38716 Sat Aug 13 21:30:50 -0700 2005 9 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 182771 Over the past year or so, I've found flyers from two pupuserias in Vallejo on the windshield of my car getting back from work in SF. I never thought much of it, but when I found this website and found an old Melanie post of two other pupuserias in Vallejo (Latino's and Pupuseria Y Tacqueria Mercy), I decided to break my pupusa "virginity" and try these relative newcomers to the area. I ordered two pupusas at each place - one chicharron (pork and cheese) and one revuelta (pork, beans and cheese.) Taqueria Y Pupuseria Los Gallitos: This was my first stop after my morning workout. The place is located in a mini-mall across from what I like to jokingly call the Seafood City metroplex. The interior is a little on the tiny side, but it's nice enough. The space is crammed full of posters, statuettes, etc. related to Mexico and El Salvador. Next to the refrigerated beverage cabinets, a old-style jukebox played some Mexican music, and a picture menu of what seemed like mainly their Mexican dishes was prominently displayed on the opposite wall. I had a really nice moment after I placed my order. Directly behind me, the owner Jorge was having breakfast with what looked like one of the residents from a nearby apartment complex geared toward senior citizens. This man, who sported a World War II Veteran hat and was seated in an electric mobility scooter, asked me if I was Filipino. After acknowledging that I was, I proceeded to have a great talk with him about his experiences (he survived the Bataan Death March and helped liberate Manila near the end of the war.) He and the owner Jorge had become great friends; in fact, Jorge and his wife has hosted several veterans get-togethers at their retaurant and helped sponsor a float for them in the local Memorial Day parade here. Both he and Jorge were very pleasant people. In that same talk, Jorge mentioned he had bought the place from the previous owners almost two years ago (that's perhaps why I hadn't ventured back for this long - I had tried a burrito from the previous incarnation and was definitely not impressed.) He mentioned that he was Salvadoreño while his wife was Mexican, that he delivered for no charge if you needed a party catered, and that they had mariachis perform at their restaurant every other Saturday night (next week was their next scheduled performance.) Now for the food: don't know if it was the relative early hour, but the chips and salsa were forgettable. The chips were room temperature and a touch stale, and the salsa was kinda' bland and not terribly spicy (the bottles of La Tapatio and Bufalo sauces at the table were much better.) The pupusas, though, were pretty good. They had a nice golden brown color and were a touch thicker than the ones I had later in the day. The fillings were tasty and nicely seasoned; however, you did have to strain a bit to taste the cheese. What really accentuated these pupusas was the curtido, which was quite crisp in terms of vegetable-texture and tart in taste (it includes jalapeños, which from what I know isn't a common addition.) The sauce was also fairly tangy, easily beating out the salsa in that aspect. For such a small space, this restaurant has a large selection of items available, both in terms of food (including some steak and seafood selections; the Molcajete, described as "beef, chicken, pork, sausage, nopales, mild salsa, green onions, rice, beans and tortillas served over a hot volcano stone," sounds like something you should eat with a friend) and beverages (sodas and quite a few brands of beer were available, as well as not-usual restaurant offerings like Gatorade and energy drinks.) It also seems like a place that would get a diverse clientele simply due to its location - I wouldn't be surprised if they got as many non-Latino as Latino customers. El Emperador: This place opened up a few months ago in a blue-collar and unincorporated area of Vallejo. The interior is actually quite nice, but probably isn't the first thing you would think of when you enter a restaurant such as this. Occasional Pacifico Claro and Spanish-language posters and memorabilia were on the walls amidst fancy tilework and mirrors, ceiling fans, and track lighting. Even the knicknacks I found lining the white picket-style barrier which divided the room reflected the mish-mash of the interior - amongst these items, I found a Virgin Mary statue and candle, a polynesian-style carving and cup, and two jade carvings (a stack of elephants and a frog.) The chips and salsa were much better than Los Gallitos' - the salsa was tangy and fresh, though not particularly hot, and the chips were warm and not greasy. The pupusas here were a touch skinnier than Los Gallitos but had a similar light golden brown color. If anything, these were much better in terms of the cheese, especially with the revuelta pupusa where I got that nice, melty feeling in my mouth. However, the curtido was on a little on the sweet side for my taste and the mix of vegetables weren't as crisp as the Los Gallitos version. The sauce reminded me of mere tomato sauce and added nothing to the experience. This definitely seems to be a place that is frequented mainly by Latinos and blue-collar types, again due to its location/neighborhood. Big bowls of caldos/soups seemed to be popular with the folks while I was there. While the menu is maybe not even half the size of Los Gallitos', I did find an interesting selection related to a recent thread - Barbacoa, which here is described as "steamed goat meat with spices." Both places had only one waitperson, but they were both friendly and provided competent service. The tab for both dishes worked out to just a little over $5 each (which included a soda.) Overall, I think these two places are fine if you need to have your pupusa cravings satisfied (I may have to have a light dinner tonight judging from how full my stomach still is.) Melanie's Old Vallejo Pupuseria Thread http://www.chowhound.com/california/boards/sanfrancisco8/messages/31302.html Recent Barbacoa Thread http://www.chowhound.com/california/boards/sanfrancisco/messages/145397.html