New pupuseria on the Avenue

I know a lot of you out there really miss Pinto Thai, but it's time to get over them, right? If you're craving Thai food you still have 4 choices in the hood - Thai Derm, Thai Market, SS Thai Flavor, and Thai at SS. If that doesn't meet your needs, well you might want to think of relocating to Bangkok or something.

But this post is not about Thai food, although I do love the deep fried tofu they do at... oops sorry.

This post is about a new dining spot in the hood called Pupuersia El Oasis at 8223 Georgia Ave. I believe they have been open about a month now. And while they are still going through some growing pains, like almost any new place, it is worth checking out.

Our first visit a few weeks back was for lunch. I went basic and did pupusas while my wife went a bit more exotic and ordered the whole fried fish (we were told talapia).

As you can see, be prepared for a whole fish. This takes some work since this little guy is pretty bony. But in the end I think you'll be satisfied with what you get. The meat was pretty tender and juicy and had a nice flavor. Just don't be in a rush to wolf down this order- I guess it could be considered slow food. And while the beans are tasty, at least this order was VERY salty. They are small whole black beans and are yummy, but you might want to bring your blood pressure medicine with you.

No pics of my pupusas, but use your imagination here. They are your standard fare pupusa. I ordered the bean and cheese pupusa - very good - and then one with flower petals and cheese. I thought I'd be a little adventurous. I did not get much taste out of the flower petals. Maybe there weren't enough in there, but I mostly tasted cheese. Which I like. So it was OK. Next time I plan to stick with the bean and cheese pupusas.

Our next visit was for breakfast. I was surprised to see El Oasis opens at 8AM on Sundays. Not sure how many folks are strolling in that early. My guess they could open at 10AM and be in pretty good shape. Perhaps they're trying to pick up the Sunday Fresh Start crowd since they're not open that day.

Anyway, we were the only ones in at about 11AM. The proprietor was taking a constitutional on Georgia when we approached, but he scrambled back in to take our order - which should not have been that hard. But alas, it was. The breakfast menu is not long and I think the cooked egg dishes may not number more than two. But it still took some doing for my wife to order one of the egg dishes and me the other. If I could tell you why I would. The chef in the back had to come out to lend a hand, but that didn't actually help very much. And it wasn't the language barrier either. My wife has an OK grasp of Spanish and the folks at El Oasis speak English pretty well. But even pointing at both items on the menu, it still took a few minutes for them to kinda grasp what we wanted.

Fortunately when our orders arrived they were the right ones. On the right you'll see an order of huevos rancheros, with tortillas, plantains, queso, crema and beans - a filling breakfast. These beans were not nearly as salty as our last ones, so that's a good thing; but the eggs were a bit overcooked.

My order was pretty similar except just scrambled eggs. The menu did claim my beans were hand ground. But they appeared and tasted the same as my wife's beans which were refried. Maybe it's such a fine distinction my palate just couldn't discern it.

I would say both were meals good, certainly not great. But the proprietors are charming and as you can imagine the prices are very reasonable. Our 2 breakfasts along with a couple juice drinks ran us $18.

I hope El Oasis does well. But they need to pick up some restaurant basics to help ensure the place runs smoothly. I would be frightened if a large crowd was there how the folks could handle it. My gut tells me at least right now, it would not be pretty. We'll keep our eyes on them.