La Pupusa Guanaca
Category: Latin American [Edit]
Neighborhood: Jamaica Plain378 Centre St
(between Creighton St & Day St)
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 (617) 524-4900
- Price Range: $
- Accepts Credit Cards: No
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: No
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: No
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: No
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Alcohol: None
69 reviews
Waltham, MA
"Ole. I walked into Solea and I was apparently earlier than the average Waltham suburbanite (6:15 pm). I sat at the bar next to two people…" read more »
33 Reviews for La Pupusa Guanaca
A great first experience with Salvadoran food. The pupusas, especially those with crisp cheese, were delicious. The rice and beans seemed different than I'm used to (in a good way) - almost more of a bean sauce. It was all very tasty without being overheated by too much spice.
Such inexpensive treats so close to home. I can't wait to return.
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I'm not in Brookline anymore!
This is my first time exploring JP during my stay here at Nate's. Thanks to Derek Z of LA for introducing pupusas to me during the pupusa crawd where he said that "Someone told me Pupusas tasted like a fluffy cloud with pork inside..."
Mmmm....the pork and cheese as well as the black bean and cheese pupusas were delicious! Just like the ones I had in LA, and I've tried 3 different restaurants there!
Wait, they had horchatas?
Expect home made-to-order goodness here! But the lady didn't approach me while I was waiting to order by the counter...is it b/c I'm Asian? :(
Taiwanese unite for pupusas in JP, NOW :)
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My bf likes to bring this over, so I've been getting into it. The pupusas are really interesting. Almost like a thick meat/bean and cheese pancake. The boy loves the cole slaw type stuff but I refuse to try it. I like the reddish brown sauce that goes on them.
They have a huge rice and (refried) black bean side that is really cheap (like $2 or 3) that we usually share. We probably eat about 2 pupusas, share the rice and beans, and for a treat, we get sweet fried plantains. My favorite.
I've also gotten a burrito from here before. This place is El Salvadoran, so it doesn't quite taste like a Mexican burrito. It's got kind of a sour, pickled type taste but is unique and is good for some burrito variety.
Thank God for you and for summer and for being right next door to the Brendan Behan. You saved my life tonight, delicious pupusa.
Found review on Yelp and it was right on. This place has great food, friendly owners and reasonable prices. Food is all cooked to order so expect a 10 minute wait or so...it's well worth your time. Consider a side of yucca frita with chicharron to munch on along with your pupusas...the plate is large though and is enough for the table to share. Pupusas are authentic and delicious. Highly Recommended!!
Note to self: when drinking and shit talking about getting some god damn taco's at the Brendan Behan - shut mouth and just go next door to La Pupusa Guanaca and get the flipping El Salvoran little fried tacos that come with that kick ass salsa and cole slaw madness.
Second note to self: Jesus man, these shits are hot WAIT a second before chomping down, DERR.
Third note to self: Eat more fried plantains.
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For starters, I think it's just the ladies that don't speak English. The man who was there, probably the spouse or brother of one of them, speaks it very well. More than that, you almost wish he could join you to eat--seems like such a nice fellow.
As for the food, well damn. The enchilada salvadorena, much different from the enchilada mexicana we are all so familiar with, was slamming. Don't be afraid: just order and revel in it.
Now I want to go back and get a pupusa plate. It's $1.75, and if it's what the guy next to me ordered, it's a small lunch by itself. Word up.
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They don't speak English.
I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but just forewarning you. They might get burrito confused with empanada (which i don't really understand....I mean, it's NOT English) and you don't realize this until 20 minutes later, and then have to wait another 15 minutes.
Other than that, this is a quaint Salvadoran restaurant. You can tell everything is handmade. I got the Salvadoran enchilada, and let me tell you, it did not look anything like the enchilada I am used to. However, still really tasty. I ate the extra beef empanada that was suppose to be Paul's, and next time I go, I'm getting me some more of THAT!
Prices are incredibly reasonable, I think maybe, barely hitting $30.00 for 4 people, including drinks. Yes please.
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A good empanada experience should take a bit of time. You want your food to cook right, after all. This place does it from scratch. Sit and wait; the result is good, and they are really nice folks.
Dude, it's not Taco Bell, and Thank God for that.
They cook your food in your sight, and really cleanly, too.
