A day late and a dollar short – that’s me. Just as we were finishing our meal on my second visit to Balompie Café, I found out that they’re closing for the next six months, as reported by Mission Local. May 29th will be their last day of business.
Seismic retrofitting! Holy crap – now that I’ve re-discovered Balompie’s pupusas, I have to make do with other, lesser pupusas?? A native of El Salvador, Amadeo Gonzalez opened this place 28 years ago. Long known for being the favorite pupuseria in the City, we have to go without it now for how long??
Never fear, dear readers. There IS a worthy substitute. Balompie Café 3 – only a hop, skip & jump away, and a sister restaurant, of which Gonzalez is part owner, will be open. It’s in the outer Mission, but will fill the void nicely until we get our own beloved Balompie back, with its riotous soccer paraphernalia (“Balompie” means, literally, “ball foot,” or “futbol”), friendly servers, wine-&-beer bar (sangria!), two flat screen TVs for your satellite game-viewing pleasure, and a long table down the middle for big parties. Hipsters have to share the space with the local Mission family regulars, and it’s all good.
(By the way, Balompie No. 2, which was South of Market, appears to be closed now, but was also owned by Mr. Gonzalez. And, if you’re ever in the area, stop in at Balompie in his hometown – Metapan, El Savador!)
Now, onto the review. My first night, I went with two friends and indulged in a pupusa frenzy. Pupusas, if you are not in the know, are an El Salvadoran delicacy that are simply one of the best things you will ever put in your mouth: two fat disks of tender, griddled masa (made of corn or rice flour) sandwiching a variety of fillings. The most typical is simply queso – cheese: gooey, melty, lovely cheese (all varieties of pupusas are made with queso). Think of them as a chubby quesadilla, but 1000 times better. Another standard is queso con loroco (a Central American edible flower bud that tastes a little bit like asparagus), and the other most popular is known as pupusa con chicharron. Chicharron is usually known as fried pork chunks. In a pupusa, however, the fried pork is ground into a kind of paste and mixed in with the queso.
We ordered six between the three of us: loroco; frijoles; ground pork and jalapeno (“the Mexican”); shrimp; spinach; and chicken. We ordered extra curtido – the tart, vinegary cabbage slaw served with all pupusas, a perfect accompaniment to the rich, cheesy pancakes – and their tasty hot sauce.
(The best part is when some of the cheese has oozed out and crisps up on the griddle – like a lovely lacy cheese chip. Snag those when you’re dining partners aren’t looking. Trust me, it’s worth the ding to your karma.)
Some places’ pupusas can be a little doughy, but not these. It was a little difficult telling one apart from the other at first, but as they cooled a bit I was able to discern the Mexican from the others; the spinach was a favorite at the table. The bean pupusa, too, was flavorful and filling. The shrimp one was a little bland, but again, that could have been from the pupusa overload.
Because we don’t mind losing our girlish figures, we also ordered fried yuca (not to be confused with “Yucca”) – known in the U.S. as “cassava” – a floury, dense root or tuber that is wonderfully crispy when fried, and is a South American carbohydrate staple; and platanos maduros (fried very ripe plantains) with crema (Salvadoran sour cream – runnier than ours).
Both dishes were perfectly cooked – the starchy yuca crunchy outside, tender inside, the plantains sweet and jelly-like, delicious when dipped into the crema. All of this, plus three bottles of Negro Modelo, set us back about $54 before tip.
On my second visit, this time with the BF, we ordered just one pupusa to share – the chorizo.
I’m sorry. I should have cut that open for you to see. This may have been my favorite one. Oh, and those fat orbs at the far end that came with the BF’s meal? Their own wonderful, hand-made tortillas. I thought they’d brought us more pupusas at first!
The BF had a carne asada/sausage/casamiento (a typical Central American preparation of black beans and rice cooked together in a savory “marriage”) combo, with crema, queso fresco and a nice fresh pico de gallo-type salad.
