. But the credit goes too an argentinian lady, from Salta that migrated to Bolivia.
   
   Historian Antonio Paredes Candia states that during the early 1900s, Juana Manuela Gorriti was the first person to create the current version of this product[citation needed]. This lady later married Presidente Manuel Isidoro Belzu. Gorriti was born in Salta, Argentina and was exiled to Tarija, Bolivia during the Juan Manuel de Rosas dictatorship. The Gorriti family endured extreme poverty, and they came up with the recipe in the early 1900s in order to make a living. A variation of these pastries was known at the time throughout most of Europe.
   
   The product, nicknamed "salteña", became very popular. Candia states that it was common to say to kids: "Ve y recoge una empanada de la salteña" ("go and pick up an empanada from the woman from Salta")[citation needed]. In time most forgot the name Manuela Gorriti, but not the nickname. Eventually salteñas left Tarija and became a Bolivian tradition.
   
   Other ingredients included in a salteña are eggs, olives, or raisins.
   
   Another characteristic is that they are juicy, like a stew in a pastry. They are more football shaped than flat like empanadas. The trick to eating them is to hold them upright, nibble the top corner and work your way down without spilling any of the hot juices. The juiciness is achieved by making a stew out of all the ingredients and adding gelatin, so that the stew hardens in the refrigerator, and then slowly melts when they are baked. This ensures that the dough does not get soggy even while providing a very juicy filling.
   
   Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salte%C3%B1as"