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Seemingly authentic food from El Salvador made by two nice ladies who didn't speak much English, but hey, it's a nice opportunity to practice your Spanish. The flan was good as well as the popusas. A bit hard to find since the sign outside seemed to have been moved by the wind. Service a bit slow. I think there is a T stop a few blocks from there, bring your GPS if you're driving from Cambridge.
Not very vegan friendly (as was expected), but their fried plantains and yucca are super-yummy and a fantastic snack to accompany your beer at the B&B next door.
My friend really loved her beef-burrito, too.
Service can be slow, but is super-nice, and knowing that they make everything from scratch and how good it is is well worth the wait.
They apparently had to raise the prices recently, so it's not as cheap as it used to be, but still an excellent deal.
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Love this place! The food is tasty and the prices are good. They do take a while to prepare/cook, so I always call ahead of time & swing by the place 15min later to pick up the delicious empanadas and pupusas. Great place to grab a snack.
So I have been here a couple of times now. And I like it alright. First off I do have to say that they don't really understand English here. I am okay with that, I am not complaining, but it is just good to note. Both times I have been here our order has been messed up because they didn't understand what we ordered.
This place is small, and festively decorated. But, this is good, cheap Salvadorian food. According to the BF, the burritos are some of the best around. I have gotten a couple of meals there that I enjoyed a lot. The empanadas are also really darn good.
The second time I went there, there were 4 of us and we all order something different. Well, my BF ordered a burrito but the lady working thought he said empanada (they don't sound alike, so we were confused). I got my meal first, then a few minutes later the next person's empanada came out. We had to wait about another 10 minutes for the next person's meal. The only thing left to come out was the BF's burrito. We waited. We waited 30 minutes. A few more minutes. Finally, we realized that the extra empanada we got must have been confused for the burrito. Yup, that was the case. They never made the burrito. So, they made one and about 40 minutes after everyone else's food came out, the burrito was ready.
I do like it here, and it is good cheap food, but ordering food is really hard due to the language barrier.
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There is so much love for the pupusas here. So much love. Completely warranted, understandable love. But let's talk about yuca con chicharron instead:
+1 pork, tender tender pork
+1 fried yuca and fresh lime
- 1 because sometimes they forget the hot sauce
+1 for giant portion
+1,000,000 for only costing $4.68
for a total of 1,000,003 point in favor and one point against. You could have pupusas and plantains and pork and yuca and still spend less than you would almost anywhere else. Also, there are interesting maybe Salvadorean sodas.
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Cheap place to explore Salvadoran food. Mmmm yucas fritas.
I'm no Salvadorian aficionado, but LPG is by far the best cheap take-out spot I've tried in JP. Sometimes the food can take a while, but that's what Behan's is there for. I have this persistent fantasy where they open a second LPG down the street and force Purple Cactus to either make good food or take a hike. What's going in that old video store space, anyway? I also have this fantasy where I'm an astronaut it outer space, well beyond the atmosphere.
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I used to live on Sheridan St. in Jamaica Plain and La Papusa Guanaca is right on the corner. Oh my gosh is that place awesome! Sometimes I grab Papusas, or a burrito and go next door to The Brendan Behan and have a pint with my food. They're totally cool with it. I'm a Buyer's Agent in Jamaica Plain with www.TheBostonHomeTeam.com and LPG is one of the 1st places I tell my clients about. I bought so many burritos from these folks one year when I was still single, they gave me a T-shirt for Xmas with a little embroidered corn on it. It was a really nice t-shirt.
The yucca is where it's at. Holy heaven, it's so delicious! Even the basic beans and rice is really good, and like $2. I had never had a pupusa before I tried them here, but they've made a fan of me. They're like crepes almost. I don't know exactly how to describe them, but for a buck and change, you should just try for yourself. It's a small place, so don't count on getting a seat if it's a busy weekend, but here's a secret. You can get a pupusa to go and then bring it to the Behan and enjoy it there with a beer. And the ladies who work at La Pupusa are suuuper nice even if you speak to them in really bad Spanish. Or really bad English.
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I usually go for the pupusas with the yummy cabbage and carrots slaw-type stuff they give you and maybe some yuca frita but recently I had one of their beef empanadas and now I dream about them! They were so simple and delicious. I want 6 of them right now, in fact.
I love this place. No nonsense. Real food. Simple. Delicious. Cheap. Super cheap. So good.