Salvadoran sausage is REALLY GOOD, by the way. And that carne asada buried underneath may not look like much but it had a nice, steaky, charred flavor. His whole plate was scrumptious and homey.
For my main, I ordered the fried yuca with chicharrones platter. Holy Porkola, was it GREAT! More of the delicious fried yuca piled high with crispy chunks of pork. Our server said that the chicharrones weren’t very fatty (like that’s a good thing?) but instead very meaty, and they were, and super porky – like carnitas to the Nth degree.
But as much as I was enamored of my dish, every time I’d go back to the pupusa for another nibble, it was absolutely the best bite. They just do them right here.
Really, of all the Latin American restaurants I’ve reviewed this past year, Balompie’s is my favorite.
So, knowing that we’ll soon be deprived, we of course had to try Balompie Café 3. For science.
A much smaller location, it is sandwiched in between a variety of Salvadoran restaurants. But, just a few minutes after we walked in, the place was packed with a line waiting for tables. We sat at the counter to watch the pupusa mistress at work…
What a whiz! She’s been doing this for four years here, and before that in El Salvador. “I can make them in my sleep now!” She made dozens of pupusas in front of us, keeping track of all the fillings, as she plopped them onto the hot griddle until they were golden.
I’d read that Balompie Café 3 had a carne asada pupusa, so that’s what I ordered.
There you go – I finally remembered to take a pic of the inner pupusa – with all its gooey goodness. GOOOOOLLLLLL! This may have been my favorite – the carne asada was very flavorful and tender, and went perfectly with the melty jack cheese. Again, as much as I enjoyed everything, the pupusa was simply the best part of the meal.
I had a sangria with dinner….
It came out of box, “Beso Del Sol” brand, and it’s from Spain. No fruit, but tasty, with notes of cinnamon (and you can buy it at CVS and Whole Foods, supposedly.) Refreshing!
Next I had the pastelitos…
Pastelitos (“little pies”) are little fried meat (or chicken) pastries. These were made with shredded pork, and there were little bits of creamy potato and carrots inside too. Super crispy, absolutely delicious, slathered with their hot sauce and topped with curtido.
The BF ordered a chile relleno.
It comes with a choice of meat or cheese, which I thought unusual, since I was only familiar with the Mexican version that is usually made with just cheese, at least here in the States. It turned out to be stuffed with minced pork and cheese, and smothered in a sauce. We loved it – I loved how the taste of the chile still managed to shine through everything else. Almost better, however, was the salpicon alongside it. Salpicon simply means a mixture of various minced veggies and/or meat, sometimes used as a stuffing. This one was beef, blended with onions, mint, and lemon. It had an almost Thai flavor to it, and was delicious. Perfectly light texture to go with the heavier chile relleno. The refried beans were nice and creamy, flavorful, and came with homemade tortillas for soppage. The rice was the only forgettable item on the plate – bland. Oh, and the BF got a little side salad with his dinner – just lettuce and tomato, dressed with what appeared to be Wishbone Italian bottled dressing. No matter, he was very pleased with his choice.
I asked one of the friendly women behind the counter if they were going to be even busier now that the other Balompie was closing. “Oh yes, can you imagine?” Ay mami! Totally worth the wait for delicious food that tastes like it was lovingly cooked by your abuelita.
Both restaurants have extensive menus with other Salvadoran treats, and they serve breakfast all day.
So there you have it. While we anxiously await the return of our neighborhood gem, Balompie Café, we have a just as worthy option up the street and over the hill – Balompie 3. Let’s show Sr. Gonzalez he must come back! And remember, you have until this Sunday, May 29th to try the original Balompie!
Balompie Café Balompie Café 3
3349 18th St. 3801 Mission St.
San Francisco, CA 94110 San Francisco, CA 94110
How about the Balompie Cafe on Mission and Richland? Is that the same owners?