The most complete guide to
Eating Out in Port Chester
and Rye Brook
A Supplement to the
New Salvadoran eatery focuses on pupusas By Jananne Abel
A
nother Hispanic restaurant has opened in down town Port Chester, this one Salvadoran. La Pupusa Loca de Port Chester opened its doors at 165 Westchester Ave., corner of Pearl Street, a week ago. The number of Latino restaurants in the village now stands at 30. That represents about 33 percent of the total 91 eateries. Laurence Barrera and Victor Sanchez of Cliffside Park, N.J., both Salvadoran born, are partners in this new venture, also owning a restaurant called La Pupusa Local de Yonkers. Barrera, an experienced restaurateur, is involved in three other eateries with the same basic name in New Jersey and his family now has a total of eight—with other locations in Spring Valley, N.Y., Manhattan and the Bronx. Barrera and Sanchez chose Port Chester “because we see the community over here is big,” said Barrera. “We are looking for Central American people from Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador and sometimes American people like to try something new.” Central American food from these various countries is similar, he said. Pupusas are “what identifies us, like pasta for Brazilians,” said Barrera. Billed as appetizers and priced at $1.50 to $1.75, they are round corn pockets stuffed with cheese, pork, cheese and beans or cheese and pork. As Barrera explained, the traditional way to eat them is topped with a little tomato sauce and curtido, a spicy red cabbage mixture in a large container on each table. Pupusas are folded
over once and eaten with the hands. “If you eat them with a knife and fork, they lose their taste,” relayed Barrera. Always willing to try something new, I found the cheese and pork combination topped with tomato sauce and curtido interesting and satisfying. Other specialties include Mariscada Especial, a special seafood soup or bouillabaisse filled with shrimp, lobster, crab, clams and fish in a delicious creamy broth ($12.95); Ceviches de 7 Mares: Clams, shrimp, calamari and other cold seafood marinated in a special sauce ($9.95); Combinacion Mar y Tierra: grilled beef, chicken and two shrimp ($12.95); Sopa de Res (beef soup at $6), Carne Asada (broiled steak at $9.95); T-bone steak; and seafood. Starting this weekend, thick broiled veal chops will also be available. Tamales are also popular and are made of ground chicken rolled in cornmeal dough or just cornmeal dough wrapped in corn husks and steamed ($2). The latter variety is served with sour cream. A Salvadoran taco consists of a tortilla stuffed with chicken or beef fried and topped with mayonnaise and tomato sauce ($2). Besides a variety of appetizers, there are salads of avocado, greens and fruit, soups, pork dishes, combination plates, beef dishes, chicken dishes, and seafood, some mentioned above as specialties. Drinks are also interesting, especially those that are homemade and/or Salvadoran specialties. For example: Horchota ($2), made with seven types of seeds, cocoa
La Pupusa Loca de Port Chester opened last Friday, Nov. 9, at 165 Westchester Ave., corner of Pearl Street.
With storefront windows on two sides and mirrors on the other two, the interior of Port Chester’s new Salvadoran restaurant is bright and airy. and cinnamon with a milk and water base; Maranon ($1.75), a tropical fruit drink; Cebada made with milk, cinnamon and strawberry extract ($1.75); Chan, made with strawberry extract, fine seeds and a water base ($1.75); and a variety of fruit shakes ($3) such as mango, papaya, guanabana, banana, strawberry and orange. There are seven desserts on the menu, with flan ($2.50) and tres leches ($3), a special cake popular in Central America and Mexico, available when we visited. Mangos verdes queso y crema salvadorena was a dessert special, but it was sold out. Open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, until 11:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and until 10:30 p.m. Sunday, La Pupusa Loca de Port Chester also serves breakfast. You can get eggs, red beans, sour cream and two tortillas for $4.95; sweet banana with sour cream for $3.75; eggs, sausage, sour cream, avocado, beans and two tortillas for $6.50; a typical Salvadoran plate of one chicken tamal, one sweet corn tamal and two pupusas ($6.50); or a Tipico Mixto of one tamal, enchiladas and two tacos for $6.50. While La Pupusa Loca de Port
Chester now serves beer and will have its wine license in a few weeks, the restaurant caters to families. Loud ethnic music reverberates from the juke box. Waitresses speak decent English here, as does Barrera, who came to
and white cloths cover the tables. Oak chairs have mint green seats. There are floor to ceiling windows on two sides of the storefront restaurant while the other two walls are mirrored. Green carpeting with pink flowers covers the floor. Lighted fans hang from a pretty drop ceiling with gold-colored metal strips between the tiles. To block the strong sun, verticals —Laurence Barrera, co-owner, will be going up at the La Pupusa Loca de Port Chester windows topped with valances in a fabric to coordinate with the rest the United States 24 years ago. He of the décor. To match the look of came over illegally at that time the other Pupusa Loca restaurants, when his family was running away Barrera and his partner hope to from the civil war in El Salvador. install neon lighting in the interior He started working as a dishwasher, of the restaurant but are still workthen a salad man and then became ing with the Village of Port Chester a cook. Since he didn’t like the on that detail. kitchen, he switched to bus boy, One of the best chefs from the then waiter, bartender and maitre Yonkers location will be in Port d’ in an Italian restaurant. His Chester to train a new kitchen mother and wife cooked Salvadoran staff. Barrera’s wife, Victoria, or food in their apartment and eventu- Sanchez’s wife, Sara, may also ally they opened up a small eatery assist in explaining how to prein New York City. One place has pare dishes correctly. since expanded to eight run by his Business was 300% better than family. After coming over illegally, expected during the first weekBarrera finally became a citizen in end, said Barrera Monday, after February. La Pupusa Loca had been open The décor is the same in all of only three days. In the future he the Pupusa Loca restaurants, said plans to offer live music at his Barrera. In Port Chester, mauve restaurant.
Pupusas are “what identifies us, like pasta for Brazilians.”