All American ethnic food: Pupusas, not pizzas
Tomato sauce, cheese, dough. We're talking pizzas here, right?
No, maybe we mean pupusas.
The national dish of El Salvador is emerging as a contender to the ubiquitous Italian specialty that has dominated the take-out menu for nearly half a century.
In the distant past when families ate dinner together, pizza was a treat to be sought out. Never mind the palate-searing hot cheese and the decision-making process about what toppings to order, pizza soon emerged from the exotic to become an all-American favorite food.
Now it's pupusa time.
On Park Avenue at Seventh Street, a person can go to Chicken Holiday, ditch the usual choices of deep-fried whatever and go for the pupusas, now advertised on just a paper sign in the window.
After a little wait--each one is made from scratch when you order--the corn meal tortillas filled with beans, cheese, or pork emerge in a package with a bag of cortido (a coleslaw of pickled cabbage and carrots) and a small container of tomato sauce.
Or across the street at Comedor Latino, the same tortillas come with a variety of fillings, but hardly more expensive.
Each pupusa is about $1.50 and even though Chicken Holiday has a minimum order of four for take-out, the leftovers can be microwaved for one minute for an extra meal.
Chicken Holiday owner Luis Chacon says there is a pupuseria on every corner in El Salvador.
The PlainTalker discovered another one at the site of a former Jamaican restaurant on East Front Street.
Recipes for pupusas abound on the World Wide Web, but why cook when there are so many take-out opportunities?
Many Salvadorans came here from Central America to escape civil war and earthquake devastation. Let's be glad that they brought with them a new treat, pupusas.
No, maybe we mean pupusas.The national dish of El Salvador is emerging as a contender to the ubiquitous Italian specialty that has dominated the take-out menu for nearly half a century.
In the distant past when families ate dinner together, pizza was a treat to be sought out. Never mind the palate-searing hot cheese and the decision-making process about what toppings to order, pizza soon emerged from the exotic to become an all-American favorite food.
Now it's pupusa time.
On Park Avenue at Seventh Street, a person can go to Chicken Holiday, ditch the usual choices of deep-fried whatever and go for the pupusas, now advertised on just a paper sign in the window.After a little wait--each one is made from scratch when you order--the corn meal tortillas filled with beans, cheese, or pork emerge in a package with a bag of cortido (a coleslaw of pickled cabbage and carrots) and a small container of tomato sauce.
Or across the street at Comedor Latino, the same tortillas come with a variety of fillings, but hardly more expensive.
Each pupusa is about $1.50 and even though Chicken Holiday has a minimum order of four for take-out, the leftovers can be microwaved for one minute for an extra meal.
Chicken Holiday owner Luis Chacon says there is a pupuseria on every corner in El Salvador.
The PlainTalker discovered another one at the site of a former Jamaican restaurant on East Front Street.Recipes for pupusas abound on the World Wide Web, but why cook when there are so many take-out opportunities?
Many Salvadorans came here from Central America to escape civil war and earthquake devastation. Let's be glad that they brought with them a new treat, pupusas.
--Bernice Paglia
KEYWORDS: food
BK NOTES: For a wiki listing click here, or for recipes click here, or here.
posted by Bernice at 9:14 PM
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