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Phoenix Magazine Review: One of the valleys 50 best dishes
"If you haven't been to this place - go! Seriously. It's amazing. It's the best little hole-in-a-rundown-strip-mall you can find. And it's cheap!
Nestled between stores like Big Lots and some electronic place with Mexican ranchero music blasting, this tiny place is hidden in the corner. The owner is from El Salvador, so don't expect it to be Mexican food -- there are many similarities, but the dishes themselves are different.
Walking in, you can smell the homemade pupusas -- seriously, it smells like the roadside stands along the bus routes in central America. It's amazing. There are only a couple waitresses, and I don't think they speak much English, but the menu is in pictures, as well as in Spanish and some English, so you should do just fine.
Get the pupusas - they're like thick, hand-made tortillas stuffed with either pork, cheese and beans or, my favorite, cheese and loraco flower, which is some green and edible plant that tastes a bit like asparagus, to me. It's definitely the best one. These things come with salsa and some coleslaw (if they don't, just ask for the salsa) and are very filling! The other dishes are really good, too. For a low price, you can get an entire plate of things like meat with rice and beans - and this place doesn't skimp on the fixin's. They put slices of fresh tomatoes, avocado and all kinds of other stuff on the plates. I honestly LOVE it here. If you want to avoid the crowds, come at an off-hour... then you can just sit, relax and watch the telenovela on the TV in the corner. For dessert, pick up a piece of the cheese pie near the cash register.I can't recommend this place enough!"
Anandita
Chandler, AZ
"Amazing pupusas and great carne asada. The food is made with love and authenticity and everywhere you look there are gorgeous aerial photos of Salvadorian beaches. The television was a little distracting, but not enough to keep me from going back again."
Stacy
Mesa, AZ
Having heard of this little cafe in The New Times and Phoenix Magazine rated their Ceviche and Shrimp salad as one of the Valley's top 50 dishes, we decided that we must give it a try! The article in New Times raved about something called a Pupusa and description sounded familiar, once we were there I realized why.
Every culture on earth seems to have developed some form of stuffed hand pie. You know the formula, a regional bread or pastry dough, formed into a pocket and stuffed with savory or sweet fillings. Food on the go. Well in El Salvador it's called a Pupusa, and they were delicious!
A kind of thick corn tortilla type bread, filled with several different types of fillings, pork and cheese, beans, chicken and cheese, beef and cheese or beef, bean and cheese.
Now this is NOT your typical Arizona/Mexican food. The cheese is a freshly made cheese that is a Salvadoran tradition and is one of the best fresh cheeses I have ever had, smooth and soft yet very flavourful. The tortilla is not what you might be used to either, they are corn tortillas but they are not the course chip like corn tortillas so prevalent in Americanized Hispanic foods. They are thick, soft and delicious. It is this tortilla that is the basis of their Pupusas.
These aren't your standard "Mexican Restaurant" re-fried beans either. Spicy, flavourful and smooth, having been been mashed after cooking, they are among the best example of simple yet wonderful tastes you will experience here.
We had some of all of the different Pupusas offered on the menu which are priced very reasonable indeed, and were impressed with all of them, though the pork and cheese and the bean were my personal favorites.
We also had a corn tamale that was sweet and moist and tasty, rolled in a banana leaf instead of the corn husk we are used to. Perhaps that is why it was so much more moist than your average corn tamale.
To finish off our repast we enjoyed the fried plantains, actually an appetizer on the menu, they were crispy on the outside and starchy and tasty inside. Served a Salvadoran version of Creme Fraiche that was also a hit.
As I've said the Ceviche and Shrimp salad is an award winner and the Carne Asada that the folks at the next table had ordered looked delicious. However I could not ask their opinion as they did not seem to speak English either and my Spanish is worse than terrible. But they seemed to be enjoying it, I'll give it a try next time.
They serve breakfast too and I can hardly wait to give that a try as well.
Stop in, you'll be glad you did.
Michael
Mesa, AZ
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