La Pupusera: Quality Salvadoran Food In Joliet

JOLIET, IL — There's a small restaurant along Collins Street that stands out from the crowd because this restaurant focuses on Salvadoran cuisine. La Pupusera is at 665 Collins St. It's in the San Diego Mall. The locally owned restaurant opened in the summer of 2019. During the pandemic, it closed for two months, before reopening in June.

Pamela and Francisco Godinez are the owners. She is from El Salvador. He is from Mexico.

"Everything is authentic from El Salvador," Pamela Godinez told me this week when I made a return visit to interview the owners. "The desserts and breakfast are from El Salvador and the people who prepare everything is from El Salvador and Honduras. We sell Mexican food, too, a lot."

If you have never had a pupusa, you ought to give La Pupesera a try. Pupusas are made with cornmeal or rice flour, and they are usually stuffed with multiple ingredients.

Last week, for the first time, I visited La Pupusera and wanted to observe the restaurant in its natural setting. In other words, nobody knew I was from Joliet Patch. I ordered three pupusas for takeout. They were filled with chicken and cheese.

My meal came with two cups of dipping sauce. I had no idea what the dipping sauces tasted like, so naively, I started with the orange cup.

There was almost a box-alarm fire raging in my mouth. Seriously, if you want to burn off your tongue, make sure you pour a full cup of the orange habanero sauce on your pupusa.

Since I'm a wimp when it comes to hot sauce, I found the red cup of tomato-based sauce much more pleasant and tolerable. I wish I had asked for a second cup of tomato sauce. I didn't use all of my orange sauce, obviously.

This week, during my return visit to interview the La Pupusera staff, I told the owner that I dipped my pupusa in the orange sauce several times and my mouth had never been on fire like that ever before.

"It's really spicy," Pamela Godinez responded.

Last Thursday afternoon, when I ordered takeout, my order was ready in about eight to 10 minutes. While I was there, there were several people eating inside the restaurant, and I saw a couple other people stop in to grab their carryout orders.

During my interview, I was curious how many people are dining inside versus ordering takeout. "Right now, it's takeout most. Normally, it's to-go," the owner remarked.

"We have a lot of regular customers," she said. The meals are Mexican, Honduran and El Salvadoran cuisine.

Besides Joliet, the restaurant also draws lots of its customers from Bolingbrook and Aurora, the owner said.

"My dream was always to open a restaurant. I always work in restaurants, and my husband supported me. I am thankful for all the customers who're supporting me during this situation."

La Pupersera is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, closed Wednesday, open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday. La Pupusera also does catering and uses DoorDash and Grubhub for deliveries.

At the moment, La Pupersera has 79 Google Reviews and a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars.

My last piece of advice, if you can't stand extra spicy food, stay away from the orange sauce.