Remember way back in August, when the city announced that Times Square would finally be getting some halfway decent lunch options in those little kiosks in the pedestrian zone? Some of those options are now upon us with the opening of Nuchas, promising "hand-held foods for the future," which look suspiciously like...empanadas.
The restaurant says that indeed, their first line of Nuchas (which apparently is both the name of the restaurant and the genre of hand-held food) is inspired by traditional Argentine empanadas. The savory pastries, at $3 a pop, come in traditional Argentine (ground beef, onions, peppers, scallion, potatoes and olives in white dough); Short Rib (slow-braised beef in a Malbec reduction in rosemary spiced dough); Pulled Pork Shoulder (slowly braised in a rosemary dough); Porto (Portobello mushrooms, spinach and mozzarella cheese in spinach dough); and Spicy Cheese empanada (assorted cheeses, roasted peppers and caramelized onions in white parmesan dough) flavors, though, as Midtown Lunch notes, "because of their smaller size, you’ll definitely need at least three empanadas for lunch."
Breakfast options include medialunas, a traditional Argentinean sweet croissant, and heklas, an Icelandic coffee roll ($3 each), all of which (along with the empanadas) are baked on-site. The kiosk is open from 7 a.m.- 2 a.m. daily.
