Virginia's Restaurant

A line cook from another restaurant let me know that a new Salvadoran restaurant had opened near him and so Ann and I took off on a date, our first Thursday night date ever. Trust me, I am milking this slow January business for all it is worth and letting my sous chef shoulder the load. So we went to check out Virginia's Restaurant which was all but empty. It looked like maybe they were doing some take out and delivery business, but not much. This time of year is really hard on us in this business.

It looked to be a two-woman show with one running the front and one running the kitchen and both washing dishes. The one serving us apologized for the lack of menus written in English, which distresses me not in the least. The menu is extremely brief, about six or seven antojitos including a couple of tortas; three soups; and six or seven main courses. We chose antojitos: pupusas, yuca frita, and achiote-tinted pasteles.


Pupusas

The pupusas are really good, but then I've never met one that I didn't like. I had loroco, Ann had frijol and queso, and we ordered another each frijol and queso to take home to Carter. Thin, tender, and delicious, these were great pupusas.The curtido was uninspired and unfermented, almost an afterthought, which is too bad, because I think of curtido as one of the great gifts to the world from Salvadoran cuisine.

Pasteles

The chicken in the pasteles de pollo was difficult to find, the filling being mainly potato. I'm fine with that though and these were both hot out of the fryer and tasty enough.

Yuca Frita con Chicharrón

Yuca frita is another hallmark Salvadoran dish. And this one was just OK. I prefer the dish when it is done like a Salvadoran poutine: French fry-like pieces of yuca mounded on a plate, covered in shredded and pan-fried chicharrón, maybe a little tomato sauce, and a topping of curtido. The chunks of yuca were great as yuca always is; I like yuca fries so much better than potato fries (and I love potato fries). The chunks of pork were fried to submission though, too done for my liking. Again, the curtido should have brought an acidic twang to the dish to help cut through the starch and fat, but it didn't.

All in all, food for three people for less than the price of an entrée at my restaurant says a lot. I hope they make it because it is the only pupuseria in downtown, the other two being a good bit out of the way.

Pupusas and Pasta

Carbs anyone? We've been so good recently, but Sunday, not so much. It's probably best in my world if I don't cook when I am exhausted.

Baked Pasta with Ricotta and Pork Ragù

Sunday was a brief sliver of time-off between chaotic full houses at the restaurant on Saturday and Monday and I was really tired; really, really tired. If there had been a fridge full of food, I probably wouldn't have done anything but sit and vegetate. But the fridge was pretty barren and we had to go out to schlep 14-year-old to his girlfriend's, so while we were out, we decided to grab a quick bite. I wanted tacos or something of that ilk, something really simple.

Ann remembered that there is a pupuseria down on Valley Avenue (next to Sona) that we have been meaning to try. Rid of teenager, we gave Puerto la Unión Pupuseria a shot. I'm not quite sure what to make of this place, but I want to like it. It was empty when we got there except for a bunch of kids who were playing in the adjoining dining room. We sat in the little dining room into which you enter from the street; it was very cold and very dark, too dark by far to take photos. The booth we sat in had seen better days: the seats were sagging and the springs were poking me in the ass. Definitely a shoestring budget, which I as a fellow restaurateur appreciate fully, given this horrible winter.

I am guessing that the place has changed hands once or twice since opening. The menu is unlike what I have heard others describe in the past and the current menu seems recycled: it says they offer beer but I don't think this owner actually does and it says they accept American Express, which they don't.

In any case, I don't need a menu in a pupuseria. I ordered three pupusas, one each loroco, frijol, and chicharrón. Ann ordered chorizo con huevos. My pupusas were very good and I enjoyed the curtido that came with them. The bean pupusa was my favorite, the loroco my least. Ann's eggs looked terrible and lacking chorizo. She ate them but I could tell she didn't really like them. We both had horchata to drink, Ann's first experience with this beverage. It was too sweet for me and seemed like a commercial mix. I make horchata at times at the restaurant from chufa nuts and then freeze it into sorbet. That way, I get to control the sugar.

In any case, the pupusas were worth returning for. Good to know. Having made gazillions of them at the restaurant, they are not something I want to make at home.

For once, I really didn't want to cook at home on my day off, but at least at dinner I rallied. The thought of not cooking something for my beloved Annie I couldn't bear. She insisted that we stop on the way home and get some pasta, and being as tired as I was, I gave in. Back home, I got a bag of pork ragù out of the freezer.

The result you see above: strozzapreti pasta mixed with my ragù and ricotta cheese, topped with shredded mozzarella and baked. Oh my was it good and sinful! And after weeks of eating well, I felt pretty bad after having eaten it. But I'd do it again!

Memorial Day Breakfast

Pupusas, Duck Eggs, Bloody Mary—Now That's Breakfast!

Pupusas are one of the world's great comfort foods; thank you El Salvador for your contribution to the world! Last week, we scored some at the market and had been planning to have them one morning for breakfast, not that these stuffed tortillas are really breakfast food, but I have always enjoyed them for brunch.

I miss the days when César at Sweet Sunset Bakery would serve pupusas on Sundays, pupusas that his wife would pat out by hand. Sadly, he closed shop and left town a couple years ago. There is a new Salvadoran store near us that offers pupusas, but we haven't been there yet. These pupusas, both bean-filled and cheese and loroco-filled, came from the freezer case. BTW, pupusas freeze just fine, in case you ever make any. Make way too many and freeze the rest.

After a couple of hours working out in the yard before the sun got too hot, I was starving. I starting browning the pupusas in a pan and then I scrambled some duck eggs and basil to go with them. What a great dish that is! Duck eggs are so much richer and even more eggy than chicken eggs. While I was dealing with the pupusas and eggs, Ann was making her signature bloody Marys.

The pupusas weren't as good as fresh (the bean-filled ones were better and I couldn't really find any loroco in the others) but any pupusa beats no pupusa hands down!