Taqueria Y Pupuseria Los Gallitos 480 Redwood St, #32 Vallejo, CA 94590 (707) 649-1959 El Emperador 541 Benicia Road Vallejo, CA 94590 (707) 644-3229 Sat Aug 13 21:30:50 -0700 2005 0 JojoA 1 182800 Thanks for a great post. I hope you've learned to have your workout AFTER visiting a pupuseria! Link: http://eatingchinese.org Sun Aug 14 01:01:51 -0700 2005 182771 0 Gary Soup 2 182926 Congrats on your first pupusas. To me, pupusas are the Latino equivalent of Grilled cheese sandwiches. You need to eat them immediately and while they are hot, otherwise why bother. After doing a pupusa crawl last year, there are only so many you can eat. If you ever are in the vicinity of San Pablo Dam Road, try the pupusas at Kaliente. One of the best in the class. The other sort of near place on San Pablo Avenue in San Pablo is El Tazamul which is in a whole different class and probably the best I’ve had. Even with pupusa burn out, I’d order these again. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy your Vallejo reports. Having stayed in Vallejo without benefit of Chowhound, for some reason my chow radar was just off. I’m making notes in my chowguide on the places you have reported on. Always be prepared. I have a few questions. Thanks for your link to Melanie’s old pupusa report. Actually it has a link to my post on my first pupusa at Balompie in SF. Anyway, in that thread, Melanie mentions an aborted donut search on Tennesee Avenue. Last week I was passing by a place called ‘Great Donuts’ on Tennesee. Have you tried this place? Just out of curiosity, what is your opinion on Liled's Candy Kitchen on Tennessee? I wasn’t wowed by the place, but it seemed like a decent place for an ice cream cone. If you have tried them, any favorite flavors. I like the fact that they have seasonal flavors like pumpkin and apple pie. I didn’t find a chocolate yet that was worth the calories, though. Great place for penny candy though and seasonal stuff like candy corn and caramel apples. Have you tried any of the many taquerias? (ok, I’m getting a bit pushy here). Anyway, thanks again. Mon Aug 15 00:04:08 -0700 2005 182800 0 rworange 3 182945 Thanks for the compliments on the reports Gary & RW. I admit that my chowhound instinct wasn't awakened until I got a job in SF. Living in the Vallejo area for so long dulled my expectations for great food (even places like Starbucks didn't think the town was worthy of an outlet until a couple years ago), but the new job and then finding this website and discovering there were some decent places here from the old threads made me really want to explore what was here as well. Thanks for the info on the pupuserias - when I'm on that side of the bridge, I'm definitely going to check them out. As for Liled's, that's something I haven't visited since high school, which was a couple decades ago. As a young kid, I used to live in SF and we were raised on Mitchell's (especially their Ube and Mango flavors - I know Portico has a selection of Mitchell's downtown.) But Liled's is something I could check out when the hot weather hits again. Maybe I can make a "sweet tooth" run on Tennessee and hit Great Donuts as well that day (and then immediately hit the gym for a workout LOL.) As far as the taquerias, I really haven't gone to any of them recently. There are a couple of places recommended by relatives and a couple of holes in the wall that I know about that I do intend to hit soon, though. Mon Aug 15 02:16:29 -0700 2005 182926 0 JojoA 4 183168 Here's my old post on another Salvadoran/mex spot in town. Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/31969#141050 Tue Aug 16 01:18:59 -0700 2005 182945 0 Melanie Wong 3 182950 Here's my donut scouting . . . so I dropped donuts and moved on to empanadas. (g) Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/20337#70241 Mon Aug 15 03:05:42 -0700 2005 182926 0 Melanie Wong 4 183057 Thanks Melanie :) - seems like Vallejo isn't a (great) donut town for sure. My parents, who also live in the area, used to buy a dozen or so of them from Royal Jelly every now and then, and they've moved on to the prepackaged Krispy Kremes you find at the convenience stores. Mon Aug 15 16:35:42 -0700 2005 182950 0 JojoA 5 183147 Vallejo seems like to should be a great donut town, maybe someone else will have more luck finding donut greatness than I did. I'm glad you're enjoying the discovery of pupusas. I'm happy too that you had the chance to meet a vet of the "greatest generation". Company C, 194th Tank Battalion, which marched along with him in Bataan, mustered from the Salinas Valley, the agricultural area where I was born and raised. (http://www.mchsmuseum.com/guard.html) Fewer than half came home, an enormous loss for our small town and a huge hole in my parents' high school classes. Many of the Filipino regulars also settled here. Growing up, we remembered their heroism on August 15, VJ Day, something I haven't done for a long time. Thank you for bringing this to mind again --- today they are in my thoughts once more with great admiration and gratitude for their sacrifice in the Pacific. Link: http://www.salinascalifornian.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050815/NEWS01/508150312&SearchID=73217367884515 Mon Aug 15 22:58:24 -0700 2005 183057 0 Melanie Wong 6 183274 Thanks for the response and link, Melanie. Growing up in a military family (my dad served 20 years in the Navy) I guess I was always attuned to the often great sacrifices our military men had to go through, including those in "The Greatest Generation." BTW, I always immensely enjoy your postings on the places you visit - I wish I had the time (or for that matter, the finances) to enjoy the cornucopia of culinary treats that you experience. Tue Aug 16 14:46:30 -0700 2005 183147 0 JojoA 7 183427 I've been a bit sad that Vallejo is no longer among my daily haunts to be able to try the spots you've been turning up. I do miss it --- it had so many secret places to grab a fast, intensely flavored, and inexpensive bite before the long drive home. Awakening your inner chowhound has been wonderful for our community, thank you for sharing your journey. Wed Aug 17 01:14:18 -0700 2005 183274 0 Melanie Wong