Pupusas!

Last week I wrote that my cousin and I were going to have lunch at a Central American restaurant in the west suburbs of Cleveland.  When we got there we discovered that the place is closed on Tuesdays... a rather odd day for a restaurant to be closed.

On Monday, my friend Irma (you've met her several times on this blog) and I got together and decided to give the place another try.  It is actually a Central American AND South American restaurant since it features the food of both El Salvador and Colombia.

The name of the place is very unimaginative but to the point.

It is a place that sells "arepas", a staple of Colombian and Venezuelan cuisine, and "pupusas", a dish that is claimed by both El Salvador and Honduras.

Irma and I ordered different kinds of "pupusas".

The "pupusa" is the national dish of El Salvador.  It is a thick flatbread made of corn flour and stuffed with various ingredients.  Irma ordered a "pupusa" stuffed with cheese and "loroco", the buds of a Central American flower.  I had a plate of three "pupusas" stuffed with beans and cheese.  Tomato sauce and "curtido", spicy, shredded cabbage (in the yellow bowl), is spooned over the "pupusas".

To drink we had two different beverages that are typical of Mexico.  Irma had "tamarindo", a drink made from the pulp of the pod-like fruit of the tamarind tree.  I had "horchata" which is made from white rice and cinnamon.

After our meal we chatted in Spanish with our waiter, who I think is also one of the owners. He is from Oaxaca, Mexico, but his wife is from El Salvador.

The restaurant is a very simple, unpretentious place, but the food was very tasty.  I will definitely return there.