Supper Club Goes to El Salvador

Have you been to Downtown OP lately?  The place is bumpin'. 

Okay, maybe "bumpin" is a bit of an exaggeration.  But there's seriously some good stuff going on. 

The farmers' market is obviously my favorite, along with Penzey's, Harper's, and Maloney's.  I love spices and sewing and booze. 

But lately a bunch of new restaurants have been opening up in the area; The Peanut, a new Ethiopian restaurant, and a lovely little pie store called The Upper Crust.

I was totally intrigued when I saw that there was a new restaurant in the area serving El Salvadorian food.  What the heck do the eat in El Salvaldor? 

Supper Club decided to find out.

El Salvadoreno.

The restaurant was much more casual than I was expecting.  It was small and very family oriented and comfy.  We started out with a drink order.  Drew had Dos Equis and I had a Horchata.

Bebidas.

Horchata is a drink made with milk, cinnamon, and oats.  Weird, right?  I only know this because Alton Brown told me about it on Good Eats.  So I had to do Alton proud and order one... even though it was non-alcoholic.  It was tasty!

The food was good too.  The menu wasn't huge, but they had several veggie options.  Drew ordered a sampler plate.  I think this is the way to go if you are trying a new cuisine.  When in doubt, try it out!

Sampling it all.

Muy happy.

I ordered a bean & cheese papusa (left) which is kind of like a quesadilla with a really tasty thick tortilla.  I also ordered a veggie pastel (right).  It kind of reminded me of an egg roll, Latin style.  And on the side was their famous coleslaw.

El Salvadorian Comida.

I thought the food was good.  I really wanted a sauce, especially for the pastel.  Maybe they had one and I just didn't ask.  It was a bit heavy, and obviously the pastel is fried.  But it tasted good!

El Salvadorano also serves breakfast, which I'd love to try.  I feel like my meal would have been complete with a little eggs and ketchup.  Is that weird?  We will definitely try it out next time we are down for the farmers' market.

So, El Salvadoreno is definitely Supper Club Approved!  Try it out if you are in the area and looking for something a bit different and new.  Then call me and we can meet at The Peanut and discuss over a cold cerveza. :)