Madeline’s Expands Empanada Universe

Madeline’s Empanaderia
86 Spring St.

Madeline, the 11-year-old cello player who is also the namesake of a Hill empanaderia, likes the Guava Lava her mother serves there — it’s her favorite, the one that sticks while she goes through phases of Cheeseburger or Sweet Flame.

It’s not mine, though. I liked the Baked Bee, whose combination of sweet potatoes and chili-infused honey surprised me.

But our table couldn’t agree on a favorite, and it’s not hard to tell why. 

Madeline’s Empanaderia — which is run by Hazel Lebron, Madeline’s mother — offers 23 different empanadas, ranging from sweet to savory to spicy. The creativity extends beyond the menu and onto the walls of the restaurant, where Hazel highlights a different local artist’s work every month. Right now, it’s Dr. Semente.

Empanadas are members of the universal, tried-and-true culinary category of dough that is stuffed and then cooked. In the case of empanadas, which originated in Spain and are eaten across Latin America, the stuffing is often meat or cheese. But at Madeline’s, the variations are endless. 

The day that Laura, Maya, Nora, and I decided to visit for lunch was unseasonably warm for late October. But as sunlight streamed in through the door that Hazel kept propped open, it was hard not to enjoy it. 

We ordered different empanadas, along with maduros, crispy tostones, and a few coffees. Hazel stayed in the back, cooking with her staff, and the food came out in rounds. We danced in our seats to the music playing over the speakers, talking and laughing between bites.

Nora’s favorite was the Pastelon, a medley of beef, cheese, and sweet plantain. She characterized it as three empanadas in one — ​“a good bang for your buck.” But Maya liked the cheesy, spicy Rican Jerk most.

Laura, our resident vegan, put Madeline’s to the test, and it passed. The mushroom-filled and aptly-named Funguy was tomato forward in the best way, and the Vegan Sweet Flame’s ​“cheese” melted like the real thing.

By the end of lunch, our table was covered in beautiful wooden plates (previously filled with perfectly presented empanadas, but now mostly just crumbs). Little dipping sauces and our big coffee mugs filled any lingering pockets of space. Our server even apologized as she brought out the final dish, the sweet potato and cheesecake-filled Sweet Thang: ​“I’m sorry, this is the last thing.”

Madeline’s is emphatically an outward-facing, community-oriented space, and this is clear — from the packed schedule of open events to the smaller details making up the restaurant. Hazel ended up in the Hill by chance: After six years of operating a food truck and then switching to a permanent storefront in 2021, she had to move again in 2022 after a water line issue cut her lease short. She chose New Haven’s most diverse neighborhood: ​“This is us,” she said. ​“This is New Haven.”

Now, people filter in and out of her restaurant, picking up their orders or lingering a little longer to eat inside. Hazel says that sometimes Madeline herself stops by. When she does, she carries the confidence of someone who can run the whole place by herself — because she could.

“She’s everything,” Hazel says about her daughter, laughing.

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