Nuchas has opened its first location in New York City’s Times Square as part of a food kiosk pilot program run by the Times Square Alliance. It is one of four restaurant concepts at the Broadway Pedestrian Plaza in Times Square. Nuchas offers six, hand-held, types of food inspired by traditional Argentine empanadas, which use high quality ingredients and an assortment of dough varieties.
They are priced at $3 and include: the Argentine, with ground beef, onions, peppers, scallion, potatoes and olives in a white dough, Short Rib, with slow-braised beef in a Malbec reduction in a rosemary spiced dough, a Pulled Pork Shoulder, in a rosemary dough, Porto, with Portobello mushrooms, spinach and mozzarella cheese in a spinach dough, and a Spicy Cheese empanada, with assorted cheeses, roasted peppers and caramelized onions in a white parmesan dough. They also serve “medialunas”, an Argentine sweet croissant, and “heklas”, a coffee roll inspired by Iceland, as well as espresso coffee.
Ariel Barbouth, the Argentinean-born founder of Nuchas, was inspired to create the restaurant while still living in Argentina. He realized that empanadas had a simple, yet global, appeal and became an apprentice to one of the locally renowned empanada-makers, Topeto Diaz, in Salta, Argentina and learned all of the techniques and tradition involved with making the dish. He then moved to the United States and joined with Chef German Lucarelli, who had worked at Montenapo and Da Silvano, to develop the recipes for Nuchas.
Nuchas is open from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m.
Visit www.nuchas.com