Irene's Restaurant
601 Second St.
Laurel, MD 20707
301-362-3371
Neighborhood: Laurel
Cuisines: South American
Price Range: Inexpensive
Dress: Informal
Noise Level: Chatty
Reservations: Not Needed
Best Dishes:
Baliada with chicken, avocado, and scrambled eggs; chicken soup; pollo guisada; pupusas; berry batida milkshake.
Why go: At what was once a Kenny Rogers Roasters (some of the wrought-iron signs are still up), the emphasis is on the homey, hearty cooking of Honduras and El Salvador, including the marvelous baliada, a pizza-size tortilla stuffed with two meals’ worth of fillings.
What to get: Baliadas with eggs, chicken, refried beans, and crema; chicken soup; deeply satisfying pollo guisada, a platter of stewed chicken with rice; some of the lightest pupusas around, with excellent curtido, the spicy Salvadoran coleslaw topping; strawberry batida, a creamy fruit milkshake.
Best for: When you’re really hungry.
Insider tip: Because one baliada can easily feed two, you can save money and explore the rest of the menu.
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