Starch in starch

You'd think it wouldn't work, but imagine the challenge: take two things commonly thought of as baseline starches, rice and bread, put them together.

In a pastry.

Where else but in Houston can this wacky combination work?



At El Bolillo Panaderia, they serve up these arroz con leche empanadas (2517 Airline; the website, http://elbolillo.com, is nothing more than a placeholder). Essentially, rice pudding wrapped in flaky puff pastry. The very moist nature of the pudding weakens the pastry so much, it is incredibly delicate. But wonderfully delicious, and goes really well with the Mexican style spiced Abuelita chocolate drink, available in the same store.