Two Guys Plaza
Business center · Pico-Union ·
Sizzling pupusas, ceviche, mangoes, and fresh agua frescas
Sizzling pupusas, ceviche, mangoes, and fresh agua frescas
"This Central American street market in Koreatown will keep you occupied all afternoon with chicken soup, blood oysters tossed into ceviche, and pupusas sizzling on hot grills. The tented roadside market operates daily on the stretch of Vermont Avenue from 11th to 13th. In between the soccer jersey sellers and people snacking on green mangoes dusted in sour achiote powder, you'll see a ton of different Salvadoran stands. Our favorite is Pupuseria Jazmin’s #2, where you sit at long banquet tables and eat crispy-edged pupusas with equal parts frijoles, cheese, and chicharrón. These hit the table still spongy in the center, with pork minced so finely it blends into the molten filling like a spicy, fatty seasoning. " - Brant Cox, Nikko Duren, Sylvio Martins
"Walk through El Mercado Salvadoreño with your eyes closed and you might mistake the sound of riguas sizzling on hot grills for a bunch of horny cicadas. This daily street market outside Koreatown’s Two Guys Plaza is a cultural hub for LA's Salvadoran community, and somewhere you can spend an entire afternoon eating blood clam cocteles, sour green mangoes, and scalding pupusas. By our count, there are near-infinite pupusa vendors here. But our favorite is Pupuseria Jazmin’s #2 with its long banquet tables where can drink refreshing guanabana agua fresca as your rice-flour pupusa crisps up on the grill. Think thin and spongy in the center, yet crispy around the edges. Get an order of revueltas. These have an equal frijoles to cheese to chicharron ratio, with finely minced pork seasoning every bite. " - Sylvio Martins, Brant Cox, Nikko Duren
"This Central American street market in Koreatown will keep you occupied all afternoon with chicken soup, blood oysters tossed into ceviche, and pupusas sizzling on hot grills. The tented roadside market operates daily on the stretch of Vermont Avenue from 11th to 13th. In between the soccer jersey sellers and people snacking on green mangoes dusted in sour achiote powder, you'll see a ton of different Salvadoran stands. Our favorite is Pupuseria Jazmin’s #2, where you sit at long banquet tables and eat crispy-edged pupusas made with equal parts frijoles, cheese, and chicharrón. These hit the table still spongy in the center, and pork minced so finely it blends into the molten filling like a spicy, fatty seasoning. " - Sylvio Martins
"Inside and just outside the Two Guys Plaza parking lot I found both rent-paying vendors and sidewalk sellers who collectively form part of El Mercado Salvadoreño, with picnic benches to sit and eat and a stretch of vendors operating from morning until late afternoon and busiest on weekend mornings." - Bill Esparza
"This bustling open-air market has rapidly expanded in the past nine months and serves Salvadorans and other Central Americans with a rich selection of fresh produce, pantry staples, prepared foods, and sweets. Signature items include pupusas—especially loroco-and-cheese, revuelta, and beans—served with curtido and squirt-bottle tomato sauce (condiments are commonly kept on the side to avoid sogginess); yuca con chicharrón dressed with curtido and tomato sauce; thin strips of green mango seasoned with lime and alguashte (pumpkin-seed powder); and pasteles and seafood cocktails such as coctél de conchas made with concha negra, chimol, Lea & Perrins, and bright lime. Vendors also offer Salvadoran breads and candies (quezadillas, espumillas, tartaritas, jaleas de fruta), imported cheeses like crema salvadoreña and queso cuajada, and regional ingredients—chipilín, pescado seco, chufles, nisperos, loroco, plantains, ground pumpkin seed, and gallina india—making it a go-to place for traditional home cooking. The market’s picnic-bench atmosphere is lively on weekends, with many vendors present; it operates most mornings through about 5 p.m., seven days a week, and functions as an important cultural and culinary hub for the Salvadoran community in Los Angeles amid broader political pressures on Central American immigrants." - Bill Esparza
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