El Salvador Pupuseria y Restaurante

*** A short update can be found here. And another post with updated prices can be found here.

One evening while driving on University we noticed this Salvadoran Restaurant, occupying the shell of what probably was a Pizza Hut, or some similar business:

So this morning instead of heading down to El Salvadoreno we decided to give El Salvador a shot. It really didn't look very promising at first, the windows of the restaurant noted items like Nachos and taco's, not quite what I thought of as Salvadoran food. After a brief discussion we entered the Restaurant.

The first thing I noticed was that the menu consisted of two parts; the left side listed typical Mexican fare, such as burrito's, taco's, and chips. The right side listed the Salvadoran items, which is what we came here for. The dining room was a bit odd, especially since 5-6 arcade games lined one wall, the plastic parrots and such gave the place a bit of a kitchsy flavor. After speaking to the very helpful Young Lady, the Missus started ordering, and didn't stop for a while. The Waitress kept giving me looks, sort of indicating if we were sure we wanted all of this. I know better than to stop my Wife when she's on an "ordering tear".

As is the usual the curtido and hot sauce was delivered, along with some "blah" chips. It really didn't look like a good start.

Within minutes the Pupusas were delivered. I'd ordered 2 combination pupusas; pork, cheese, and bean($1.75/ea), and the Missus ordered a potato pupusa ($1.50).

The pupusas were very good, with a pretty large amount of filling. The Missus really enjoyed her potato pupusa. The curtido was nice and fresh, though not as "pickled" as the curtido at El Salvadoreno, the salsa roja was routine, and nothing special. I like the filling here at El Salvador better than Salvadoreno, though the exterior of these were not as good and crunchy as those at El Salvadoreno. These were also a bit smaller, but still delicious!

Our Tamal de Elote Frito con Crema (Corn tamale with cream $1.95) was delivered next:

This was semi dense sweet corn tamale. A bit too sweet for me, but with a nice gritty texture, it was served with Mexican sour cream. I kinda wished that this was served after our meal, because it seemed more of a dessert. Think sweet cornbread, without butter, and you've got the taste.

Our Empanadas de Leche ($2.95) was served next:

Three lovely fried pastries were served, they were, without a doubt delici-yoso! The crispy and golden brown exterior guarded the creamy custard-like interior just waiting to ooze out! To me the pastry had a very familiar banana-like taste. I found out later that plantains were used in the dough. These were a very nice treat.

Up last we were served the Tamales de Gallina ($1.75):

This chicken tamale was served in a banana leaf. The reason this was served last was that it took about 15 minutes to prepare. I really don't care much for tamales, but my tamale loving wife had ordered, so we got this. And let me just say, this was wonderful! The flavor and fragrance of the banana leaf had permeated the masa and chicken, giving it a wonderful "green" taste. Much like collard greens or the luau leaf in lau lau, the slightly bitter and sweet richness made this a very revelatory dish. The tamale was very moist and the chicken was tasty and beyond fork tender. I could eat this quite often.

So all of this with a glass of Horchata (watered down) and a Passion fruit drink (refreshing), came out to about 18 bucks! Talk about a bargain. I can't wait to come back and have another tamale and maybe the Sopa De Pata (Beef Shank Soup) which looked very delici-yoso!

Some notes; nobody, but nobody ordered any Mexican food while we were here, so I'm guessing that it's probably better to stay with the Salvadoran food. The timing of our dishes were kind of strange, the sweet dishes were served before the savory, probably due to the amount of time it takes to prepare the tamale. The Gal who took our order and was our Waitress was very, very nice and helpful. She was also very funny; when she delivered our Chicken Tamale, she told us "I'll have your last two dishes ready in a few minutes", when we looked up jaws agape, she laughed and said "just kidding…." After our meal, I mentioned to the Missus that the Pork Tamale might taste a bit like lau lau, she went up and spoke to this same Gal, who described the taste and texture to her, so it looks like I'm trying that next time as well.

El Salvador Pupuseria y Restaurante
3824 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105