Skipping down the coast to El Salvador, I swap tacos for pupusas. Like a pocket full of love, it’s a tortilla (of sorts) stuffed with refried beans, cheese, chicharrón (pork), or a mixed bag of ingredients,  then fried. In Vancouver the place to get them is at El Rinconcito Salvadoreno on Commercial Drive. After 4 PM, they start making them en masse and you just tell them how many you want. That’s all there is to it. They come stacked like pancakes and served with a vinegary coleslaw and hot sauce. If you’re smart you order a cerveza to wash it down too. For years my standby has been two bean and cheese and two pork pupusas (and a beer, of course) but there’s a full menu of Mexican-style dishes. The fish tacos are good and the carne asada is nothing to shake a stick at either.

Travelling through Central America, you’re not going to find a lot of gourmet dishes. What appears so often as to become tiresome is beans and rice, rice and beans, beans and cheese, etc… Always something carby and comforting and inexpensive to make and served up simply.  Pupusas feel like that kind of fare to me – deliciously uncomplicated.

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Rinconcito Salvadoreno
2062 Commercial Drive, Vancouver

Photo Credit: ecstaticist.

So I’ve dedicded to start a new project for dining in 2010. The tagline of this site is “Sampling the World’s Cuisine Without Leaving Vancouver” and so instead of of traipsing around Vancouver’s culinary delights in the random way I have been for the last (almost) 2 years, I am going to present my finds country by country.

I still have a bit of a backlog of reviews, so I may post those interspersed with the project and if I feel really keen, I may even post some recipes.

First stop on the grand tour: North America. Got any favorites you’d like to recommend?

There are times when I just can’t deal with a red wine reduction or an entree with more than 10 ingredients. In fact, one of my happiest meals was at a roadside shack in Belize, eating rice and beans and strips of fried bread drizzled in hot sauce. This is the simple food, oftentimes comfort food, that simply feels good to eat. On the drive, comfort food is made daily after 4 PM at Rinconcito Salvadoreno. It comes in the form of pupusas, an El Salvadoran dish consisting of a corn tortilla stuffed with a variety of different ingredients.  There’s a choice of bean, and cheese  cheese, chicharrón (pork), or revuelta (mixed) and they arrive accompanied by a delicious vinegary coleslaw and hot sauce.

My favorite by far is the bean and cheese, but I usually get at least one pork pupusa as well, just to mix things up a bit. At $2.75 per pupusa,  you can afford to experiment a bit and still be full and flush at the end of dinner.

If you feel for something a bit fancier, there is a wide range of Mexican style dishes, such as fish tacos and the Rinconcito Special also merits a try. A thin-sliced, carne asada steak with peppers and onions comes with rice & beans on the side for $10.

This place is always hopping on the weekend, and sometimes the service can be a bit slow, but last night I literally snuck in and ate while my laundry was in the machine next door and regardless, you will always be served with a shy smile…almost always by the same guy.

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Rinconcito Salvadoreno
2062 Commercial Drive, Vancouver