By Samantha Corona
South Gate’s tweedy mile is filled with many eating places from small mom and pop restaurants to huge chain restaurants. With the many chain restaurants around the community of South Gate, people don’t stop in as frequently into other restaurants that make genuine dishes from the owners’ own country like “El Coatepecano.”
It is a small Salvadorian restaurant on the edge of Tweedy Blvd.
This restaurant and pupuseria offers not only Salvadorian dishes but some Mexican dishes as well. When entering the restaurant, one will get this feeling it being this authentic homey place from the wooden door with the bell to the counter top with the stools. It has this great welcoming environment not only from the place itself but also from the service provided by the workers.
One of the dishes on the menu was called “Tipico” which in English translates to typical. It included a roasted steak with sour cream and cheese, fried chorizo, “casamiento” which is a mixture of beans and rice, salad, fried bananas, and hand made tortillas.
The roasted steak was very seasoned and seemed very salty if eaten alone. When accompanied with the sour cream, cheese, and casamiento, it brought this savory creamy taste to the palette. At the first sight of the chorizo, it did not look appetizing at all. It looked like a fried kidney was served on the plate. After finally getting over the sight of it, the taste was hard to determine since outside was hard and the inside was chewy.
The casamiento seemed very light and neutralized the heavily seasoned meat. It was a mixture of pinto beans and white rice that was colored from the beans. The salad consisted of lettuce, radishes, and cucumbers. A lemon was squeezed onto it that gave it all a very tart taste. It gave the whole the whole dish a refreshing side.
One item that really stood out from the dish, besides the kidney looking chorizo, was the fried bananas. Most dishes don’t have a sweet food especially a friend banana. This first time experience was surprisingly delicious. It was really sweet and soft that gave it that nice touch to the dish. Another nice touch to the dish was the hand made tortillas. They were soft, warm, and thick compared to the average tortilla that one was with any meal.
A drink that is common with Salvadorians is the “Agua de Ensalada.” Hesitating at first to order the drink, thinking that I would get a mystery tart tasting drink, the drink turned out to be the complete opposite. This light and sweet drink seemed to satisfy the palette. The drink contains tiny chopped pieces of apple, pineapple, mamey, and marañon.
Overall, the dish was satisfying and delicious. Having salty, creamy, sour, and sweet sections of food made the dish very well rounded. They all balanced out the tastes of one another perfectly. The drink was the great and delightful that makes it a great drink to refresh oneself.
This experience of this dish is different and new. People that want something new will be satisfied with the unique selection of foods.
This restaurant is on 2719 Tweedy Blvd in South Gate. They open every day of the week and have a wide selection of authentic “original Salvadorian food.” People will like the environment and food of this small restaurant.