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I LOVE pupusas. They are one of my favorite meals in the world. So delicious. We had pork and cheese pupusas and cheese pupusas. We also had fried yucca with fried pork. The pork was rather lean and so flavorful. The curtido, the slaw topping for the pupusas, was fresh.
The horchata was okay, but toward the end it got pretty grainy. The woman behind the counter wasn't very friendly, but since I was getting pupusa deliciousness for $1.50 each, I can deal with curt service.
I'll be back!
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I love the pork and cheese pupusas and the fried plantains! It comes with this interesting cabbage salad.
Delicious and CHEAP - especially if you get full off of almost nothing like me.
The pub next door will let you take their food inside, double awesome.
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I had lived in J.P. for a couple years before I stumbled upon this place. The fact that it's small and unassuming make it easy to miss. But once I ate there... OMG! I had never had papusas before, so I don't really have much to compare it to, but they're absolutely delicious. The food is really cheap and relatively vegetarian-friendly (although not vegan at all). Aside from the papusas, check out the empanadas and burritos. But the best part may be the people. They're always really friendly and didn't seem to mind me stumbling through trying to place an order in Spanish.
The only thing that's kind of weird is the fact that the atmosphere feels like takeout / fast food, but then they don't ask you to pay until after you've eaten, so I've accidentally walked out a couple times and had to come back to pay.
There are lots of great places to eat in J.P. but this one, above all the others just feels good to go to. That's about the best way I can put it.
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These folks put some serious love into the food at La Pupusa. Every time my husband and I eat hear, we are silent for about 15 minutes after our food comes (no time for talking while stuffing your face right?). The beans are so good you could swear they were drugged. I'm a big fan of the Salvadoran Enchilada, the plantains, the burritos and the homemade green salsa is super addictive. Everything tastes fresh and well worth a couple extra minutes wait.
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Great Salvadoran food if you don't mind the wait. the lack of pretense shouldn't be confused with lack of flavor and/or quality. But when you order ANYTHING on the menu and they tell you "quince minutos" they really mean "at least 15 minutes". Frustrated innumerable times with the kitchen's turtle-slow output, i find myself back again over and over again. the moral: good things are worth the wait!
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I really wanted to like this place because it's cute and there were just 2 women in the kitchen making the food from scratch, but my empanadas (had the chicken and beef) just weren't up to par. I think it's cuz they are deep fried instead of baked, and the filling wasn't the tastiest I've had, but then again I think I've been spoiled by Los Angelean empanadas.... The pork pupusas were good, but nothing to write home about. And I think the boyfriend didn't like his chicken burrito very much (mostly because it wasn't Anna's). The service isn't exceptionally fast because it's homemade, but the prices are cheap for sure.
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A wonderful little hole in the wall dishing out the Salvadorean morsels oh-so well and on a mad budget to boot. The pupusas and flan are great. Go and eat.
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Good food doesn't alway come cheap but you can pay just a little and get a good meal here.
I like pupusa and turnover, they were all delicious.
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This place does not seem really nice from the outside but the food is really, really good and cheap! The family that runs it is from el Salvador and the pupusa is the salvadorena version of the taco! I love their empanadas!
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I have to agree with the others before me... the food here is good. Get it to go and go next door for a beer!
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Fast, cheap, friendly, delicious. Not so much for the veg crowd, but definitely a top pick for take-out to bring to the Behan.
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I'm obsessed with this place. You can feast for under $5. Papusas for a buck, empenadas to die for, and beautiful tostadas. A good soundtrack. Bring a date. It's always romantic. And it's all made by one woman quickly.
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Tasty pupusas. Not the best you will have, but pretty good nonetheless, as they are hand made on site. You are however, highly unlikely to find better prices. Ideal spot right next to Brendan Behan (pupusas n' beer, yum!). Definitely one of the better take-out options in hyde square.
Update: Another round of thanks to Jeremy F. for suggesting the burritos here. Strange that a Salvadoran restaurant would have good burritos, but they do (they use some of the most flavorful black beans I've ever tasted).
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I hate to rag on places this cheap, but for what they serve, the wait seems ridiculous. It's not grab-and-go mexican, its more like wait-while-they-cook-it Salvadoran. What's up with the little baggie of vinegar cabbage they give you with the papusas? They kind of fill the corner of a sandwich bag and tie it off dime-bag style. I dont know, I'll still go here if I need a cushion for the pints at the Behan, but other than that, I wouldn't go out of my way...
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