Curtido Bandito

During my year and a half of living in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood of DC, I got quite an education about Salvadorean food, as the area abounded with taquerias and pupuserias, my favorite of which was Haydee’s. My standard order was a cheese pupusa and a side of fried plantains (okay, and a few Tecates), which were served with refried beans and fresh crema. Over the years, I’ve certainly enjoyed more than my share of pupusas and plantains, but none as perfectly prepared as those at Haydee’s. 

But as it turns out, Mercado Latino Pupseria, a hole in the wall in Annandale, just outperformed Haydee’s by a long shot. This tiny place in a nondescript shopping center is easily missed. It is flanked by a shuttered Korean joint and a Chinese herbs purveyor and doesn’t make much noise about its superb offerings. Just a lone sign, “Pupuseria Newsstand” lets you know of what’s inside: magazines and pupusas. But the sign really should say “Plaintains Fried to Perfection and Pupusas to Be Rivaled by No Other” and just leave it at that. No menu needed.

We each ordered a cheese pupusa, and we shared a plate of tacos (one al carbon and one chorizo) and a plate of fried plantains with fresh crema. Normally, I am not picky about pupusas. If it’s a fried tortilla with cheese in it with a side of pickled slaw, I’m happy. But after enjoying of the newsstand’s expert creations, I now realize that I’ve been settling for sub-par preparation. My past pupusa experiences have involved tasty but somewhat hard cheese. The pupusas we had on this day oozed with soft, cheese lava that tasted fabulous and went down the hatch smoothly and seamlessly, instead of hitting the bottom of my stomach like a brick. Also the curtido, a lightly pickled cabbage slaw that comes on the side and which is usually an afterthought, was made fresh at Mercado Latino. The cabbage had a nice cold crunch, and the salsa ladled on top was homemade and refreshing. This is a critical detail to the pupusa experience, as it perfectly complements the fried cheese-filled tortilla in substance, texture, and taste.

Though we enjoyed the generous tacos, served with ample filling on a single, thick tortilla (at first we thought it might have been a pupusa), we’ve enjoyed superior al carbon and chorizo tacos elsewhere. Plus, we prefer an alternative presentation at other taquerias in the area—the filling is piled on two thin tortillas, the second to be used to make an extra taco with excess filling. Next time, we will skip the tacos in favor of the sopa de res, which was the entrée of choice of most of the other patrons. A piping hot beef soup featured a prodigous portion of corn on the cob and a generous serving of vegetables.

Far too often plantains are under cooked, forcing us to chew and chew and chew on a lukewarm chunk of green/yellow fruit. But not here. The plantains came to our table charred to all hell, the look of which pleased us immediately. Because a blackened, dangerously hot plantain can mean only one thing: a very soft, yellow, and sweet inside. The crema was a refreshing topping for each sizzling bite, and the refried beans were a fine salty companion.

We washed this feast down with a couple of our favorite authentic beverages: horchata, a drink of rice milk and cinnamon, and tamarindo a somewhat sweet and sour agua fresca.

We have learned over the years that it’s very easy to screw up horchata; it’s usually way too cinnamony, rendering the drink cloying and a bit like drinking sand. Gross. But here, we have discovered the second best horchata north of the border (the first of which is served in a shack somewhere on First Avenue in NYC). Just enough cinnamon in a glass of cold rice milk is simply heaven.

Enjoy a great Salvadorean meal at Mercado Latino Pupuseria at:

6653-E Little River Turnpike
Annandale, VA
(703) 333-5242

—AK