Any time is a good time for a pupusa, right?
Find these wonderful creations—fried pancakes of cornmeal dough stuffed with various fillings—seven days a week at Pupuseria de Corazon, a Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard establishment serving the Salvadoran specialties, along with empanadas, tacos, tortas, fajitas, soups, fried fish, carne asada and more.
Located in a fairly new building next to the Waffle House, the restaurant space currently slinging pupusas has already hosted various businesses over recent years (Bee Hive Bistro, Hacienda los Miranda, Bread & Butter Sandwich Co.). Pupuseria de Corazon may not be the cleanest, quickest, most English-fluent or polished restaurant in town, but it offers some fine pupusas and slaw.
Bumping Spanish-language hip-hop greets visitors entering the pupuseria, a little warm in there as the midday sun pours in, but those awaiting an order can cool off with a cinnamony horchata or a mango or jamaica agua fresca.
Grab a taco at the restaurant—onion-heavy, street-style, pastor, asada or pollo tacos—for only $2.25.
The pupusa menu features pupusas stuffed with the classic beans and cheese or with steak, chicken, jalapeño, chorizo, even a zucchini and cheese pupusa and other flavors of the fried cakes. The revueltas pupusa adds some small bits of pork to the cheese and beans.
The pupusas at Corazon appear slightly flatter than some thicker versions that local diners may have experienced.
Discover the flavor of loroco at Corazon. A flower that makes a popular flavor addition to Salvadoran cooking, loroco has a floral, herby, garden-y taste, along the lines of oregano, maybe, or zucchini or asparagus, green and earthy.
Large containers of slaw, known as curtido, arrive at the tables along with the pupusas. This cool slaw contains a delightful fresh blend of sour, spicy, sweet and vinegar, a crunchy veggie balance to place atop the bready, heavier pupusas, completing the experience.
Large jugs of a red and (spicier) green salsa can accompany the meal to kick it up another notch.
Further exploring the menu leads a diner to the yuca frita, another favorite of El Salvador, evidently translated to Tennessean as: fried taters topped with little fishies and salad. The dish features thick, french fry-like pieces of the cassava plant (known as yuca, similar to a potato) along with tomato, slaw, peppers, radish and the small fried anchovies, a tasty blend for those into that sort of thing.
The Salvadoran menu also includes pastelitos, hand pies filled with chicken and vegetables, another popular dish in the Central American country.
Corazon has some very good, cheesy tortas, sandwiches on thick, soft bread, loaded with lots of beans, lettuce, tomato, avocado, jalapeño, meat and cheese. Eat one while it’s warm and the bread is still lovely, fresh and fluffy. Baked goods are also available; find a variety of flaky, colorful Hispanic pastries at the restaurant.
The menu contains all sorts of other Central American dishes—seafood soup and other soups, egg dishes, plantains and more.
Those in a hurry, or to arrange to pick up a meal, can place an advance order at orderpupuseriadecorazon.com.
Don’t expect to get questions regarding the menu answered in English. And some visitors find the atmosphere a little bizarre: a hodgepodge of handbags, makeup, shirts, jewelry and candy for sale clutters up the space a little.
But the place has plenty of flavorful, affordable options to try. Corazon translates as heart, and the Murfreesboro eatery does indeed serve up some pupusas made with love.
Pupuseria De Corazon
2333 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Monday: 10 a.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Thursday: 8 a.m.–8 p.m.; Friday: 10 a.m.–8:30 p.m.; Saturday: 8 a.m.–8:30 p.m.; Sunday: 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
Revueltas, frijol con queso, loroco, or queso con chicharron pupusa: $3; Yuca frita: $8; Taco: $2.25; Carne asada: $14; Torta or burrito: $9; Mojarra frita: $15
615-424-7193
orderpupuseriadecorazon.com
