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In the kitchen at Maria Empanada
Wednesday, March 21, 2012 at 4 a.m.

Owner Lorena Cantarovici.
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The exterior of Maria Empanada, 5209 West Mississippi Avenue in Lakewood.
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An Argentinian tarta, a slice of which sells for $4.95 at Maria Empanada.
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Empanadas at Maria Empanada. "They key is the dough, says owner Lorena Cantarovici. "And the dough depends on the air, the weather, the day!"
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Owner Lorena Cantarovici in her business, Maria Empanada, which she opened last fall after running a catering company for three years.
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Ofelia Jimenez and Lorenza Martinez make spicy chicken empanadas at Maria Empanada in Lakewood.
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Lorenza Martinez mixes spicy chicken filling for empanadas at Maria Empanada in Lakewood.
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Corn empanadas at Maria Empanada in Lakewood.
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Sweet empanadas at Maria Empanada in Lakewood.
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The Argentinian tarta.
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Desserts at Maria Empanada.
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Ofelia Jimenez makes Argentinian empanadas at Maria Empanada in Lakewood.
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Ofelia Jimenez and Lorenza Martinez make spicy chicken empanadas at Maria Empanada in Lakewood.
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Ofelia Jimenez and Lorenza Martinez make spicy chicken empanadas at Maria Empanada in Lakewood.
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In the kitchen at Maria Empanada
Maria Empanada owner Lorena Cantarovici, who came to the States eleven years ago, is tiny and sassy; I'd expect nothing else from a Buenos Aires native. Three years ago, she decided to open a catering business that would use her mother's recipes for empanadas, and she got to work tweaking that process for the dry Colorado climate. "The key is the dough," she told me one day. "And the dough depends on the air, the weather, the day! It was hard." But eventually she nailed it, and by last fall, her business was going so well that she needed a bigger kitchen. Continue reading Laura Shunk's Maria Empanada restaurant review. Photos by Mark Manger.
Maria Empanada owner Lorena Cantarovici, who came to the States eleven years ago, is tiny and sassy; I'd expect nothing else from a Buenos Aires native. Three years ago, she decided to open a catering business that would use her mother's recipes for empanadas, and she got to work tweaking that process for the dry Colorado climate. "The key is the dough," she told me one day. "And the dough depends on the air, the weather, the day! It was hard." But eventually she nailed it, and by last fall, her business was going so well that she needed a bigger kitchen. Continue reading Laura Shunk's Maria Empanada restaurant review. Photos by Mark Manger.
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