we finally made it to gloria’s cafe to partake in both salvadoran and mexican food. of course, with any restaurant on our to-do list, we ordered waaaaay too much food. thank goodness we went with 2 other people. we started with fried yucca and pork. i love the way salvadorans prepare this. we made fried (baked, actually) yucca once and it was good but not as good as at a restaurant. this was the least greasy yucca and pork i’ve ever had. next time, i’ll just order this and nothing else. maybe i’ll order two…

we also ordered pupusas, sadly there didn’t have loroco but the pork and cheese and bean and cheese pupusas didn’t disappoint. i loved the hot (physically) salsa and curtido and the pupusas weren’t drenched in grease. they were definitely better than the ones at the west la farmers market.

m ordered the house special: pork adobada. wow. the salvadoran rice was seasoned as i expected and the spiced sauce and pork were rich but delicate and perfectly tender. and not swimming in oil. the not swimming in oil is key, as you might have guessed.

i ordered the pork and elote salvadoran tamales and the beef and ortega chile mexican tamales. salvadoran tamales are made differently – something about being cooked before being steamed in a banana leaf and then cooked again (maybe?). the elote is almost like a dessert tamale as it had a sweetness to it. it wasn’t stuffed; it reminded me of cornbread. both of the salvadoran tamales had a wonderfully fluffy texture and were much better than the mexican ones. of the mexican ones, the ortega chile was the best. awesome green sauce and chile flavor.

bottom line: i would definitely go back and i would probably order just as much food. at the end of the day, guacamole, 3 pupusas, yucca & pork, pitcher of sangria, 8 tamales, fish tacos, and house special pork totaled less than $90.