Salvadoran in Denver

8890 E. Colfax Ave. East Denver

303-322-1354

During busy hours at Acapulco, you practically need a shoehorn to get into the microscopic front room that barely has space for its four counter seats and the window where you order; even during off-hours, it's unusual to find an empty seat here. The owner, Roberto Lopez, hails from Mexico, and his wife comes from El Salvador; the tiny shack hawks dishes from both countries -- tacos and burritos as well as authentic Salvadoran pupusas, which are the real standouts. Two rounds of masa sandwiching meat, cheese, beans or loroco, a Central American flower bud, are griddled on the flat-top long enough that the outside gets crispy and golden and cheese oozes out of the sides. The eatery serves the pudgy pouches with a pickled-cabbage coleslaw called curtido and watery tomato salsa. You'll want to try all them all -- even if you have to eat them in your car.

9 articles

El Chalate

8119 E. Colfax Ave. East Denver

303-333-0818

Salvadoran, Menu

At El Chalate, a stripped-down Mexican and Salvadorean pit stop on East Colfax, you'll often be welcomed by a young girl who likes to practice her English. She flits around the dining room, stopping to chat with patrons, while the attentive waitstaff hustles from table to table dropping off heaping plates of pupusas, stuffed with queso, chicharron or both, and served with both a mellow tomato sauce and curtido, a tart slaw of carrots, cabbage and oregano. The joint does a steady takeout trade, especially on weekends, when you'll often see a line stretching out the door with people jonesing for the tamales de pollo.

1 article

El Lucero Salvadoran & Mexican Restaurant

1500 W. Littleton Blvd. Littleton

303-794-4985

Salvadoran, Mexican

This Littleton strip-mall spot was formerly home to a Mexican restaurant called El Lucero, but in November 2020 it reopened under new ownership serving pupusas and other native Salvadoran dishes along with the Mexican menu that was offered under its previous owners. Opt for the mixed pupusa stuffed with refried beans, pork belly and mozzarella cheese (the most popular option), or go further afield with queso and loroco pupusas, made with mozz and edible flowers.

El Metapan

11707 E Colfax Ave. Aurora

720-232-8628

Salvadoran, Honduran, Mexican

El Tazumal

258 Santa Fe Dr. Central Denver

720-584-6068

Salvadoran

4 articles

Pupusas el Lucero

2127 S. Sheridan Blvd. Southwest Denver

720-638-6192

Salvadoran, Central American

Pupusas El Lucero is the second restaurant for the owners of Littleton's El Lucero Salvadoran & Mexican Restaurant. This outpost has a slimmer menu focused on the cuisine of El Salvador; think pupusas, camarones and pollo salteados, and sopa de mondongo (a stew of tripe, cow's feet and veggies served only on the weekends).

Pupusas Lover

2236 S. Colorado Blvd. Southeast Denver

720-508-3197

Salvadoran, Central American, Recommended, Menu

As you're waiting for your meal to arrive at this Salvadoran eatery, listen for the sounds of clapping from the kitchen: It's proof that your pupusa is being made to order. You can get the corn-masa pockets stuffed with anything from cheese to loroco (a tropical flower bud) to shrimp, or go loco and opt for the Loca, a monster filled with pork, beans, cheese, loroco, zucchini and chicken. Diners who have yet to succumb to the charms of the pupusa will find plenty of other dishes on the menu as well — though they'd do well to brush up on the differences between familiar Mexican dishes and owner Claudia Quijada's recipes of the same name, which reflect her upbringing in El Salvador and are completely different from what's served at most Denver taquerias. (Chicharrón, for example, is not fried pork skin, but fried pork minced almost to a paste, while enchiladas resemble a tostada.) The menu is a great foray into the underrepresented cuisine of Central America, as well as a great reminder of culinary diversity south of the border.

Salvadoran in Denver

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