Pupusas Express
In the Annandale Shopping Center
Now Open in the Annandale Shopping Center is a much desired new dining experience known as Pupusas Express. (7042 Columbia Pike, Annandale, VA 22003) Delicious, spotlessly clean and friendly, this eatery will delight the young and the young at heart. The menu reflects the traditional Salvadoran dishes offered at affordable prices certain to please every budget.
Known for their warm hospitality and exceptionally quick and courteous service, they have now expanded to four locations. If you are unfamiliar with Salvadoran cuisine, the staff will be happy to discuss ingredients and walk you through the menu offerings.
The traditional Salvadoran foods are a mix of Native American cuisines from indigenous groups and influences from European (Spanish) cuisine. Many of the dishes are made with maize (corn) in one form or another. There is also a heavy use of pork, chicken, and seafood.
El Salvador's most notable dish is the pupusa, a thick handmade corn flour or rice flour flatbread stuffed with cheese, cooked ground pork, chicken, refried beans, or vegetables. Since most are only $2.40 each, you can afford to try a few combinations. Condiments accompanying the pupusas are pickled-cabbage (a cole slaw known as curitido) and tomato sauce.
A favorite Salvadoran specialty is pupusa stuffed with cheese and the loroco flower. Fernaldia pandurate is a vine with edible flowers known as loroco flowers grown throughout Mexico and Central America and is an important source of food in El Salvador and Guatemala. The plant's buds and flowers are used for cooking in a variety of ways, including in pupusas. At Pupusas Express a special pupusa is stuffed with cheese and the loroco flower.
Other well-known Salvadoran dishes include carne guisada (a saucy beef stew with potatoes and carrots), carne asada (grilled steak), Camarones a la Crema (Sauteed shrimp mixed with onions, green peppers and cream), Ceviche de Camaron (lime cooked shrimp), various Tacos, Quesadillas, and Fajitas.
SOUP-SOUP, YOU MUST TRY THE SOUP
Don’t overlook their four soup offerings as they are of special note. The servings constitute a generous meal with fresh proteins and vegetables. Two use a beef base but it is the chicken and seafood that will tantalize your taste buds demanding a return visit. Their chicken soup is made with well seasoned grilled chicken, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, and chayote (squash). The broth is not simply chicken broth but it is infused with the heavenly flavor of grilled chicken, an unexpected yet pleasing surprise.
The Sopa de Marisco is an especially sensational seafood soup with tilapia, crab, shrimp, clams and vegetables. Again the broth has been prepared over many hours with various ingredients going into and out of the pot at precisely the right intervals. This soup is a skilled undertaking mastered at Pupusas Express by a proficient chef. Presentation reveals a soft shell crab, large shrimps, tilapia, and a massive clam just peeking from beneath the surface.
Don’t leave without sampling one of these soups...you can even share with your table mate as the small bowl is ample appetizer for two. If you fondly remember your grandmother’s carefully prepared soups, treat yourself at Pupusas Express, you may just enjoy their soup more.
SALVADORAN FRUIT DRINKS AND FLAN
If you are submersing yourself in the Salvadoran cuisine, give one of the typical Salvadoran drinks a try. Most are fruit juice in base, Tamarind the stand out favorite, along with Ensalada de Frutas, a mango-orange juice base topped with a variety of chopped fresh fruits and sliced grapes. The drinks are not just delicious; they are beautiful and refreshing!
If you are totally unadventurous, don’t worry; there is a long list of American dishes for you. Delicious hamburgers, steak and cheese subs, chicken nuggets, Chicken Wings, Nachos with various toppings, tossed salads, and French fries are also available.
Pupusas Express will be open Monday through Saturdays 11 am to 10 pm. They are closed on Sundays. Free delivery is available (with their own drivers) within a four mile radius for a $12.00 minimum purchase. This is a new cuisine to Annandale, and one that is most welcome!
Why?
One simple word - chemistry. The coffee bean is a complex agricultural product. Immediately after being roasted the coffee bean begins to exhaust carbon dioxide in a process called degassing. As time goes on, this chemical change continues causing the flavor and aroma to degrade. This process is accelerated by the introduction of oxygen. We can slow this process by using high oxygen barrier packaging with a one-way valve to let CO2 escape, - eventually though the coffee will noticeably degrade, with its vibrant flavor diminished.
The best way to extend the flavor of coffee is to keep it in whole bean form (reducing the surface area exposed to oxygen) and to store it in oxygen barrier packaging in a cool dry place. Contrary to some advice, freezing will not slow the chemical changes in roasted coffee - instead it will introduce ice crystals that will affect flavor.
Now you now why Beanetics uses expensive packaging and prints the roast date on each bag. And you know why coffee you buy at Beanetics tastes so incredibly good – at Beanetics, we only serve recently roasted high quality specialty coffee. So come and experience what many others have already found - enjoy a cup or buy a bag of coffee – even the best coffee is less expensive than a bad bottle of wine!
Beanetics also stocks any number of coffee related gift items from travel cups to French Presses. Fresh Bagels and pastry are available with your early morning cupper, iced coffee, and a selection of equally imaginative teas. Visit Beanetics, have a cup of Cro Magnon (coffee names at Beanetics come with a great sense of humor), and put together a coffee gift basket for a friend. There is not a better cup of coffee in the Washington area.
Beanetics Coffee Roasters
7028 Columbia Pike
Annandale, VA 22003
703-941-4506
www.beanetics.com
Located in the Annandale Shopping Center