On the first day Paulinho put his empada cart on the street, he says, a guy came straight from the “depths” to make him give up: “He was sent, I’m sure. The first empada I sold was to him, with codfish. The guy bit into it and threw it away, shouting that it was no good.” The scene took place on Avenida Brasil, near Guadalupe. Today, more than ten years later, Paulo Roberto Teixeira, 56, is on the main street of the neighborhood, and the wait for an empada can be half an hour long. The line starts as soon as the seller parks his bicycle on Marcos de Macedo Street. Before the wood-burning oven starts working, there are already people with money in hand saying, “save three shrimp ones for me. And mind you, it’s not easy to be successful in the vast world of empadas in Rio. The consumer is experienced, after all, the savory is a classic of popular gastronomy in Rio. With a light crust and tasty fillings, Empada Show has the ideal size, enough for a maximum of four bites.