Restaurant Review: Popoca – The New York Times

This week, I had some really excellent pupusas at Popoca, a modern Salvadoran restaurant in Oakland. The kitchen nixtamalizes corn every day to make fresh, tender masa and stuffs it with all kinds of glorious things like braised beef tongue or grilled Jimmy Nardello peppers or green loroco flower buds. Even if you can’t see it from where you’re sitting, you might hear the rhythmic pat-pat of someone shaping pupusas before they cook them on the comal. To me, this was music. This was a reminder that even when you don’t see it, how much skill and labor actually goes into this simple, handmade food. Part of what makes Popoca so exciting is that it has a really unconventional, expressive, personal take on Salvadoran cuisine — its breadth, its depth and its adaptability in the diaspora. Pupusas are just a doorway into Anthony Salguero’s work, and once you’re in, there’s more to enjoy. I loved the clams with alguashte, a deeply roasted ground pumpkin seed. Popoca is kind of an easygoing neighborhood restaurant that’s more ambitious and more experimental than it lets on. You can read the full review on nytimes.com.