Run, don’t walk, to Titi’s Empanadas!
Calling all my foodies and proud New Yorkers – Titi’s Empanadas now has a second home in New York’s East Village, and you don’t want to miss out! For the restaurant’s grand opening, we heard music coming from down the block, and we knew we had come to the right place. Inside, we were met with delicious empanadas, cozy booth seating, and great vibes. Guests were dancing to the DJ’s beats, refreshing themselves with a cold beer, and of course, trying out all the different empanada variations.
Fellow New Yorkers who are fans of the city’s signature staples, such as chopped cheese, bacon, egg, and cheese, or a good ol’ slice of pizza, can now find their favorite flavors at Titi’s Empanadas. That’s right – you heard me correctly – a chopped cheese empanada. Super original, and super delicious. Whether you’re a carnivore or a vegetarian, Titi’s has a plethora of options for your next outing. Titi’s first location in South Williamsburg has its guests already hooked on its empanadas, and now it’s your turn to discover your favorite new meetup spot. What are you waiting for? Grab your MetroCard and go! Check out the new location at 130 E. 7th St!
Photo Courtesy: Dijana Mesin
The Knockturnal spoke with Co-Owners Jesus Villalobos and Nate Ramm about their passion for empanadas and New York, below:
The Knockturnal: Why were you inspired to start this place?
Jesus Villalobos: Titi’s is kind of born out of chance – trying some other things in our other restaurant and realizing that empanadas are a food that we can be inventive with, play around with, and sell to people – that they’ll love – that they already know. We don’t have to teach anyone what an empanada is – they already know what it is, and it gives us a canvas to put different things that we like to eat in an empanada form.
Nate Ramm: I think creativity. Creativity and being able to do what we want and not have any restrictions, and have fun with it.
The Knockturnal: You have different New York-themed ones, like chopped cheese, bacon egg and cheese – tell me a little bit about the inspiration behind those flavors specially. Did you grow up loving those things or?
Jesus Villalobos: Yeah, I mean, that’s an easy, easy way to think about “what are you gonna do New York-wise” – what comes to mind. That’s New York food, right? There’s a pizza one. There’s a bacon, egg, and cheese. There’s a chopped cheese. But I think moving forward, too, we wanna pay homage to the places that we like eating at in New York and put them in an empanada form. So, there’s a lot of dishes, a lot of things we like to eat in New York, that we wanna put in that vessel, in that form, and maybe not permanently, but sell them and see how they go and give our take on it – our crack at it.
The Knockturnal: And it’s a good selling point. What do you think?
Nate Ramm: I mean, we’re both born and raised in New York, so it just fit – it’s only right. It’s only right.
The Knockturnal: Tell me about what you see right now (a Proclamation).
Nate Ramm: We provided food for Styles P’s organization in Yonkers, and we did a vegetarian dinner for them, and we got a Proclamation from the Senator for giving back to the community.
The Knockturnal: How does it make you feel seeing this?
Jesus Villalobos: I’m amazed. It’s amazing. If you could put Chris’ face in a description, vocally…it’s just pure happiness today, really like all around – it’s incredible.
The Knockturnal: Let’s do personal favs. What’s your personal favorite order?
Jesus Villalobos: It changes every month. I eat here all the time, so one day I’ll like the spinach and cheese, another day I’ll like the papa queso. Some days I wanna be like, “oh, I wanna be a little more healthy, so I’ll eat this one,” or one other days, I wanna be a little more indulgent, [so] I’ll take that one.
Nate Ramm: It’s between the oxtail and the mushroom and onion. I’m not even a vegetarian but its that good.
The Knockturnal: Anything else you’d like to add?
Jesus Villalobos: We love the people around us, that support us, that have been helping us. We can’t do this alone – literally, yesterday, we were up till 2 in the morning doing it with our friends, our girlfriends, our family. Today, everyone showed up. Tomorrow, everyone will show up. It’s being named, but it’s a lot more than that. On paper, it’s being named, but in reality, it’s more than that.
Nate Ramm: I mean, it feels surreal. It feels like a dream right now. It’s been a long journey to get to this point, so I feel like I can take a deep breath now.
The Knockturnal: I know you guys have another spot in Williamsburg, so what made you add this one?
Nate Ramm: I grew up partying in this area a long time ago. I love this area. He loves this area and it’s just the right fit.
Jesus Villalobos: It’s a good neighborhood. I like this neighborhood. Like Nate said, we’ve been coming here ourselves and are patrons of this neighborhood. We like this neighborhood. We have a tie with it. It’s what we like – kind of the vibe we like, and Titi’s is who we are, so it makes sense that this neighborhood is fitting to us. Titi’s isn’t something that we’ve come up with that has nothing to do with us. It’s extremely personal, which reflects on me and him and our values and our preferences, and this neighborhood needs that, and it’s just something we wanna be a part of, especially after being in South Williamsburg – what we’ve learned and all the people we’ve met there.
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