Instead of serving bowls of chips and salsa, Comalito welcomes diners to the table with deep-fried corn tortillas and refried beans. Cut into thick strips and placed vertically in a basket, the tortillas arrive warm and slick with oil from the fryer.
Pinto beans are smoothed down to an ideal dipping purée and dusted with queso fresco. It’s a homey and comforting starter, but the staid duo would make a bright, spicy trio with a fresh dash of salsa.
Two lightly whipped aiolis, a cool cilantro and a spicy chipotle, come with an order of yuca fries ($4.50). With crispy golden coats enfolding a central core of white mash, they look like ordinary French fries. But the taste of yuca is a pure distillation of starch on a plate. The chipotle aioli sustained the hottest note of spice throughout the meal.
Rene Franco, who also owns James Standfield Catering in South San Francisco, runs Comalito with his sister and his niece. According to the server, the family recipes are Salvadoran. Since their grand opening at the end of June, the menu is meant to be purposefully small but there are plans to expand the offerings once the business is established in the neighborhood.
For now, the main entrées are $3.25 pupusas. A note on the menu recommends “2-3 per person with salsa and curtido.” And they’re right—ordering two of them was enough to fill me up at lunch. In El Salvador, the circumference of a pupusa usually matches the size of the chef’s palm. To accommodate American appetites and serving expectations, Comalito is making theirs slightly larger, essentially equal to a typical corn tortilla.
Pan-fried until the ridges of dough are browned, there are seven pupusas to choose from. Queso, a mixed cheese blend. Loroco, cheese and edible loroco flowers. Calabaza, cheese with zucchini. Ajo y queso, cheese with roasted garlic. Frijol y queso, cheese and refried beans. And two versions with ground pork—Revuelta with beans and Chicharron without.
I tried the calabaza because my eyes always light up when I see zucchini on any menu. Grated into tiny slivers, the zucchini is embedded in a gooey mess of cheese. Comalito serves pupusas with a curtido and a salsa roja. Made with cabbage, carrots and red onion, the tender crunch of curtido pairs perfectly with the pupusas. Both the slaw and the salsa roja, despite its devilish red color, are made to meet the taste buds of people with milder palates.
After eating a second pupusa with cheese and refried beans, I didn’t have a big enough appetite left to try the pastelito ($7), a Salvadoran empanada. In the online photos I’ve seen, after frying the achiote masa turns that same glorious reddish orange color birria tacos do. At Comalito, they’re filled with ground beef, carrots and potatoes.
There are aguas frescas ($4.50) on the menu too, horchata and tamarindo. I tried something new to me, an ensalada drink. In this case, ensalada refers to a fruit salad, not one made with greens. It’s a virgin sangria fruit punch that’s pulpier than an agua fresca. Mine was a delicious mixture of pear, pineapple and mango laced with dark green blades of fresh mint.
Comalito, open Tues to Sun 11am–7pm. 3143 Middlefield Rd., Redwood City. 650.503.8443. instagram.com/comalitopupuseria
