I have a confession to make: I'm a friend of Juan Contreras, co-owner with his wife, Maria, of Juan and Maria's Empanada Stop at the Rochester Public Market (and their eagerly anticipated second location at 501 West Commercial Street in East Rochester). I've considered myself his friend since I first pulled up a stool at his Market stall one chilly February day about four years ago and bit into a piping hot empanada - buttery tasting, wondrously flaky dough wrapped around a spicy filling of ground beef and onions, all combining to dribble bright orange juice down my hands and (inevitably) onto my shirt. Four years later, I've learned the peculiar hunch that is the mark of a veteran empanada-eater (or chili dog eater, for that matter). But my affection for Contreras' food continues unabated.

Juan Contreras came to Rochester from Chile when he was only 16 years old. He graduated from East High School, took classes at Monroe Community College, and eventually found his way to Xerox, where the germ for his future empanada business was hatched. At some point in the 1980's, Contreras started selling empanadas to his co-workers, first giving them away and later taking advance orders and selling the pastries for $1 apiece (the price 20-some years later is $2.75 each). In the fourth week of this nascent business, Contreras delivered 125 empanadas to his co-workers. Today, he routinely sells nearly 1000 empanadas a day on Saturdays at the Public Market, and he is eagerly anticipating a 2000 empanada weekend as the weather warms up, the crowds return to the Market, and the lines at his stall get longer and longer.

That, in part, is why Contreras is opening a second location for the Empanada Stop: the demand for his food is robust and growing by leaps and bounds. The new location will offer exactly the same menu as the current stand at the Market - Contreras is even having the mural that decorates his stall and his octagonal tables replicated for the new place - and will eventually serve as the production kitchen for all of the thousands of empanadas that he anticipates selling each week to hungry folks like me.

Empanadas are the staple of Contreras' business, and they are uniformly quite good: the pastry is firm but not dense, and so flaky that it closely resembles puff pastry or a very good pie crust. Contreras draws on what he describes as food traditions from all of the Spanish-speaking countries - empanadas themselves are a pan-Latino food closely identified with Argentina and Chile, but found throughout Central and South America in a dizzying number of variations. He offers 10 different fillings for his stuffed pastries, ranging from the cheese and vegetarian varieties to seafood and a "Don Francisco," a variation on a typical Chilean filling that contains ground beef, onions, raisins, black olives, and hardboiled eggs along with a healthy dose of spices.

Particularly notable are the ground beef and the breakfast empanadas. The beef empanada is rich with onions and spices, finely ground and luxuriantly greasy - a treat that is a perfect pick-me-up for the morning after, but that would be even better the night before. The breakfast empanada contains chorizo, bacon, ham, and eggs. The spicy Spanish sausage adds a smoky and very spicy bite to the entire contents of the pastry.

Even vegetarians can find something to eat: vegetarian empanadas - both regular and a breakfast version with eggs - contain mixed vegetables (the green beans are an odd inclusion, but they do work), cheese, and Contreras' signature blend of spices. There are also empanadas for dessert (or for breakfast, if the mood should take you): the "sweet" filling is an almost creamy combination of fruit, peanuts, and raisins that goes perfectly with a cup of the dark, thick coffee that Contreras has roasted especially for the shop. Taken with a generous dollop of sweet condensed milk, this caffe con leche packs a powerful one-two punch of caffeine and sugar that will wake up even the sleepiest of diners.

If all that Juan Contreras served were empanadas, it would still be worth a trip to the Market or to East Rochester to visit him. But he also serves an amazing - and stunningly cheap - plate of pork, rice, and beans. Although Contreras assures me that the pork loin that he uses is dry-rubbed and then grilled, the final result looks and tastes much more like a roast that has been rubbed down with spices and then cooked for a very long time over very low heat to render out every single bit of flavor that the meat has to offer. Served as either a dinner ($6.45 with or without an empanada) or a side dish ($3.25), the pork is cut into bite-sized chunks and served swimming in its own delectable juices along with a heap of saffron-colored rice and a portion of kidney beans stewed with potato, peppers, and a generous amount of sofrito (an all-purpose sauce base usually composed of some combination of tomato, garlic, onions, various herbs including cilantro and oregano, and spices including cumin that is - especially when used in stews - augmented with chorizo, bacon or ham).

Separately, the pork, the rice, and the beans are all wonderful. But watch the people who order it regularly, and you'll learn very quickly that the best strategy is to play with your food - scoop the pork and its juices into the rice, mix the pork with the beans, use the rice to mop up any stray juices that might remain on your plate. The combination is addictive and surprisingly not as heavy as it looks at first glance. The pork is definitely rich and fatty, but the meat is more of a condiment - a flavor and texture meant to augment the other elements of the meal rather than the star attraction. And if, by any chance, you are still hungry, you can always grab one of Contreras' excellent Spanish sausages to go.

Juan and Maria's Empanada Stop is not long on atmosphere. The tables are spartan, the cutlery is plastic, and the plates are Styrofoam. But on any given day I'd choose to pull up a stool at their counter over just about any place else in the city to get my pork fix, and a pick-me-up that will sustain me through whatever else the day might throw at me. 

Juan and Maria's Empanada Stop

Rochester Public Market, 280 North Union Street | 501 West Commercial Street, East Rochester

Public Market| East Rochester: Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-2 p.m.

303-1290