Margarita's is the successor to Mama Isabel's Place, a food truck that shared its fenced-in corner lot with a half-dozen chairs and many more customers. Each year it opened with the crocuses in mid-March and closed for the season as Thanksgiving drew near. Now the truck has shuttered, but just around the bend, the owners still prepare exemplary pastelillos and alcapurrias. The casing of the torpedo-shaped, orange-brown alcapurria (ahl-cah-Poor-ree-ah) is deep-fried yet unusually supple; Mama Isabel's best version is plump with a ground-beef picadillo, something like a sweet sloppy joe. The pastelillo (pahs-teh-Lee-yo) is a deep-fried empanada that may also be filled with ground beef (shown), or perhaps with pollo, carrucho, or jueyes (Hway-yays) -- chicken, conch, or crab. It's as delicate and flaky as any in the city.

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