Step aside, tamales. Ordering by the dozen during the holiday season in San Antonio means something different at one Westside restaurant.
Savory empanadas are the singular menu item at Fat Tummy, a modest eatery at 2922 W. Commerce St. owned by Norah Saleh and Gustavo Plache, and they fly out the door by the dozens.
The couple, who grew up and learned their craft in Argentina, opened the restaurant in 2018 after several years of operating out of a convenience store in the South Texas Medical Center area and running a food truck.
Fat Tummy’s variety of meat-filled pastries come in mini and regular sizes, sealed and stamped with letters of the alphabet to indicate the contents before being slid into the oven where they turn into flaky, golden pockets of goodness.
From Spain to Mexico, Africa to the Philippines, many cultures have their version of the filled pastry.
Fat Tummy brought the flavors of Argentina to San Antonio’s empanada scene.
Like the popular corn husk-wrapped delicacy, Fat Tummy empanadas are still made by hand. Devotees come from far and wide throughout the year, but especially during the holidays, to take home a dozen or more.
Last year, Saleh took an order from one customer, a local hotel chef, for 650 dozen. Here’s the math: 7,800 Fat Tummy empanadas.
Saleh at first thought maybe there was a typo in the emailed order. But the chef confirmed and paid in advance.
With a reputation that has spread mostly by word of mouth, the restaurant often fills orders in large quantities, for caterers, universities, small cafes and events.
But it’s also built a following of individuals, including some with household names like former Spurs Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, whose pictures hang in the foyer.
As a food truck, Fat Tummy participated in local competitions, winning first place in some cases and foodie fans in all.
In 2018 and 2022, Fat Tummy was featured on episodes of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, the TV series hosted by Guy Fieri, putting it on a wider map.
In fact, two maps hang just above eye level in the tidy dining room. A box of push pins in assorted colors sits half-empty next to a picture book about Argentina and dense clusters of pinpoints, marked by customers from around the globe, spread across both maps.
The secret ingredient to that fandom is consistency, Saleh said. “They’re always going to keep the same size,” and quality, she said. “That’s why we call them Fat Tummy because they’re full of meat.”
Using custom mold presses, one worker can make up to 1,000 empanadas in a day.
Saleh and Plache learned to make empanadas simply by observing others in their home country. While away from home at college, Saleh began to make them for herself.
In Argentina, the dough is commonly sold in stores; many restaurants serve empanadas and it’s a customary menu item at soccer matches, she said.
In 2003, the couple emigrated to the United States and lived in Dallas before moving to Austin, where they began making empanadas from their home kitchen and selling them to friends.
In 2010, they moved to San Antonio and three years later opened a restaurant on the far South Side. That location proved too much of a distance from a potential customer base so they closed it and found a kitchen to lease for several years on the North Side while they ran the food truck.
When the rent there increased, the restaurant owners set out to find a new home and landed in the present location on West Commerce and North Zarzamora streets. This year, they bought the building and recently won a business sustainability grant from the city to make improvements.
Several break-ins during the past year have not dissuaded the owners, who run the restaurant with help from their son Diego Placha and two workers.
The location has allowed them to grow the business and helps keep costs low, Saleh said, as new competitors arrive on the scene in San Antonio. And, “people will travel for food,” Saleh said.
While empanadas are the only thing on the menu at Fat Tummy, they come in 12 varieties, including traditional beef, chorizo and egg and rajas con queso, plus several kinds of dessert empanadas. You can order them singly or by the dozen, fully baked and ready to eat, or partially cooked to heat at home.
Saleh said they only started making chimichurri sauce to go with the empanadas later on, dismayed as she was by seeing people shake Cholula on their empanadas.
But serving up empanadas, and nothing else, makes it more challenging to stay afloat, Saleh said, especially “in a culture that is mainly tacos, tacos, tacos everywhere.”
Plache was busy on a recent chilly morning preparing the dough in a commercial kitchen-sized mixer, and Carla Caal and Romina Baez were filling circles of dough with meat in a back workroom, when caterer Erich Menger arrived to pick up his order for a party.
Saleh greeted him like an old friend and brought out stacks of to-go boxes that included the popular chicken and spinach empanadas.
“I can’t remember how many years I’ve been coming here,” Menger said. “They’re just very dependable. The products are always outstanding and delicious.”
