Cuscatlan Salvadorian Cuisine

After Baltimore Snowball, we killed some time by going to North County Fair (I know it's a Westfield mall now but I'm calling it by it's old name #$%@!)...Now that was a mall I hadn't been to in decades! Like waaaaay back in college!

Traffic wasn't so bad going back to Escondido where we planned to have dinner...

at a Salvadorian place on Grand Ave...

I knew about it from this coupon...

I was excited when I first saw it because we hadn't been here before, only to El Salvadoreno in Grant Hill. There is another place called El Salvador Pupuseria in City Heights that we still have to check out. Anyhow, since we are hardly ever up this far north, I thought it would be fun to try this place out.

Now is it Salvadorean (as it is spelled on the menu) or Salvadorian (as seen on their shop awning)? Or Salvadoran? I've seen it spelled different ways. I'm not sure which is correct or if they are interchangeable.

The restaurant is named for Estadio Cuscatlan, the largest sports stadium in Central America, as seen on the menu cover. It can hold a little over 39,000 spectators and is the home stadium of the country's national football team (football meaning "soccer").  The stadium also hosts concerts, as well as religious, cultural, and political events.

You may see their menu online here;

I got the #1 Appetizer - the Sampler platter while Bert and TC chose #2 and #5 on the Platillos Tipicos entrees.

while Bert and TC chose something from their Platillos Tipicos entrees. Bert also chose a Salvadorian beer called "Pilsener", a beer that has been brewed in El Salvador since 1906.

Here's a Pilsener commercial I found:

Man, clocking in over a minute, that's a pretty damn long commercial! Don't commercials normally take 20-30 seconds to get their point across? Anyways...

Since I remembered that TC liked this drink from El Salvadoreno, I ordered an "ensalada" drink for her.

This is basically a drinkable fruit salad (hence the name). It's chopped up fruits in pineapple and/or coconut juice. The fruit pieces were apple, pineapple and orange. Recipes that I've seen online also call for hard to find native fruits like mamey and maranon (also known as the "cashew" apple).

It was still light out when we first sat down at their nice outside patio. I didn't really want to eat inside where it was dark and kind of boring looking. Apparently, the restaurant used to be an Italian/pizza place (well, they still actually serve pizzas here) so there are red booths and nondescript wall art of flowers and such. Outside, at least we could people watch.

Our server, a young lady who was really nice, set down a rather large container of curtido and mild salsa.

Here were our entrees before we dug in:

Along with a small plate of thick Salvadoran style tortillas, we were bug eyed by the size of our dinner. Of course we were planning to bring home leftovers, especially from this sampler platter which consisted of two mixed pupusas (pork and cheese), one pork tamal (on the left), one corn tamal (on the right), fried yucca (looks like thick cut fries), chicharrones (they are hiding), fried plantains (heavily caramelized), plus sour cream and beans.

Now THAT is a carb heavy meal there! This is a shot of the other side. The fried pork chunks were a bit too hard for me to enjoy, except for the piece that had fat on it (haha). TC liked the fried yucca strips.

The thick tortillas ended up being taken home later...

TC's Pollo con crema served with rice, beans and salad. The cream sauce was so good and made even better with the addition of potatoes. The chicken piece was this huge thigh/leg.

This was the Carne Guisada, their version of beef stew, also served with potatoes, rice, beans, and salad. Of the their two entrees, I liked the creamy sauce from TC's the best. The meat from Bert's was also quite tender. Both were delicious.

The pork tamal only held a few pieces of pork and mostly potatoes. This wasn't that great. It was just too doughy for me to enjoy. I only picked at the filling. I didn't really like the corn tamal either. It seemed too redundant. But hey, I knew this when ordering and really wanted to try a mish mash of what they had. The mixed pupusas were delicious, especially with the tangy curtido and the mild salsa.

It was dark by the time we left and getting a bit chilly. Earlier that day it was in the 80's.

One thing if you ever go here, the sidewalk is slightly sloped, so our table sloped as well.

We had a good time in Escondido today.

First, a tiny taste of the cronuts at local institution Peterson's Donut Corner, then to the dessert newbie Baltimore Snowball, followed later by dinner at this very nice and charming Salvadorian restaurant.

Reviews/articles/blurbs on Cuscatlan:
Thrillist - January 2013
yelp

Cuscatlan Salvadorian Cuisine
22 E. Grand Ave.
Escondido, CA 92025
(760) 291-1225

cuscatlansalvadorian.com

There are still a few more places I'd like to explore up here but that will be for a future visit. They involve donuts and Mexican food. Plus a certain roadside attraction that I want to see dressed up for the Holidays.