From June 2006 Cheap Eats

There are scores of pupuserias in the area, but none captures the essence of this Salvadoran meal-in-a-pocket as well as Irene's crisp, pancake-thick flour tortilla oozing fillers like cheese, pork, beans, and loroco, a squashlike vegetable.

Pupusas are not the only reason to head to Irene's. The same care that goes into the national dish informs the rest of the cooking. An everything-but-the-kitchen-sink beef soup with a greengrocer's worth of vegetables is a hearty meal in a bowl. On weekends a seafood soup shimmers with shrimp. Plainer but no less delicious is stewed chicken on a heap of smoky rice and beans.

Two Honduran specialties are uncommonly good: open-faced "tacos" with cubelets of seasoned beef and pico de gallo, and baliadas, oversize flour tortillas slathered with velvety refried beans and spicy beef, topped with slices of hard-cooked egg and avocado. The friendly vibes come from the Latin tunes on the jukebox and a bartender who delivers Tecate with a smile.