Welcome to 9 Julio

We're an Oakland food company making fresh-baked empanadas with bold, pan-Latin flavors that span the Americas. Though based in the Bay Area, our love of empanadas was born on a trip to Costa Rica. We ate empanadas everyday on the way home from Spanish-immersion school. One taste of those delicious Latin turnovers and we were hooked! A handheld meal with meat and veggies inside a delicious pastry pocket - what's not to love? Then we tried the sweet empanadas and it was OVER!

We spent years traveling across the U.S. and Latin America on a quest to find the perfect empanada. From New York to Peru to Cuba, we've tried them all. In the end, we uncovered the secret to crafting the best empanadas.

Empanadas are the stars on our menu, but our salads and sides are equally delicious. Try our Gaucho Chopped salad or housemade Plantains Chips with our signature Avocado Jalapeno dip and you'll see why they're fan favorites. View our Menu to see what's fresh today.

Landmark Inspiration

The inspiration to turn our passion for empanadas into a business came during a trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Classes at local culinary schools honed our recipes and technique, but exploring the city was the real clincher. Avenida 9 de Julio runs through the heart of Buenos Aires. This national landmark, touted as the widest avenue in the world, has 16 lanes of traffic stretching the width of a city block. Good luck walking across the street in one stoplight! Named after Argentina's Independence Day, July 9th, I staked my own independence from corporate America while strolling down Avenida 9 de Julio. The name 9 Julio Empanada Kitchen commemorates that landmark day.

Avenida 9 de Julio captures the energy and vitality of modern Buenos Aires. It's a city grounded by an urban sensibility, rebellious spirit, and a love of great food. That spirit lives in every 9 Julio experience and is represented by our core values.

The Universal Language

Our mission is to Bring Everyone to the Table. We believe food is a universal language that can bridge cultural boundaries and bring people together despite our differences. In fact, empanadas have been a bridge to my own family history.

The kitchen was always the hub of our house, where everyone came together to share stories, laugh, and connect. Food brought us together. One of the reasons I followed my Dad into the food business was seeing how much joy it can bring to peoples' lives. That led me to a 10 year career managing some of your favorite packaged food brands.

As work and travel led me further away from home, I came to love new cuisines like empanadas that weren't part of my family's traditions. Instead of connecting through food, it became a wedge driving us apart. Somehow, my fascination with empanadas seemed like a rejection of my family.

That's when I got in the kitchen and started making empanadas myself. I tried out different recipes. Hosted empanada parties for friends. Finally, I was ready to face my toughest critics, my family. Sharing the empanadas with them provided a better window into the cities and cultures I'd experienced than any photo book ever could. A picture may be worth a 1000 words, but good food is undeniable. Today, half of my family still can't pronounce empanadas (I'm working on that), but in the meantime they know they're delicious.

I also learned that empanadas are universal in their own right. My family's conclusion after trying their first empanadas, "these are just like the sweet potato jacks your Great Grandmother used to make". She'd send my Grandmother to sell them at the shipyards in North Carolina. Who knew? That's the first I'd ever heard of it. So when you see our Sweet Potato empanada on the menu, know that it's part of a long-standing family tradition.

FRIENDS

Thank you to the amazing artists & artisans who have helped bring our vision to life!

Leo Gong Photography
Food Photography