$40 Worth of Pupusas at the City Heights Farmers Market

The Vibe

Small, kind of quiet, but community driven. Neighbors were shopping amongst neighbors and there were lots of big smiles and greetings.

Reconnaissance

Located in a sort of a roundabout parking lot mere blocks away from the City Heights Weingart Library and Highland and Landis Park, the market is bustling with pedestrian traffic coming and going from the neighborhood. It’s clear upon approach that the locals are highly familiar with and dependent on this market. There was a limited number of market vendors onsite, a low ratio of farm tents versus vendor tents, and not a ton of variety to choose from in terms of fresh produce. That said, I spotted Jacy Farm (local growers of my favorite Korean melons) along with Donut, Hello (I’m a sucker for mini donuts), a bike repair tent, 20 pound bags of oranges, and a strong sense of community in the small crowd.

The Haul

I was on my way to a birthday party later that day with a request to contribute to an epic taco bar. As I searched each tent for something tempting, the busiest tentaurant at the market caught my eye. They had actually pitched two tents, creating a seating area with tables and chairs packed with families and friends heartily enjoying a good meal.

A long line formed in front of the preparation tent where another long table served as a makeshift bar at the front creating around 20 seats in total and every single one of them full. And I mean, babies were piled on laps kind of full. As soon as someone got up, another person sat down.

Three people were hustling under the tent to keep up with the pace as regulars shouted out orders through the crowd. One tracked orders on a grease board while another packaged food and poured agua frescas into togo cups, and a single cook stood over a long hot plancha molding masa and fillings into large discs that went onto the sizzling griddle and came off looking crispy, golden and gooey in the middle. The trio had nailed down a fine-tuned and impressive back-of-house kind of dance—the kind of dance that you only see when someone is cooking up something with love.

I got in line before I even realized what they were slinging.

So instead of bringing taco fillings to the party, I brought papusas and there were no complaints.

My $40 at the City Heights Farmers’ Market bought…

From Papusas Express, we got a watermelon agua fresca $2.50, lemonade $2.50, and 10 papusas complete with curtido (Salvadoran cabbage relish) and seriously good salsa roja, two of each flavor, including Puerco con Queso (pork and cheese), Pollo con Queso (chicken and cheese), Espinaca con Queso (spinach and cheese), Frijol con Queso (bean and cheese), Jalapeño con Queso (jalapeño and cheese), for $2.50 a piece. My total was still only $30, so I left a $10 tip.