El Palacio Latino 2 - CLOSED

 

4

34

John W.

Fremont, CA

UPDATE!  There's been another name change; the restaurant is now called NENA'S.  The food is still Salvadorean, though-- worth a try!

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Something must be going horribly RIGHT in the city of Fremont!  

The first big sign happened just a couple or so short years back with the shuttering  of El Torito, long a slap to the residents' good taste.

(Well, of course a countertestament would be the birth of Pacific Commons, a monster complex full of cookie cutter corporate crap such as P.F. Chang, Claim Jumper, Pick Up Stix, Rubio's,  & Panera Bread, but this center is located in a joyfully remote & avoidable part of town--and I guess I concede that if people want to "eat safe" and boring, they should have that right.  As long as they have to haul all the way out to where the car dealerships are to do so.)

Uh, where were we?

Oh, yeah--El Palacio Latino 2!

Anyhow, it says something good that in a time of boring corporate sameness in the restaurant world, a nice unique mom-n-poppy place such as this can survive (although through several name changes--from Panchita's, to El Chorro, and finally...for now..to El Palacio Latino 2)

And the restaurant is sooOooO good.  Yeah, not in the part of town everyone thinks of when the thought of dining out comes to mind--this is, as mentioned, in a strip of old Irvington marked by rather run-down storefronts, some empty, others home to pawn shops or an army-navy surplus store.  Don't let that stop you.  Convenient free parking in the rear (are there any more pleasing words known to man?)!

INSIDE, you'll find a clean, large restaurant (it occupies two storefronts) sporting flags, maps and memorabilia of the three countries its menu represents.  Service is friendly, and a great opportunity to practice your Spanish with a nice, patient proprietress!  Don't worry, the menu offers plenty of photos and explanations.

I recommend the Salvadorean food--delicious pupusas stuffed with your choice of one or more fillings, meaty or vegetarian; tamales de elote (yum), black beans with sweet cream, or ---mmmmmmm--- platanos fritos (fried plantains).  The difficult part for me is choosing just one thing--and I usually don't!  Try going with several people, ordering family style, and sharing!  

Even though El Palacio 2 is located along a main thoroughfare in the city, it's remote-feeling enough that you can feel like you've found an out-of -the way establishment, and can even get away with claiming it as your own discovery.

I won't sue you.

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0

2

Great A.

San Francisco, CA

I found this great place by the happiest accident.  I got lost in unfamiliar Fremont after a job interview.  Hungry, I saw the sign, so I parked and went in.

The place bills itself as a Guatemalan restaurant, but to my happy delight it also has Salvadoran and even Mexican dishes.  If you don't know the difference, you haven't had a pupusa yet.  You're in for a treat.

Pupusas are very fat, stuffed tortillas with cheese and/or pork inside.  At Palacio Latino, they stuff the pupusas generously, and deliver them piping hot and crispy on the outside.  

They also have a fairly unusual fruit drink, the maraon, which is the super-delicious cashew fruit.  A lot of latin places, surprisingly, don't make this great drink.

The service is very authentically latin, which means as warm and friendly as you could ever wish for.  For example, when the waitress noticed that I was explaining to my companions what an "atol" was, she brought a free cup of it for them to try.

(An atol, by the way, is pronounced ah-TOHL, and is a very soul-filling thick, hot drink made from corn and spices.  Try one).

Also get a big square of the sesame-seed-covered coffee cake to go, they have it by the register.

Overall the prices seemed reasonable, our bill was about 9 bucks a person for a full meal with drink.

All the food I've had here was very good.  The ambiance is clean, if a bit sparse and the tables awkwardly placed.  It didn't seem justified giving them fewer than 5 stars, since the overall experience here has been really comforting, and good, and tasty, and friendly.

You can't find their phone number online since, due to a screwup, they are still listed as their old name of Los Chorros.  But I snagged one of their cards for you, it's 510-656-7910

Oh, and by the way, the interview went well and I got the job.

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Elite '08

463

2131

kim n.

Mountain View, CA

Update 12/11/2006 - the name is actually El Palacio Latino 2
3933 Washington Boulevard, Fremont, 94538
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I'm not sure I got the name right so I might have to go back and look at the sign again. Apparently this used to be Los Chorros which was on a dive list I found years ago and just started exploring it for the Fremont area.

The restaurant and most of the retail establishments connected to it have a really old facade which is practically falling apart. Since we saw that it was no longer Los Chorros we almost didn't go in but the dive factor was too high not to. The funny thing is once we entered the place was pretty well kept and pretty large despite the illusion of the contrary from outside. The place not only advertised Salvadorean but also Guatemalan and Mexican cuisines.

My co-worker and I had to split an order of revuelta pupusas which had a combination of cheese, beans and pork. They came out hit off the grill filled with goodness. I noticed that these were wider and flatter than most pupusas I'd had before which gave them a crispier texture, which I quite liked. Sometimes they are too thick and are somewhat doughy inside.  For the entrees my co-worker got a Guatemalan style marinated pork chop while I got the Guatemalan style menudo. While one of could say we had Salvadorean before (me), none of us could say we knew anything about Guatemalan cuisine. We just knew that our respective dishes were pretty tasty. The pork chop looked rather red but was not spicy (as most Central and South American food is) so I'm guessing the use of achiote paste or paprika. My menudo also came in a very thick tomato like sauce instead of the thin soup like Mexican style. Also, instead of just tripe, it had all sorts of organ meats; kidney, liver, etc. Both entrees came with pureed black beans, a light rice and Salvadorean thick corn tortillas.

The place seems to be run by one lady who is very nice and has the craziest green eyes. There's a lot of Central American adornments all over the walls and there is a DVD that is constantly showing things about the region, it's culture, tourism, etc. So if you're looking for something slightly off the usual Mexican fare, check this place out  get some Central American flavor in your dining.

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