Bolivian food is hard to come by
in New York City.
There are only a few Bolivian restaurants
in the entire city, one being Bolivian Llama Party,
which is best known for its salteñas.
These savory pastries are sort of a crossover
of a soup dumpling and an empanada
and are as complex as they are delicious.
Alex Oropeza: For Bolivians, salteñas are really like
a magical thing to get.
David Oropeza: It takes us three days to make a salteña.
There's a gelatinized filling.
The dough is very temperature-sensitive.
The filling is very multilayered; it takes 12 hours to make.
There's a hand-braiding element.
Narrator: But in order to try salteñas in Manhattan,
you have to go underground.
Rose Lee: Hey you guys! It's Rose here.
And I'm on my way to Bolivian Llama Party,
which is one of New York City's best Bolivian restaurants.
That's actually located in New York City's
Columbus Circle subway station.
Narrator: Founded in 2012, Bolivian Llama Party
was one of the first Bolivian restaurants
to make its mark on New York City.
Rose: That's where we're eating today.
Alex: We're actually the only Bolivian restaurant
in Manhattan and in Brooklyn,
so we are clearly the best.
Narrator: The three brothers behind the business,
Alex, Patrick, and David Oropeza,
started selling their cuisine inside
Manhattan's Columbus Circle subway station in 2016,
as one of the original vendors
in Turnstyle Underground Market.
Patrick Oropeza: We're telling our story, and, you know,
Alex was born in Bolivia and we were born here.
But growing up as Bolivian Americans,
we are seeking our own identity in the food.
And that's what we were creating.
Narrator: Seven years after starting
their business together, the Oropeza brothers
are still coming up with new and inventive ways
to make Bolivian food shine,
even in one of the city's least glamorous destinations:
the New York City subway.
The Oropeza brothers have always used
traditional Bolivian recipes
and continue to make everything on their menu in-house.
This includes braiding their salteñas by hand,
which chef and co-owner Patrick does at their
large-scale production facility in Queens
nearly every single day.
Narrator: Making salteñas,
which are sometimes called Bolivian soup dumplings,
is a challenging and time-consuming process.
David: This hand has braided, hand-braided,
take a guess:
1 million salteñas.
We ran the numbers.
Patrick: It's like a Thanos hand.
David: He braided 1 million salteñas with this hand.
Narrator: Here's how he does it.
First, the salteña filling, or jigote,
is made from a base of chopped carrots,
celery, and other aromatics, including
white onions and ají mirasol chilies.
Narrator: A whole beef foot is then
chopped up and added to thicken the filling.
The filling simmers for up to 10 hours over low heat,
which slowly builds layers of flavor within the dish.
Making the salteña dough starts with two ingredients:
bread flour and manteca, or shortening.
Patrick incorporates shortening into the flour
using a technique where he crumbles the shortening
and mixes it into the flour with his hands.
He continues mixing until small flakes
appear in the mixture.
Then, Patrick creates a dome in the flour
and shortening mixture before gradually pouring in
a blend of water, salt, cane sugar,
and ground amarillo chili powder.
The liquid gives the salteña dough a bit of flavor,
as well as a bright, yellow hue
that darkens as the salteñas bake in the oven.
Once the liquid is fully incorporated,
Patrick kneads the dough lightly
before rolling it out into a long strip.
Patrick uses a bench scraper to cut the dough
into small, 3-inch pieces before squeezing each dough ball
until all of the cracks are smoothed out.
The dough balls are then flattened with the rolling pin.
To fill the salteñas, Patrick takes
the flattened dough ball in his hands
before scooping the congealed filling into its center.
He then places a quarter of a hard-boiled egg
and a sprinkle of Bolivian oregano on top of the filling.
Then, Patrick begins sealing the salteña,
ensuring to press out all of the air from its center.
Patrick braids the seam of the salteña
to prevent the filling from spilling out as it bakes.
Then, they're baked until golden brown.
Rose: All right, so, I have two salteñas in front of me,
and this one is going to be a pork chop salteña,
and then this one is a vegetarian salteña
that's made with quinoa, some veggies,
and they actually use agar-agar,
which is a thickening agent made from red algae.
And so, they use that instead of the beef foot,
which they use to kind of thicken up
the other fillings and the other savory salteñas.
So, I'm really excited to give it a taste
and see how it compares to the other salteñas.
So, let's go in.
Aah, there it goes, I knew that was gonna happen.
As you can see, I've made a little bit of a mess,
and, according to the brothers at Bolivian Llama Party,
it's a sin to let even a drop of the filling go to waste.
So, clearly, I don't know how to eat a salteña properly,
but I'm really excited, because I think Patrick
is gonna sit down with me and teach me
the proper way to eat a salteña.
Patrick: You wanna bite off the tip enough
to make a little bit of a crevice in,
I've gotta go one more time.
Rose: OK.
Patrick: Now that you've got a little bit of an opening,
you can pour your llajua inside.
Rose: OK.
Patrick: Now, this will be to,
you can kind of control how spicy you want it.
So, if you want it just a little spicy,
just a tiny bit, but if you want it really spicy,
go ham, drop it in very slowly.
And what you wanna do is do a little bit of a mix.
Rose: All right.
Patrick: So, at this point, there's gonna be a combination
of eating around and drinking the juice.
So, it's gonna be kind of like,
the ratio of doing both is the key
to not having too much bread or too much juice.
Rose: I see, I see.
Patrick: That's the secret right there.
Rose: I see.
Mm, it's really yummy.
What's really interesting is the dough
tastes a little bit like cornbread in a way.
It has a little bit of sweetness to it
that kinda reminds me of cornbread.
But it also has a little bit of flavor
from those amarillo chilies that they use,
and that's also what gives the dough
this amazing bright color.
Narrator: In addition to the salteñas,
Bolivian Llama Party is also known for its chola sandwiches.
Specifically, the smoked-brisket chola.
The brisket at Bolivian Llama Party
is roasted for 11 hours in a spice rub
that includes fennel, coriander, and the locoto pepper,
which is a chili that's native to Bolivia
and has a slightly fruity, albeit spicy flavor.
Before assembling the sandwich,
they grill the brisket in some oil to caramelize the meat.
They top the brisket with chopped tomatoes,
pickled red onions, pickled carrots,
fresh cheese, and a sprinkle of cilantro.
Rose: That is so, so good.
There's all this richness and umami coming from the brisket.
It's a little bit smoky,
but it has a little bit of sweetness to it
from the carrot and the pickled red onion.
And what's nice about the toppings on the sandwich
is that it really cuts through the richness of the meat,
and so it's not overpowering.
All the flavors really work well together,
and it's just a delicious sandwich.
I could eat this any day of the week. It's so good.
Narrator: So, the next time you're riding on the subway
in New York City, consider the eats
you may pass along the way to your destination.
And see for yourself all of the delicious dining options
that exist underground.