[StewartG]

I've seen this place mentioned here and there on the board, but I need to take a minute to give it SERIOUS PROPS! It is located on 15th ave between 2nd and 4th streets - EASY walk from 5th Ave. Along with HC de Monterrey, it is my favorite restaurant in PDC.

This place has a great selection of the MOST delicious empanadas I have EVER had in my life! I have had Mexican cookie style empanadas and Columbian "mealish" empanadas, but nothing compares to these. They are all made fresh to your order, right in front of you. The kitchen seemed clean and the staff was very friendly. And the price? For most empanadas they are 5 pesos each! A couple were a bit more, and the shrimp was 9 pesos (not my favorite). These empanadas are about four or five inches long, and two or three would make a great light meal, four or five will get you stuffed! Heck, I was able to feed my entire family of four for 50 pesos!!!

"La Renia de Empanadas" makes a good variety, my favorites being cheese, ham and cheese, and the creme de la creme - spinach and cheese! These reminded me of every other spinach dish I love (Greek spanakopita, Indian saag paneer, etc.) She also has a dessert empanada made with dulce de leche (my favorite mexican candy) and coconut that almost made me cry. Like I mentioned, I wasn't overly impressed by the shrimp empanda. It was good, just not nearly as good as the others. Also, the strawberry and coconut empanada came out a bit sloppy, as I think La Renia uses strawberry jam. Personally, I would have added a few more fruit empanadas using fresh local produce, but of course I don't know diddly about making empanadas!

I'm trying to talk my wife and "La Renia" into letting me open a location in Houston! I could charge three times as much and I think I would *still* have people lining up around the block!!! Do yourself a favor and go try this place before it becomes internationally famous and it costs $10 bucks to feed a family of four instead of $5.