Pupuseria Latinos

A pupusa begins as a ball of corn masa, pressed flat by hand around its filling and set on a hot griddle until the crust blisters and the cheese inside turns molten. At Pupuseria Latinos, a small Salvadoran kitchen on Eby Street in downtown Kitchener, that griddled round is the organizing fact of the menu — the dish the restaurant is named for and the one most orders are built around. The rest is Central American comfort food, priced to feed a table for a few dollars and served with family-run ease rather than polish. It is the kind of place a downtown regular learns once and comes back to for the same handful of orders.

The pupusa list is where the kitchen shows its range. Chicharrón and cheese is the signature, the natural place to start — pork and cheese folded into masa and griddled until the edges crisp. Beans and cheese keeps it simple, revuelta brings the fuller mixed filling, and loroco and cheese, built around the Central American flower bud, is the order that tastes most specifically Salvadoran. Zucchini and cheese rounds out a vegetable-leaning set that gives meatless diners real choices. Each pupusa arrives with curtido, the tangy fermented cabbage slaw, and a thin salsa roja to spoon over the top. Beyond the masa, birria tacos are the richest thing on the table — slow-stewed beef, crisp tortillas, melted cheese, and a dipping broth for the heavier side of an order. Tamales, chicken enchiladas, loaded nachos, and a chicken quesadilla fill out the savoury menu, while horchata and Mexican hot chocolate cover the drinks and tres leches cake closes the meal with something soft and milk-soaked.