Empanadas are dishes of deceptive simplicity. A portable pastry pocket filled with meat, cheese, vegetables or meringues. But empanadas can all too easily go wrong. Dry fillings. Dough that is too thick or too hard. A failed empanada is a dry starch bomb that no amount of red wine can save.
At Donde Cristian, a small street stand on a busy intersection in Van Nuys, Marcelo Valdebenito sells Chilean-style empanadas most nights of the week that remind me of my aunt’s cooking in Santiago. (I’m Chilean on my mother’s side.)
Valdebenito’s dough is thin and smooth – never dry. And its fillings are carefully made. An Empanada de Pino (beef empanada) is made from hand-ground beef braised with onions, cumin and oregano. But the revelation is his Empanada Napolitano (Neapolitan-style empanada), a mixture of tomatoes, ham, cheese and oregano that oozes out gently when you bite into it.
Hot Pockets have no anything in addition.
It offers homemade pebble (the Chilean cousin of Chimichurri) as a topping, the Valdebenito made from a finely chopped mixture of onions, garlic, tomatoes, coriander, oil, and lemon juice.
“Chilean food is simple,” he says. (Unlike Mexico or Peru, the country has no hot sauce culture.) “But it’s delicious.”
Valdebenito arrived in Los Angeles early last fall with his son. Born and raised in Santiago, he learned to cook from his grandmother, who taught him the art of making empanadas, among other things. For a time, he ran a place in the central Santiago neighborhood of Lo Valledor, where he prepared traditional Chilean dishes in a restaurant inside a supermarket.
After arriving in LA, he needed work — and fast. Another immigrant from South America recommended the intersection of Sherman Way and Sepulveda Boulevard as a good place to sell — near a busy bus stop and a shopping center with a CVS and a Jons. (Don’t miss Jons. They have Russian beer, frozen pierogi, a surprising selection of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cheeses and dips, and a proper Armenian bakery.)
Valdebenito started his business with a single cooler from which he poured fresh mote con huesillo, a popular Chilean drink made of dried peaches stewed with sugar and cinnamon and served with a scoop of cooked barley. It’s a refreshing drink/snack – cool and slightly sweet – and the kind of thing that can recharge brain cells after a day in the brain-melting heat of the San Fernando Valley. (A glass costs $6 and is practically a meal.)
On several evenings I have observed customers walking away with half a dozen or a dozen. Some days everything is sold out before the sun even sets.
After his mote con huesillo became a success, Valdebenito expanded his menu to include other dishes. He acquired a small grill and began serving Chilean sandwiches such as barros luco (a type of cheesesteak named after a former Chilean president) and chacareros (a steak sandwich with tomatoes and green beans), which sell for $14.
Also on the list are completos, Chilean-style hot dogs known for their generous amounts of smashed avocado, tomato and mayo ($10). He also started making empanadas ($8 each), which he can heat up for you on the spot or pack up to take home.
It’s the empanadas – his best dish – that immediately caught my attention because of how carefully they are made. Valdebenito says that after arriving in the U.S., he worked diligently to recreate Chilean empanadas by testing different types of flour to see which ones were most similar to those used in his home country.
“I want to make empanadas that feel like home,” he says, “like you’re eating in a Chilean home.”
The empanadas have caught the attention of others, too. On several nights, I’ve observed customers drive up and walk away with half a dozen or a dozen. Some days, the empanadas sell out before the sun even sets. (If you’re driving across town to visit, it’s best to call ahead to see if he still has stock. Valdebenito also takes advance orders for empanadas, with a minimum order of half a dozen and a minimum of two days’ advance ordering required.)
Now established locally as a purveyor of Chilean food, he has expanded his offering to include a range of other products. For sale is a selection of commercial snacks that he imports from South America, for those with nostalgic memories of their favourite chips.
For Valdebenito, Donde Cristian is a reliable business. But it is more than that. “I may do this for the public,” he says. “But really it is my home cooking. I want to make something that people like.”
On a recent night, he was stocked with Frac cookies (a chocolate chip cookie that is one of my favorite foods when I visit Chile), Super 8 chocolate bars (a crispy wafer dipped in chocolate), and Manjar Blanco (a spreadable caramel comparable to Mexican cajeta). He even stocks Chilean sodas like Bilz and Pap, known more for their nuclear colors—screaming red and electric yellow—than for any particular flavor, which, by the way, sweet(Although the makers of Pap claim that their lemonade tastes like papayas.)
Lately, Valdebeinto has teamed up with a fellow Chilean—a friend he calls abuelita chilena (Chilean grandma)—who bakes alfajores, a cookie sandwich filled with caramel and dusted with unsweetened coconut.
Alfajores are also very simple dishes that can go terribly wrong. The worst are too dry, too heavy and too cloying. But these special cookies are made with cornstarch instead of wheat flour, which results in an incredibly light dough that crumbles in your mouth. They couldn’t be more attractive: Each one is embossed with a decorative floral design. (A box of six costs $15.)
For Valdebenito, Donde Cristian is a reliable company. But it is more than that.
“Maybe I’m doing it for the public,” he says. “But really, it’s my home cooking. I want to make something that people like.”
Mrs. Cristian ~ 15232 Sherman Way, Van Nuys, CA 91406. Phone: 818-310-3521.
Opening hours: Valdebenito is usually open Monday to Saturday from 6pm to midnight, but may be closed at night when hosting events.
