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Chef Nelly’s passion for the culinary arts started at a very young age as cooking has always been a big family activity among the women she grew up with in the Dominican Republic.  It is among these wonderful women where Chef Nelly learned the secret family recipe passed down from her grandmother the art of dough rolling and making of pastelitos. These are known as empanadas in the Dominican Republic.

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​After graduating from Culinary School in the Dominican Republic, Chef Nelly spent years experimenting with dishes and flavors around the world but always found herself going back to making Empanadas.  It wasn’t until she married into an Argentinean family that Chef Nelly started exploring the methods and recipes for making the perfect Argentinian Empanada.

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"I started selling my Empanadas at the Farmers market and the lines where so long, I was selling out within 2 hours" That's when I started looking for a home for "Nelly's Empanadas". My full time job was as Guidance counselor in Queens, another one of my passions, working with children with or without disabilities. Then one day my husband sent me a listing of a space for rent, but this was not just a space for rent, In this space I was going to be able to make my Empanadas and teach adults with autism how to work in a restaurant! Today we make "Empanadas with a Purpose" in our restaurant. I am an employee partner of  The Winters Center for Autism, "Magic happens in our new home"!! When you buy Empanadas from us you are also helping adults with Autism make their dream come true!! 

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Nelly's Empanadas are a labor of love handmade by our chef herself. Just as these became her family’s favorite Empanada, Chef Nelly hopes they becomes your family’s favorite too.