Once upon a time there was a restaurant just off of South Street that served up the most wonderful empanadas. I was a regular, spending date nights, one New Year’s Eve and as many other nights as I could afford, scarfing down the delightful crisped turnovers as well as the always excellent steak and seafood. Then Azafran’s owner Susanna Goihman ran down and killed a teenager while under the influence. It was clear that Azafran’s days were numbered. But some friends and I decided we had to go one last time for some sort of Bad Karma Last Supper. Goihman wasn’t there and we over-tipped our soon to be unemployed server as we attempted to balance the cosmos.

But what has followed has definitely been bad karma. Every time I’ve found another favorite empanada, the establishment goes away. Recently it was Hoof + Fin that closed up just as we fell for it. And every time we would go to Love Park’s Far From Home Cafe our first choice was always sold out. But that was nothing compared to the news  today, Far From Home Cafe is calling it quits this Thursday. Good for the extremely likable owners Larry Comroe and Wade Smith though as they have been offered a book deal and a consulting opportunity that they couldn’t turn down.

But it leaves us empanada-less once again. Sure we could head to the just praised 943 but we’re not sure we want to bring our dark cloud to Pascual “Pat” Cancelliere, he seems like too nice a guy.

Far From Home Cafe [Official Site]