Mi Ranchito Viejo Rest

I eat here maybe once a month. Normally my high school level Spanish is enough for me to not get my arms chopped off in Mexico and shaken down by a cop, be in receipt of a beer when I really wanted a Margarita without salt, you know basic stuff like that.
I can tell the difference between left and right or an avenue and a street. But no one in high school or college ever told me that my broken Brooklyn Spanish is not always congruous with central American Spanish. My wife always forces me to bust out Spanish when we need it and she didn’t realize why it was so hard for me to order food here.
Well it turns out there are nuances, like that incredibly tasty Delish spicy cabbage slaw they call curtido in El Salvador is really a condiment for pupusas. And that another curtido encebollada exists which is interesting but not the spicy slaw that would be special to an American seeking something tasty Delish, familiar yet exotic. The slaw is curtido de repollo Para curtido btw.
They make guac on the spot awesome pupusas, a really cheap and filling Carne Asada, delicious chicken tostadas only they call them enchiladas and you have to recognize that they slang it up and will say pechuga (breast) as a substitute for chicken which is pollo. Anyhow it’s all really Delish, just make sure you ask for it sin tomate or sin salsa Roja. They put this ketchupy concoction on top that throws off an otherwise super tasty chicken salad on a fried tortilla!
I think at this point. They’ve become accustomed to me though and I hope you folks give them a try. Some of the food is really rustic and rough like comida tipica kinda rough and other stuff is just incredible like the pupusas with cactus pad or flowers and cheese.

This was a fun discovery in Plainfield. It’s a Salvadoran restaurant, which means relatively simple platters of grilled meats and seafood, some fried. I think they might have had tacos too, but I opted for something more local to the region — pupusas. I had four — two maiz, two arroz, filled with combinations of arroz, lorocco (an edible flower bud), queso, and beans. I liked the maiz more than the arroz, but all were good. They gave me a big bag of hot sauce and another of a pungent carrot-​cabbage salad with my order. Each pupusa was between 2 and 3 dollars, a pretty good deal. If you’re in the mood for something different, an adventure, this is a nice place to try. The person who served me didn’t speak very much English, and neither did the clientele, but they were friendly and tried to make me feel at home. Environment is clean and has a little flash, but is still homey. Feels like a family-​run restaurant that someone actually put some effort into.