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This Boston pupusa pop-up is finally getting a permanent restaurant space
Dos Manos Kitchen has been popping up at festivals and breweries since 2020.
It was long a dream of Edwin Orellana’s to turn his beloved Dos Manos Kitchen, a pupusa pop-up based in Somerville, into a restaurant. This spring, his aspirations will finally become reality as Dos Manos moves into the Charles River Speedway.
Edwin and his wife, Alexis Orellana, are aiming to open Dos Manos in mid May, bringing their Salvadoran corn cakes to the Brighton spot.
“We have to give the [pupusa] this push to go up, to give respect to the dish,” Edwin told Boston.com back in November about his dream to open a permanent pupuseria and make the pupusa as famous as the taco.
Dos Manos has popped up before at Charles River Speedway. The Orellanas were made aware of an opening when Rite Tea & Espresso Bar moved to another, bigger space (the business now goes by Linger) within the same property.
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“We’re bright, we’re colorful, we’re fun, so that’s what the space will look like inside,” said Alexis, who added that their artist friend from El Salvador will provide photographs for the walls, and their cutesy alien mascots will adorn the space.
The space will be small, to be sure, with a little more than a handful of counter seats and an open kitchen. But Alexis said a more permanent space will be easier for Edwin to manage compared to his pop-up spaces, which involved him putting up and taking down an entire mini-kitchen in one day at breweries and events throughout Greater Boston.
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Guests can expect the usual roster of Edwin’s pupusas. The ancho chile and orange marinated chicken, as well as the chorizo, refried bean, and caramelized onion are making the cut. The Orellanas will also serve a braised beef pupusa, one with zucchini and roasted red peppers, and a vegan pupusa. They all come with melted cheese.
Edwin has also become known for playing with the pupusa, introducing specials that utilize seasonal ingredients or that pay homage to the holidays, like a corned beef hash pupusa around St. Patrick’s Day, for example. If he has an abundance of veggies, like jalapenos and carrots, what might a pupusa taste like with those ingredients, and what else could it be paired with?
“The pupusa, it doesn’t have to be super [authentic], but the flavor has to be super amazing,” Edwin said about his philosophy when it comes to developing his menu, which somewhat differs from what one would find traditionally on a pupuseria menu.
Pupusas are the focus, of course, but there will be side dishes for guests, such as the street corn with cotija cheese, lime crema and Tajin seasoning and crispy plantains with sweet honey mustard aioli. There will also be a rotating dessert.
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For beverages, Dos Manos offers iced horchata (a creamy, cinnamon-flavored drink made from ground rice) and lemonade. You can also take your pupusas to the courtyard at Charles River Speedway, and grab a beer from the neighboring Notch Brewery.
“The pupusa and beer partnership is natural,” Alexis said. “They go really well together.”
The Orellanas are especially excited to introduce minutas, a Salvadoran snow cone typically made with fruit syrups and topped with options like tamarind jelly, condensed milk, and fresh fruit. Edwin said it’s a treat that reminds him of being a kid back in El Salvador, and the couple both hope minutas will be a hit in the hotter months.
Before opening Dos Manos Kitchen in 2020, Edwin spent nearly two decades cooking in kitchens like Posto and Yvonne’s. He knew one day he’d want to run his own kitchen, which is half of the reason why he opened Dos Manos.
But there was also an educational factor to it. He wanted to teach the people in the place he now calls home, Greater Boston, about his favorite dish — one that still hasn’t caught on in the U.S. quite like other Latin American dishes have.
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When you walk up to Edwin’s pop-ups, there’s sometimes a sheet that explains the “anatomy” of this Salvadoran dish: how the pupusa is made, what it’s stuffed with, and what comes on top (usually shredded cabbage and salsa). There’s also a helpful note about how many pupusas guests should order. “One’s a snack, two’s a meal.”
At a recent pop-up at Bow Market, another marketplace that Dos Manos has frequented, Edwin also took the time to explain to customers what they were getting as he poured red salsa over two corn cakes and sprinkled a liberal serving of curtido, the cabbage mix.
But Edwin’s pupusa teachings have gone beyond that. Especially during the worst of the pandemic, he held Zoom classes to teach people how to make pupusas at home.
Edwin still hosts classes, but they’re also available in person. He’s taught students at Somerville schools and led cooking classes for companies and parties.
“Boston can be a multicultural place, but we still get asked so much [about pupusas] — some people have never heard of them,” Alexis said. “It’s a really cool thing for Edwin to be able to share his culture. This [space] will give him a chance to do that on a more consistent basis.”
The Orellanas used NuMarket, a crowdfunding platform, to raise funds for their new restaurant space. Alexis said they’re hoping to open by mid-May, and soon they’ll offer delivery through third-party apps. Until then, customers can still find Edwin and his pupusas at various pop-ups, like one at Charles River Speedway’s Brighton Bazaar night market on Friday.
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Dos Manos Kitchen will be located at 525 Western Ave., Brighton
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