“I'm definitely gonna get some people mad with this one,” jokes René Alesandro Coreas, creator and chef of L.A.’s Walking Spanish pop-up.
Coreas means the French-inspired escargot pupusas he brought to East L.A. this past Tuesday, another toehold in his quest to put out-of-the-box twists on Central American cuisine.
The buttery, plump pupusas take their form from the chef’s lemon-butter-infused masa; bowels near to bursting with an alloy of chopped snails, shallot-wine butter, and melty quesillo, with a small dab of goat cheese for salinity. Each hand-shaped handful of his housemade corn dough gets stuffed with this by the chef’s skilled digits, landing on the hot griddle to sizzle and sputter until ready to eat. They come out crisp on the bottom and delicately soft on top, where a sharp, slightly-spicy curtido will soon be scattered.