For Lorena Cantarovici, opening at Union Station feels like a second big milestone for her empanada outfit, Maria Empanada.
Lorena Cantarovici, owner of Maria Empanada, poses for a portrait outside of her restaurant at 1298 South Broadway street on March 16, 2021, in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
“The first one was opening the airport, and, of course, Union Station is also one of the most iconic places in Denver,” Cantarovici told BusinessDen. “So for me, it was very important to have this presence.”
Cantarovici’s stall at Union Station will serve the full slate of empanadas that she has become known for since opening the first Maria Empanada in 2011. It will also have the company’s homemade salsas as well as coffee and other drinks.
She plans to open inside the train station on Oct. 9 for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
“We don’t want to miss any moment with Union Station. We want to be part of it as soon as possible,” Cantarovici said. “We believe that the place itself is in a good condition. It just needs some small adaptations to be a Maria Empanada, but we’re being very aggressive.”
It’s not the first time Cantarovici’s empanadas have been inside Union Station. Five years ago, she added Pigtrain Coffee Company as a wholesale account. The deal is no longer in place, but that’s how she initially got connected with the train station’s leasing manager, local firm City Street Investors.
City Street also operates Pigtrain, along with Terminal Bar and a few other restaurants inside the station. The kiosk that Maria Empanada is going to used to be home to the dessert bar Baumé, which opened at the beginning of 2025 and also was run by City Street.
Pat McHenry, one of the group’s founders and principals, said after they recently decided they could just sell the desserts and pastries at one of their pre-existing concepts, she made only one call.
“We had some other people that had contacted us,” said McHenry. “But the only person I reached out to was Maria Empanada.”
At Union Station, Cantarovici is excited to join two of her favorite restaurants in the city: fellow fast-casual Olive & Finch and the Spanish-Portuguese spot Ultreia.
“(This opening) is also about supporting the comeback of downtown,” she said. “We don’t want to watch the comeback of downtown from the sidelines.”
The Union Station spot will be the fifth for Maria Empanada around Denver. Cantarovici also has four other licensed locations across Denver International Airport, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Dick’s Sporting Goods Park and Centennial Stadium, where the Denver Summit FC is playing until the soccer club’s stadium is completed.
Red Rocks, DSG and Centennial are all new for Cantarovici in 2026, along with the upcoming Union Station store. Those smaller footprints have been the recent priority for Maria Empanada at a time where “expansion is the word of the year,” she said.
“Maria Empanada was born to grow,” Cantarovici said. “The concept is very easy to fit into different kinds of locations, and we are in a very sweet space where the cost and the overhead of an empanada is something that is affordable.”
Still, Cantarovici said business has been challenging this year. As a result, she’s adding new flavors of empanadas and also rolled out “bundles,” which are a combo of empanadas with salsas. A two-pack runs $11 and a three-empanada deal costs $15. Customers can also add a non-alcoholic drink for an extra $2.
“I believe empanadas are still new for a lot of people, and we need to give you ideas on how to choose us,” Cantarovici said. “We help the guest to make decisions easier, and we can sense that those things support our overall strategy and improve our ticket times. It’s a good way to transform some challenges into opportunities.”
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