We often hop to Moises Bakery when yearning for a Venezuelan-style empanada. Like Grateful Bread, it’s a small bakery with only ten seats, but similarities end there. For one, this North Beach spot has been around since 1991. The shelves are stocked to the gills with import market goods from South America, the display cases stuffed with assertively colored desserts of every stripe, and the countertop piled with sandwiches of varying shapes. The owners are Chilean-born Philip Coleman and Portuguese-born Joachim Bras, both raised in Venezuela. The specialties of the house — other than the steamy espressos poured all day — are empanadas modeled after those from Argentina, Chile, and Venezuela. The Argentine kind is the familiar baked half-moon packet sealed with braided dough — the crust in this case is pale and anything but flaky. Moises’ Chilean empanada seems to be made from the same basic water/flour dough, but it’s shaped like a burrito. The fillings are similar too, whether they are ham and cheese, melted cheese, or chopped beef flecked with raisins and olives and potently seasoned with cumin. But the Venezuelan version rocks — the half-moon dough tasting of corn meal, fried to soft consistency, and plumped with moist shreds of chicken or beef. As the juice drips down your chin, you’ll think about just how well your $3 have been spent.
