We used to have El Salvador Pupuseria y Restaurante on our rotation, but in recent years it had fallen off. Not because the food had fallen off, but because we just didn't visit enough. Over the last few years, the restaurant has cleaned upa bit, and gone are the loud video games. The interior has been freshened up a bit…with the emphasis on "a bit", and does look nicer.
This being Sunday, there was a steady flow of customers in and out of the restaurant, and a good number of take-out orders. And though the two young ladies running the floor looked a bit overwhelmed, they were very nice and friendly.
Things started with the basic chips and salsa.
Things look the same, right? So why a new post? Well, first off, like most places, prices have increased a bit. Pupusas are now $1.99, still a bargain, and the weekend soups (like in this post), have gone up a dollar to $7.95. It is still a very reasonable eating option.
Also gone is the "whole bucket of curtido", which is now served thusly:
Still, a change in prices, and modification of side dishes, would not usually mean a new post.
What would entice me to do an updated post? Well, today we noticed an item on the menu, we had not noticed before.
It's called Pacayas Forradas con Huevo ($7.95). Never heard of it. Doesn't look like anything particularly interesting. But brush off some of the really nice mildly sweet and rich tomato based sauce, and the egg batter, and something like this looks back out at ya'.
Don't they look like little tentacles that are going to reach out and grab you? Or maybe baby-baby corn? The pacayas, had a crunch to it, and a puckery-tannic bitterness, that bothered the Missus a bit. The sauce did well to balance out the flavor. And lest you think this is an ovo-vegetarian dish, we spied strands of meat in the sauce, and pulled out a chicken wing-tip from under the pacayas. The sauce was good….very good, and we mopped every drop of it up with the tortillas.
So what is pacaya? Not much on the Internet, but I found this post and photo from a Guatemala blog that provided a good bit of information. Appears that this was the flower from a species of palms called Chamaedorea.
And yes, the Pupusas are still quite good.
And Pupusas de Queso con Loroco has been added to them menu (or maybe we just didn't notice before). You can find a photo of Loroco on this post from Ed from Yuma.
My favorite of the day was the Pupusa de Chicharron, which was so good, I forgot to take a photo of it. Great pork flavor.
So why El Salvadoran food today…and why have I been checking out a Guatemalan blog? hmmmm……..
El Salvador Pupuseria y Restaurante
3824 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105