Do you know the pupusa? I’ve been getting acquainted with Riverside’s purveyors of this El Salvadoran specialty, and I’m happy to report that several spots are worth a visit if you’re a fan of these regional antojitos.
What is a pupusa? It’s in the same family tree as a tortilla, a gordita, a chalupa, and a sope - a thick hand-formed patty of masa (or rice flour) shaped to order around a variety of fillings, griddled on a plancha until leopard-spotted and crispy on the outside and molten on the inside.
The classic fillings are all the possible combinations of beans, pork, and cheese - you can get a bean, cheese, or pork alone, beans and cheese together, pork and beans, or cheese and pork. Or do the full-monty with a pupusa “revuelta,” a riotous patty stuffed with all three. Many Salvadoran kitchens in town extend the filling options well beyond this list, making a combinatorial analysis impractical. I look out for loroco, a wild edible flower bud common in Central America with a nutty, grassy asparagus flavor. I’m also a sucker for flor de calabaza, sautéed squash blossoms which marry beautifully with melted cheese.
Pupusas are almost always accompanied by a spicy fermented cabbage slaw called curtido; the Mesoamerican take on sauerkraut flavored with oregano, garlic, onions, and chile.
Curtido at Pupuseria La Sierra. (Seth Zurer)
You’ll also usually get a pair of thin red salsas, one more fiery than the other, though they’re infrequently labeled, so trial and error is needed to distinguish them. If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t want your food to touch, then keep them separated. Me, I like to pile the curtido on top of my pupusas and then drown the whole thing in spicy salsa picosa, fine-tuning the proportions with each forkful.
While pupusas form the anchor of most Salvadoran menus, don’t snooze on other specialties of the region - deep-fried empanadas (or pasteles) are often available, as are massive tamales wrapped in olive-green banana leaves, filled with uncommonly smooth masa and chunks of spicy pork, chicken, and potatoes. Salvadoran cuisine is also strong on soups.
I’m still working to compile a full catalog of exemplary Riverside pupusas; in the meantime, here is a trio of spots that I recommend.
Fresco de Ensalada - Fruit Salad Juice and Pasteles - deep fried pork empanadas. (Seth Zurer)
Pupuseria La Sierra https://www.pupuserialasierra.com/ Riverside - 4505 La Sierra Avenue Moreno Valley - 12256 Perris Boulevard Open 7 days a week from 9am - 8pm
Pupuseria La Sierra is a gleaming modern counter-service restaurant with an extensive menu of Salvadoran aside from pupusas. They do a booming business and have excellent service and hospitable staff. The pupusas are terrific and generously proportioned. They’re griddled aggressively, which I appreciate since I love to crunch down on a crisp and brittle pupusa shell. Other recommendations here: the pork pasteles are hot and tasty, deep fried pork dumplings. Caldo de gallina (chicken & vegetable soup) is hearty and deep with chicken flavor. Join the rest of the clientele with a glass of Fresco de Ensalada, a passion fruit juice with a pineapple-heavy fruit salad mixed inside. I intend to return to try the rest of the menu, including deep-fried dessert empanadas filled with cream and starchy yuca with chicharron.
Inside El Carbonero and pair of pupusas with curtido and unlabeled salsas. (Seth Zurer)
Pupuseria El Carbonero https://www.pupuseriaelcarbonero.com/ 5310 Mission Boulevard 9am to 6pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 9am to 7pm Wednesday, Friday, Saturday 9am to 5pm Sunday
In the Mission Car Wash parking lot, this down-home spot offers pupusas with an enormous variety of fillings—everything from seafood to mushrooms, spinach, and cheese. The curtido here is extra tart and potent with oregano. On Wednesdays and Fridays, they offer a fire sale on pupusas revueltas or beans and cheese—just $1.50 each. I like ‘em anyway, even at regular price, but heck, what a bargain!
I’ve most often seen this truck just off Arlington on McMahon Street, the road that runs between the Target parking lot and the self-storage. They are there only sporadically - the owner tells me she prefers to sell at events - so call ahead to see if they’ll be there before heading over. It’s worth calling ahead anyway to pre-order since the wait for pupusas can sometimes stretch to a half-hour or more. The fillings options here are even more varied than at El Carbonero, with veggies like carrots, spinach, and cactus available. The hot tip at La 503 is to get your pupusas uncovered as soon as possible to preserve the crunchy shell. I especially like their chicharron, finely chopped chunks of crunchy pork fat.
Seth Zurer is a recent Riverside transplant, cottage baker (try Zurer Bread!) and food writer. His food writing has appeared on Yummly.com, the Chicago Reader, Timeout Chicago and elsewhere.
This week, as pomegranate season peaks and trees all over Riverside are bowed over with heavy fruit, Seth learns about a project at UCR that aims to diversify the world of pomegranates with research into varied and delightful cultivars beyond the Wonderful.
In today’s Eat This column, a conversation with a respected donut shop owner led Seth down a donut rabbit hole to investigate whether Riverside’s independent donut shops are all serving more or less the same donuts made with the same industrially packaged donut mix. Spoiler alert: they are!
