Note to readers: Kitchen Encounters is an occasional spotlight on local chefs and other dining industry workers who give diversity and depth to the distinctive food culture of South Florida.
The most attractive empanada in South Florida, its filling of meat, vegetables and spices baked inside a packet of slightly sweet pastry dough, has been flying off the shelf on Fort Lauderdale’s chic Las Olas Boulevard and is the star of the menu at a new café in Davie.
But this flavorful handheld pie comes with a secret: No matter what the menu says, it’s not an empanada.
While the differences may be subtle, the popular pastry in question is actually a salteña, a savory morning tradition in its homeland, Bolivia.
Many South American countries have their own national and regional variation of the empanada in different shapes and sizes, some baked, some fried — the most common in the United States being the traditional fried crescent credited to Argentina. Within that multitude, the salteña deserves to make a name for itself.
“They do really well. People love them. I order about 250 a week,” says Taylor Fuentes, owner of Ann’s Florist & Coffee Bar, a charming café on Las Olas Boulevard, where the salteñas are listed as empanadas.
The ambiguity in the name is not an accident — Fuentes says that using a more familiar term is helpful to her customers. But Fuentes knows the difference. In fact, she says salteñas are “better” than the more common Argentinian empanadas.
“Traditional empanadas, don’t get me wrong, they’re good, but this is a completely different type of empanada,” she says. “These are more full, they’re not as fried as Argentinian empanadas, and the ingredients are, I would say, more fresh.”
Seated outside Ann’s recently, Melanie Ornstein, of Fort Lauderdale, was happy to have her “favorite empanada” properly identified, but …
“Now that I know, I’ll try to call them what they’re called, but can I just enjoy this one without a semantics lesson?” she says, laughing. “Have you had one? So flavorful and moist.”
What’s the difference?
Any savory turnover from Latin America can be called an empanada, and the Bolivian salteña fits the bill with a rustic filling that is juicy and hearty — typically beef or chicken mixed in a slightly spicy, slightly sweet sauce that includes potatoes, peas and other vegetables, sometimes raisins. The more skilled salteña consumer will take a bite from one end and then slurp out the stew-like center (and they consider the use of a spoon cheating).
But the most obvious difference between the two is visual. In the display case, salteñas are pretty and sculptural — recognizable by their plump girth and upright posture, with a braided seam of dough accentuating the top — while many empanadas are thinner and typically lay on their side. Ann’s offers salteñas for $6.95 each, with traditional fillings such as spicy beef, spicy chicken and country chicken.
The baker responsible for Ann’s obscure treats is Fausto Arroyo, a native of the Bolivian city of Cochabamba who recently opened a café called The Wild Mug in Davie, where he serves traditional salteñas baked on site.
The space, a bright, coffee-scented storefront in a strip center at 11476 W. State Road 84, on the southwest corner of Interstate 595 and Hiatus Road, includes a kitchen in the back where Arroyo and his father bake the salteñas that are also served at Ann’s.
To keep things simple for his customers, Arroyo himself lists the salteñas on the menu at The Wild Mug as empanadas.
“We wanted to go with what people know, so they’ll actually try it,” says Arroyo, a perpetually warm and accommodating personality.
Bankers to bakers
Led by his mother, Marlen, Arroyo’s family (he has three siblings) moved from Bolivia to South Florida in 2001, when he was 19. It was his father, Guido, who later came up with the idea to turn their salteñas, based on a recipe handed down from Guido’s mother, into a business.
Arroyo was working for JPMorgan Chase and his wife, Leia, for Bank of America when they quit their jobs to pursue their own dream, opening a bakery and restaurant in North Miami called Top Notch Bistro in 2016.
With a menu of scratch-made baked goods, salteñas, sandwiches and burgers, the cozy eatery quickly developed a loyal following and a wave of five-star reviews on Yelp. At their peak, Arroyo and his father were making 1,500 to 1,700 salteñas a week for customers at Top Notch and for more than 20 wholesale clients, from Pasión Del Cielo Coffee locations throughout Miami-Dade County to non-coffee shops such as J. Wakefield Brewing in Wynwood.
Then the pandemic struck, and the Arroyos closed their restaurant and the bakery in March 2020. They never reopened. In 2022, Arroyo was staggered by the death of his mother after a battle with cancer. “Without my mom, we would not be having this conversation,” he says.
Arroyo used a series of commercial kitchens to keep baking salteñas for his remaining clients, such as Ann’s, while planning his next project.
The Wild Mug opened in November, serving housemade salteñas, sandwiches and sweet pastries, along with a variety of coffees. Arroyo, his wife and two young daughters live nearby after relocating from Kendall.
So far, Yelp reviewers have raved about the “hidden gem.”
Strategic moves
Over the years, Arroyo and his father have adjusted the family salteña recipe based on customer feedback. So a traditional ingredient such as lard has been replaced by butter, and you won’t find quail egg or raisins. They also removed black olives after someone bit into the pit.
“That can be a little bit of a liability. That person could break their teeth and then you find yourself in a problem. But that’s here. Back in Bolivia, they don’t care. You break your teeth, go to the dentist. It’s your problem,” he says, laughing.
Arroyo’s younger brother once lived in the area, but he says the move to Davie was a strategic decision for his business. The market for empanada-style food in Miami-Dade is difficult to break into.
“They are used to what they’ve had for many years, the traditional empanadita, the way they call it. And they typically look for the one that fits their country,” he says.
In Broward County, he has been surprised by the diversity of food and customers willing to try something new, such as a salteña.
“They are more receptive to try, and give credit to, good quality and different, unique experiences of food,” Arroyo says. “I see way, way more variety of food up here in Broward County than Dade County, believe it or not.”
If you are on the hunt for more salteñas, the only other source we’ve been able to find in South Florida is Salteñas Bolivian Kitchen, in a large booth festooned with the nation’s flags at Yellow Green Farmers Market in Hollywood, which is only open on weekends.
There you will learn that a frozen salteña can come out of an air fryer at the peak of its toasty, flavorful deliciousness. Upon request, it can arrive with a side of the spicy Bolivian sauce called “llajua,” made with locoto pepper and likely to make you rethink your usual salsa.
The Wild Mug is at 11476 W. State Road 84, Davie; TheWildMug.com. Ann’s Florist & Coffee Bar is at 1001 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale; AnnsFloristLasOlas.com. Salteñas Bolivian Kitchen is at 3080 Sheridan St., Hollywood; Instagram.com/saltenas.us.
Staff writer Ben Crandell can be reached at bcrandell@sunsentinel.com. Follow on Instagram @BenCrandell and Twitter @BenCrandell.