Undoubtedly, Downtown Los Angeles es todo un estuche de monerías.  You come across the most bizarre and unexpected joints ever… and more often than not, todo pasa sin querer queriendo. It was during one of my Downtown “pato aventuras” that I got lost on my way back home. For those of you that have taken a drive in Downtown L.A., you know it’s hella confusing and those one-way streets can throw you off like a curveball, even more so if it’s late at night and you happened to forget your glasses at home.  If it has ever happened to you, which it probably has… just accept it, being lost in Downtown L.A. is no laughing matter… más aún con el estómago vacío.

And now what?!

Being lost and starved is no fun, so a chow-down stop to calm down the hunger was a must.  For some odd reason I ended up all the way in Korea Town of all places.  Since I had just had Chinese food earlier that day, any kind of Asian food no me parecía apetecible.  I narrowed my options to either a little mom-and-pop Korean food place or an ever-present McDonalds when I unexpectedly came across “Los Comales”.  Without giving it any second thoughts, ni tardo ni perezoso I made my way to the parking lot.

I instantly assumed “Los Comales” was a Mexican food restaurant, so I was ready to just order a burrito and get back on the road.  Much to my surprise, it turned out to be a South American Café/ Pupusería.

Pupusas, pupusas y más pupusas

When eating at a Salvadorian restaurant, pupusas are the must-order item in the menu. The thing with pupusas though is that even though they’re a basic dish that all these restaurants offer, it’s easy to screw them up.  Just like any Mexican food joint can massacre a taco, pupusas get screwed up left and right- they’re either too thin and all the insides plop out making a mess or they’re too thick. 

I proceeded with my order and got myself a “Pupusa Revuelta” and a “Pupusa de queso”.  Both of them were simply amazing.  Not too thick and not too thin, just about right.  Definitely some great pupusas; the “Pupusa de queso” was really good, but if you want an explosion of flavor in your mouth and then some more, then the “Pupusa revuelta” is a must.  However, the curtido at “Los Comales” deserves mad props for making the pupusas even better. 

A pupusa with a bad curtido is like a pambazo sin papas.  Unlike other South American food restaurants, the curtido at “Los Comales” is just as good and is probably 50% responsible of the pupusas popularity- it has that flavor that you’re accustomed to when eating curtido, but this one has a kick to it since peppers of some sort where added, me atreví a preguntarle a la cocinera pero no quiso revelar el secreto. 

Pupusas en Downtown

So getting lost in Downtown L.A., sometimes has its advantages.  “Los Comales” is definitely one place to keep in mind while driving through Downtown…

That doesn’t mean you have to get lost to come across “Los Comales”, just MapQuest it and there you’ll have it. The pupusas are definitely worth the drive.