Her husband, Lucio, jokes that she’s the empanada lady. “I like it,” says Dolores López Barcala. “It’s better than Dolores, which means pain in Spanish. When I was a kid that wasn’t so funny.” 

The nickname seems to suit the sparkly-eyed mother of two from Argentina, whose empanada delivery service is giving NDGers a taste of Latin American culture.  

“In Argentina, empanadas are like pizza here. You can order empanadas. They are everywhere. There are lots of options and all sorts of flavours.”

The word ‘empanada’ comes from ‘empanar,’ which means ‘to bread’. The dough wrapped meat and vegetable pastries that Barcala and her husband deliver to homes in NDG are becoming a hit in the neighbourhood.

“They are absolutely scrumptious,” says Annalisa Harris, one the Barcala’s fans. Harris says she particularly loves the chicken empanada and appreciates the fact that delivery arrives on time and the website is easy to use. 

Empanadas aren’t unique to Argentina, which is mostly known for its barbecue. They are staple Latin American street food. Each country has a slightly different version of the empanada. “In Colombia they use corn dough. They are different from ours that way,” says Barcala. 

Recently business has been booming. “Last month was great,” says Barcala. Dolideli has been in operation for two years. Barcala decided to close her business from March to June so she could focus on homeschooling her children and deal with other repercussions from the pandemic. When she started up again, she says she was surprised by how much easier it was to sell her empanadas.

Barcala thinks COVID-19 has made people more comfortable with the idea of buying food online. But it’s also possible all her hard work and marketing efforts finally paid off and word got out about her delicious home-made food and unique service. 

She says she loves living in NDG because it has a mix of so many cultures and a family-friendly vibe. She says in Buenos Aires, where she grew up, it was hard to feel safe. “You never know what’s going to happen.” 

Back in Argentina Barcala trained as a graphic designer and worked with her family in their printing business. “We were closing and there was a gun robbery. He pointed the gun at us and told everyone to get down on the floor,” she says.

“The economy makes people more aggressive. You don’t know if you are going to make it to the end of the month. There, your future doesn’t depend on you. Here, it is not about external things. If you do things right, you can progress,” says Barcala,“I feel free here.” 

Barcala’s family settled in NDG permanently in 2015. They became Canadian citizens two weeks ago. “It was a virtual ceremony, it was weird. We were waiting for it and looking forward to it for such a long time and that’s what it was.”

She says her dream is to build up her home-based business, so she can eventually move into a commercial kitchen. Barcala says she isn’t interested in getting back into graphic design because she’s realized cooking is what she really loves to do.

Dolideli offers a variety of empanadas, including chicken, spinach, beef, butternut squash and vegan options. The empanadas arrive frozen. Just pop them in the oven at 425 for about 20 minutes until the dough turns golden brown. 

The delivery service also serves up ham and cheese or cheddar cachitos as well as cheese puffs. There are sweet treats on the menu too, including beautifully wrapped gift boxes of Alfajor, a type of chocolate covered short-bread cookie sandwich filled with dulce de leche cream. Twice a year, for a limited time, you can also order cachitos roscas de pascuas o reyes, a type of sweet bread traditionally served at Easter or on January 6, the three Kings day. 

You can order, choose a delivery time, and pay online. If orders are placed before 4 pm weekdays and the product is in stock, your order can be delivered the same day. On weekends, orders need to be placed before 11 am for same day delivery. If you live outside the NDG area delivery zone you can drop by and pick up your order.

To place an order, go to Dolideli.com or send Barcala an email at [email protected]. You can follow Dolideli on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.