Pupusa Wars - La Santaneca - 2815 Mission near 24th St., SFCA

   We've got pizza wars, burger wars, cheese steak wars, so why not pupusa wars.If I had to pick one dish that defines Salvadorean food for me, it's the pupusa. A handmade tortilla of corn or rice flour, filled with your choice of any number of substances - queso (cheese), revueltas (cheese and chicharrons), con loroco, (an herbaceous vine of Central America), shrimp, etc.- and grilled. With it you get some curtido, the Latin version of cole slaw, which I'm making my go-to salad for BBQ. At most restaurants, you can add beans and rice, platanos con crema (fried plantains with cream) and other sides. For myself, just the pupusas alone is a satisfactory lunch. I must say, the pupusas here are a match for my fave Mexican/Salvadorean resto, Los Panchos. I chose the Pupusasa de Queso con Loroco (4), and to wash them down, a new fruit flavor for me called Arrayan (2), a member of the guava family. I'm used to having tamarindo, horchata or jamaica (hibiscus), but this just knocked me out.
   One thing I noticed here, the place was full at 1:45 on a Tuesday, and I was the only non-Latin in the place. All the food I saw around me looked good, some of it unfamiliar, which ensures my going back.
  On the new revised and improved Food-O-Meter - 1 to 5 - we're giving it a healthy 4.