Business Spotlight: Experience flavor south of the Mexican border at La Santaneca
Submitted by Brett Fisher on Wed, 01/25/2017 - 6:36am
Mexico has long been regarded by American palates as the standard-bearer of Latin American cuisine. That's something Jose Escobar hopes to change with La Santaneca, a restaurant he opened in Carson City 21 months ago to honor the food of his native El Salvador.
"You don't see many places like this in town," he said. "So we decided to do something different for the people to try."
Escobar, a machinist by profession for 15 years and a Carson City resident since 1994, decided to hang up his tools in favor of an apron so he could pursue something he loves.
"I like food," he said. "I used to work in restaurants a long time ago. This looks like a hobby, but I like it and it's going in a good direction."
He opened La Santaneca in 2015 at 316 E. Winnie Lane in North Carson City. The restaurant features two dining rooms totalling 3,000 square feet.
Salvadoran cuisine, Escobar said, is distinct from Mexican food both in its ingredients and cooking techniques. Escobar describes Salvadoran food as less spicy and full of flavor, its herbs and spices totally different from those typically incorporated into Mexican cuisine.
The ensalada, for example, is a menu item featuring an eclectic combination of fruit and vegetable flavors.
But it's not a salad, per se. Rather the ensalada is a traditional Salvadoran drink, Escobar said.
It's salad in a glass.
The ensalada is enriched by chunks of apples, pineapples, mangoes, cashew fruit, watercrests and lettuce to produce a drink bursting with fruit flavors.
But the real draw to La Santaneca — and Salvadoran food in general — is the pupusa, Escobar said, a main staple of El Salvador.
"Salvadoran pupusas are the number one food," he said. "That's what has moved the business."
Pupusas are El Salvador's version of the Mexican taco, said Escobar, because anything can go in them and turn out tasting delicious.
"It's a stuffed tortilla made with anything the customer would like," he said.
The pupusa looks similar to a pancake, round and flattened. But it's formed using dough instead of a batter and made with corn meal or rice flour. The pupusa can be stuffed with any combination of meats, beans, cheeses and vegetables.
Topped with a traditional Salvadoran cabbage salad and salsa from the old country, pupusas are best enjoyed with a fork.
Unlike tacos and burritos, which are made from flattened flour or corn tortillas with filling rolled or folded up inside them, pupusas are really tender tortilla cakes more easily eaten with a utensil than with the hands.
Then are is the Salvadoran empanada, a dessert item made from banana with a crispy outside and creamy, banana custard inside and rolled in sugar crystals.
At La Santaneca, you don't just get one empanada on your plate; you get three of them to enjoy or split among family and friends.
Escobar said the restaurant's menu is made up of dishes and recipes he grew up with as a child. He moved to the United States at age 16, he said, and has resided in America for more than 30 years.
Opening La Santaneca was like bringing back a piece of his childhood to his long-time home in the Nevada state capital. Now he wants to share his memories with the rest of Carson City.
For more information, call La Santaneca at 775-301-6678 or find it on Facebook here. The restaurant is located on the east of the shopping center shared by the Salvation Army Thrift Store on the east end nearest the intersection of E. Winnie Lane and Lone Mountain Drive.
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