Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Recession Obsession: The Pupusa
A Squash+Cheese Stuffed Pupusa at La Pupusa Loca | Photo by Caleb Bacon for LAist
The Official Recession has enveloped us for fifteen official months. It’s still no reason we can’t enjoy life. This is LA -- we have a ton of inexpensive options! A Recession Obsession is somewhere fantastic, whether times are good or not, because it's that damn good. We last loved on some no-cook take-home Korean and wood-fired Peruvian chicken. Today, we...
Argentina has the empanada. Venezuela has the arepa. Rural Pennsylvania has the deep-fried Twinkie. Various locales feature their own celebrated dishes which pack sustenance and regional style. El Salvador’s is the pupusa.
Pupusas are less than $2 each. Thanks to a sizable-enough local El Salvadorean population, you can find them cooked up all around Los Angeles. The pupusa is small enough that a second is demanded. Two and an icey glass of horchata runs about $5-$6. That’s why El Salvador’s thick corn tortilla-stuffed delight is LAist’s latest Recession Obsession.
Support for LAist comes from
The pupusa looks simple yet tastes delicious, especially when warm. It tastes like the result of an unsweetened pancake mating with a quesadilla. That's a good thing. Often made from corn, flour, or a corn-flour-masa mix, this dish is stuffed various ways. The stuffing's more secondary than primary as the cheese and dough take center stage. There’s often refried beans or meat in on the fun (chicken, or pork typically.) Squash and pumpkin make for excellent vegetarian-friendly options.
Always served alongside this piece of El Salvadorean pride is curtido, a pickled cabbage, carrot, and onion condiment and a tomato-based red sauce (which I’ve not often found to be spicy.) The pupusa dares you to decorate it with this delicious lubrication.
Polarizing Pupusa
Not everyone likes the pupusa. Some don't like to be reminded of a game of frisbee while dining. The good news is that this rather tame dish is the cheapest gamble in town, and it's a hard dish to get wrong. In these hard times if you want a free burrito, it's yours, but if you can pony up $2 for a a Central American experience I suggest a trip to Sarita's or Lempira.
- Lempira Restaurant | Los Feliz | 4848 Hollywood Blvd | Los Angeles 90027 |(323) 662-2927
- Inside Downtown’s Grand Central Market you’ll find Sarita’s (wonderful) Pupuseria. (We’ve happened by before.)
- La Pupusa Loca | Hollywood | 5716 Santa Monica Blvd (@ Wilton St) | Los Angeles 90038 |(323) 957-2967
Where do you get your pupusas? Comment below!
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity. -
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
-
The weather’s been a little different lately, with humidity, isolated rain and wind gusts throughout much of Southern California. What’s causing the late-summer bout of gray?
Best of LAist