Empanada or Pastelito?

Ed told me a couple of months ago that he ate the most delicious chicken empanada from the man on the southwest corner of 136th St. and Broadway. The man started to give him the chicken and an additional beef empanada, but then Ed corrected him and only got one. Once he tasted it, he wished that he had gotten a beef, too. When I see this man, I try to walk to the other side of the street because I know that once I try one, it will become a habit. Since I ran around the track yesterday, I finally earned the right to eat a yummy fried meat treat.
I've tried his kipe, the Dominican version of kibbeh, those pointy fried balls of bulgar wheat dough stuffed with meat. The one I ate had seen fresher times, but those empanadas, man were they good! The crust isn't bready, it has a texture and yellow color, so maybe it was made with cornmeal or some other kind of masa. The man has a little fryer right in the cart, so they were still hot and the crust is crispy on the edges, but nicely chewy around the filling. The shredded chicken filling had bits of green olive adding a subtle bite of vinegar. I also spurged on the queso version which was less revelatory, it's filling was straight up white cheese. Empanada means to wrap or coat in bread, so these might be called pastelitos, little pies.
Whatever you call it, these babies are going on the list of best snacks for a dollar.
When I was taking the picture of the cart, there was a group of kids that started talking about me taking pictures, so I crossed the street without getting a clearer picture from behind the plexiglass that shows how the pastelitos are strung up on metal skewers which hang from a wooden dowel. The bubbly oil from the frying tray keeps the pies warm. As I was crossing the intersection, I saw a scene like this, so I went back to the middle of the street to the benches. Those benches in the middle of the street always remind me of "Panic in Needle Park" because that's essentially where the characters in Panic would hang out, although sixty blocks down and in the 1970s. The guy sitting a bench over looked like he could have been an extra in Panic, so I ate my snacks and took the snapshots quickly.
There was some trouble up here a couple of weeks ago, but bad stuff happens everywhere. Upper Manhattan gets such a bad rap. Someone has to make a really good movie set in over here that's a definate positive. If it were up to me, Breakin' 3, set in NYC! We need something to balance out the lack of moral center on stuff like American Gangster. Don't get me wrong, I worked on AG, it's a terrific looking movie—all the props look real; the sets look great; the womb to tomb montage is fantastic. We did a great job. The story basically shows how drugs make you rich and you'll kill along the way. You might go to jail, but get a good lawyer, you'll get out eventually and have a movie made about how you ruined many a life. Don't worry, though, those folks are probably long dead.
If you like French Connection and The Godfather or Scarface, AG tries to be like those movies. I know it's morally wrong, but I couldn't help it. I got a kick out of it. Just like I know eating fried meat pies is bad for my cholesteral and waistline. Is that so wrong?