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I think most people will agree that one of the best things about traveling is trying new food. While in Los Angeles, Plus One introduced me to El Salvadoran food, which is incredible. (Though El Salvadoran cuisine typically includes tamales and empanadas, I’ve only had Mexican-style tamales and Cuban-style empanadas.) What I tried yesterday is very different from anything I’ve ever had, but the ingredients are familiar. Here are a few pics and descriptions for the gourmands (aspiring, perceived and otherwise) out there:

This is, according to the restaurant’s menu, the national dish of El Salvadore: fried plantains, refried beans and sour cream. Sounds like a crazy combination, but it’s amazing. The sweet, caramelized plantains are perfectly complemented by the salty (much more so than Mexican-style refried beans) beans and the cool, slightly sour cream. It really is a winning combination.

This is my new favorite food: pupusas! Pupusas are to El Salvadorans what calzones are to Italians, pao do queso are to Brazilians, empanadas are to Cubans and Hot Pockets are to lazy Americans. These stuffed corn tortillas are incredible. And there’s nothing more disappointing than finding something you really like and not being able to get it. Where are all the El Salvadorans on this island? If you’re out there, and you know how to make pupusas, please come to our next office potluck.

The corn tortillas, which are thicker than their Mexican counterparts, are stuffed with various fillings, like cheese, pork, beans, loroco (an edible flower that’s indigenous to Central America) or a combination of any or all of the fillings. The pupusas are served with a pickled cabbage-and-carrot slaw that rounds out the dish nicely.

If only restaurant Con Sabor in L.A. delivered to Honolulu. Perhaps I’ll have to hunt down a recipe and try my hand at pupusas.