On every Monday through this month, chef Agua is hosting a pop up serving a non-traditional yet authentic approach to Salvadoran cuisine.
Arroz & Fun is a cafe in Lincoln Heights, known for celebrating the cross section between Asian and Central American food, making it an apt venue for this pop up that invites chefs to explore the crossroads of various cuisines.
Chef Agua’s menu consists of shuco, Salvadoran chow mein, recado roasted chicken, pork belly chicharrón, and for dessert, Salvadoran quesadillas with a morro foam ice cream.
Chef Agua cut their teeth working the line behind some of Los Angele’s best regional food destinations. She has worked at Filipino favorite Lasita, honing skills that are evident in her take on Salvadoran chicharrón, which has a similar balance of fatty and crunchy to lechon.
Chef Agua has also worked at historic Salvadoran pupuseria Los Molcajetes, working alongside the Salvadoran women who focus on executing L.A.’s most traditional take on Salvadoran cuisine. These experiences have informed her skill set and repertoire, though the way they implement these techniques is all chef Agua’s own doing.
Take her pickled loroco, for example, which accompanies the main dishes at the pop up. El Salvador’s tropical landscape is home to many edible flowers, loroco being one of them, with a flavor profile closest to asparagus. It’s most prominently used in cheese and pupusas but this time chef Agua opts to pickle it through a secret fermentation process that adds a sweet tangy profile to the flower, cutting right through the perfectly crisp pork skin and fatty layer of the chicharrón.
It’s reminiscent of Filipino cuisine and that nation’s predisposition for vinegary sauces as an accompaniment. It is Filipino-inspired but still feels fully within the realms of the Salvadoran palate. It’s a stand out flavor profile that feels uniquely L.A.
I asked chef Agua why there are no pupusas on the menu.
“There are places that do [them] and do [them] well and I’d rather you take your cash and support street vendors,” Agua said. "I've worked with the señoras who really know how to cook the classics. My food is not traditional, but it is authentic to me and the flavors I grew up with, what my mom fed me.”
This non-traditional, yet authentic approach in her cuisine is what makes it exciting and worth driving to Lincoln Heights, or any part of the city. Chef Agua is part of a new wave of Salvadoran cooks whose offerings are more than what is typically available at most pupuserias and Salvadoran restaurants such as Walking Spanish and L.A. Pupusa.
Their menus and techniques are not making novelties of Salvadoran gastronomy, but rather a deeper dive into some of the extended flavor profiles and ingredients found therein.
You can catch chef Agua’s limited, month-long run every Monday at Arroz & Fun from 5-8 pm, a precursor to the star-studded pop up that will be available at the end of the month called Ruta de Sabores, a juggernaut bringing together modern Salvadoran chefs and their own thrilling takes on Salvadoran cuisine.
Chef Agua will be cooking there alongside modern Salvadoran fare-flag bearers, including chef Anthony Salguero from Oakland’s Popoca, chef Jimmy Reyes from Leña, Karla Tatiana Vasquez of Salvi Soul, and Gardenia Rosales of Cipota Coffee at Arroz & Fun.
This is a venerable lineup that is at the forefront of the Salvadoran foodscape, not only in Los Angeles, but throughout California as a whole.
“For [them], there is such a discrepancy between how many Salvadoran chefs are currently out there actively writing down recipes,” chef Agua says, when asked what her food is trying to communicate. “So [my] food is important and it's worth archiving.”
“Food is survival and this is my way of saying we’re here and we're leaving our mark [on the foodscape],” Agua continues.
Currently chef Agua is looking to spend some time going through their archived recipes to work on a zine, which reflects her D.I.Y. punk and metal upbringing. She’s hoping to collaborate with other Salvadoran cooks on this zine as the communal aspect to cooking is important to her.
“Legacy to me, is so important. I’m not trying to be morbid but when I’m gone, who's going to remember that my grandma added chicken liver to our recado mix? I’d love for that recipe to live on,” chef Agua concludes.
