At the beginning of last summer on a couple of white guys’ adventures in Latin bar hopping, I was introduced to Restaurante El Salvador (207 South Broadway, Upper Fells Point) – City Paper’s best Salvadoran restaurant of 2000! – and was subsequently impressed with the fairly inexpensive bottled beers ($3.50 for a Supremo) coupled with a Latin cuisine selection one wouldn’t often see outside of the usual burritos and enchiladas most commonly featured on more mainstream restaurants of that variety. Granted, they do have all of that – tacos, tamales, fajitas and the like – but the selections you don’t normally see are the real draw.
For instance, featured in the photo here in the top left: Honduran Enchiladas ($9.95). A hardboiled egg covered in cheese atop a slice of tomato, marinated ground beef mixed with pickled veggies and cabbage (NO LETTUCE EVER!) all on top of a deep fried tortilla. *Similar* to a Tostada, sure, but the pickled veggies and hard boiled egg are something I had never really seen on a dish like that before. At any rate, as an entree there’s the whole fried Tilapia with the expected sides of rice, refried beans, a small salad and some tortillas ($12.95). The fish was pretty awesome, great crispy fried skin and tender meat with onions and tomatoes mixed in for a bolder than usual flavor.
Decor-wise, if you even care at this point after seeing this food, El Salvador has some interestingly painted murals on the walls that make the place feel like some sort of Central American motel – a lot of Central/South American sceneries, sky-with-clouds airbrushed ceilings and standard booth seating, all of which keep the place feeling really bright and friendly even at 11:30pm. All of the televisions were tuned to weird telenovellas or spanish language infomercials during the meal, one such TV comically (at least to me) placed next to a giant Nutcracker, which are placed in various corners throughout the establishment.
But really if you’re going to check out El Salvador, do it for the inexpensive and well-made entrees. They’re worth your time, especially those tasty enchiladas. The service is friendly too. Get on it!
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