The Empanada Spot Of Farmingdale Celebrates Grand Opening: 'Blessing'

FARMINGDALE, NY — The Empanada Spot celebrated its grand opening on Thursday — just over a week after it started serving Colombian delicacies in Farmingdale.

Friends and family of the business owners, Farmingdale Chamber of Commerce members, and a representative for New York state Sen. Steven Rhoads attended the ribbon cutting.

Danny Castro, the owner, said it feels "amazing" to have cut the ribbon on his establishment, located at 850b Main St., Farmingdale — next to Ralph's Ices.

"The welcome has been amazing," Castro told Patch. "Right now, the support with the chamber has been a blessing. More than we could have asked for."

The Empanada Spot opened last week. Castro said his shop's first weekend serving up food was "crazy."

"Crazy, crazy, crazy," he said. "It's better to be that way than to be sitting down doing nothing, so I'll take crazy any day of the week."

The Empanada Spot offers a different type of cuisine from the Italian establishments that previously occupied the building. Many Farmingdale residents expressed excitement about having a new type of food in the area.

The Castro family themselves live in Farmingdale.

"We kind of knew we needed something different," Castro said. "That was our goal. I'm happy we met everyone's goal."

The eatery offers more than 40 different types of empanadas, so there is an option for everyone, Castro said.

Joel Blitzer, a member of the Farmingdale Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, congratulated Castro and his family on opening The Empanada Spot.

"Danny told me when I first met him that the reason why he moved here, besides he loves Farmingdale, he couldn't find a place to walk close enough to get empanadas near his house," Blitzer said. "So he said, 'What the heck? Let's work 80 hours a week and open up our own restaurant.'"

The empanadas come from Castro's mother's recipes.

"Welcome to the community," Blitzer said. "People are raving about you online on Facebook. Everything's great. The food is amazing. And this is the last ribbon cutting we are doing in this location. Thank you, and congratulations."