Sarita's Pupuseria - Grand Central Market

I had jury duty in downtown L.A. last week so I decided to take the generous hour and a half lunch and head to The Grand Central Market which I had heard so much about since I moved here. Based on the website and my preconceived notions of other great public markets like the one in LA near West Hollywood and the one in Chelsea in New York, I was pretty excited.

After a short three block walk, I saw the outside of the building. The neighborhood around it was less than stellar. There were a lot of homeless people around, a lot of chain restaurants, and even a wedding chapel. It reminded me of the sketchy side of Vegas. The Grand Central Building, however, is a historic landmark and the outside lives up to its reputation.

The inside, on the other hand, not so much. When I first entered the market I saw a bustling group of people crowded around the few stalls that actually have businesses in them. The outside-bordering stalls, however, are mostly empty. This emptiness really hurts the atmosphere of the market, but it doesn't seem to stall the visitors from coming in anyway.

I walked around the entire market twice deciding what to eat. There are mainly two types of food that you can get at the market--Mexican and Chinese. Sure, there are a couple of other choices, but mainly just the two I mentioned. Most of the stalls were crowded with people making it difficult to navigate around. It seemed like a couple taco stands were the place to be, but I had just had Mexican food, I was looking for something a little different.

On the empty side of the market, right next to a Mexican grocery selling mounds and mounds of dried chili peppers, a little Salvadorian restaurant caught my eye. Sarita's Pupuseria had two women making all the food right in your sight. There was a little counter with stools but they were all full. I stood watching the food being made for awhile. Everything was done by hand.

Finally, I got up the nerve to ask a fellow customer what one of the thing they were making was. It turned out to be their signature dish the pupusa. Pupusa's are dough stuffed with beans, pork, or cheese and then fried or grilled (or at least that's what it seemed like to me). I had the Pupusa with pork. The menu is in Spanish and while I'm sure the cashier spoke English, he wasn't doing it at the time so I was a little nervous about ordering anything that I didn't know the words in Spanish.

My lunch with the added bottle of water only cost me a total of $3.50. As I waited for my meal I watched them make it from raw dough. I took my pupusa to a table looking out onto the upper LA where all the tall buildings are. The pupusa came with a bag of spicy cabbage and a little tub of hot sauce. It was delicious and filling. It was piping hot and the pork filling was ground with spices. I thought it needed something at first--but once I added the cabbage I needed nothing more. I was a little disappointed by the lack of desserts save for one bakery and one ice cream stand. There might have been stuff at the Mexican grocery, but again, my Spanish needs some work.

I recommend a stop at Grand Central Market next time you are on jury duty or in the area, but don't make it a destination for an entire day. If you do go, why not try out Sarita's Pupusas?






Sarita's Pupuseria
Grand Central Market
317 S. Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90013
Map