Skip to main contentThe enormous menu here offers the Salvadoran food of the cook and owner, Silvia Espino Vargaz, the Guatemalan food of her husband, Jaime Sandoval, and the Mexican dishes Vargaz has cooked elsewhere. La Guanaquita sells the best pupusas in the metro area—freshly made and ungreasy with well-seasoned fillings and flavorful cheese ($2 each, minimum of two). Many of the other Salvadoran dishes are solid as well. Molasses-colored platanos fritos ($5), yuca frita ($8) mixed with fried chunks of pork, and the unctuous sopa de pata ($9.50) with wonderful handmade tortillas are all tasty and worthwhile. And then there's the Guatemalan menu, with fantastic dishes such as the pepian ($9), tender chicken smothered in a sweet and creamy pumpkin-seed sauce. In half a dozen visits, I haven't even gotten to the Mexican menu.
WWeek 2015