Salvadoran Pupusas appears as a signature dish in 1 United States cities. See each city's local variant and where to eat it.
Salvadoran pupusas · Washington DC
Hand-patted thick corn cakes stuffed with cheese, beans or pork, griddled until golden and served with curtido pickle and tomato salsa, DC's defining street snack.
Washington DC has the largest Salvadoran population in the United States. The community settled along Mount Pleasant Street, Columbia Heights and Wheaton MD through the 1980s civil-war refugee waves, and pupuserias spread from the corner of 16th and Mount Pleasant outward through the next decades. The pupusa, a thick hand-patted corn cake stuffed with cheese, refried beans, chicharron pork or loroco flower, is El Salvador's national dish and DC's defining street snack. It is griddled on a flattop until lightly golden, then served with curtido (a fermented cabbage relish) and a thin tomato salsa. Don Juan's on Mount Pleasant Street, Pupuseria San Miguel on 14th, El Sol de America in Wheaton and Los Hermanos in Wheaton run the canonical versions; expect to pay $4 per pupusa, $12 for a plate of three with rice and beans.
Where to eat in Washington DC:
- Tortilla Cafe