El Guanaco

This is the closest restaurant to my house yet I’ve only been twice because the times my husband and I have gone we were content but not thrilled with the food or service.

Their salsa recipe is what all salsas aspire to be. Hands down my all time favorite– and I’m pretty particular about my salsas. It has the perfect amount of spice, but not so hot that I can’t feel my tongue for days.
I literally only come in here to buy 3 sides of their equally delicious tortilla chips (albeit the amount of oil they drench them in could knock a full grown man into an artery blocking crisis) and salsa and it’s always the *best* $ 5 I always spend. Coupled with a strawberry Jarrito, it’s pretty much the food of gods.

First time in there tonight. excellent food at decent price. two of us ate for less than $ 14.00… we will be back

Authentic Salvadoran food. Simply amazing. Try the steamed yuca and pork, pupusas, and platinos. This cute little mom and pap is everything you want from an authentic cultural restaurant. Oh and large portions for a very affordable price.

After living in the Bay Area for years, I became spoiled by the dozens and dozens of pupuserías in my city. Realizing that my hometown was no such pupusa haven was a real blow, and the places I’ve tried in LV and Pilsen are just OK. But El Guanaco is one of my top 2 pupusa spots in Chicago.
First, to defend their honor: If you’re reviewing this place on their Mexican food (steak tacos and burritos, really??), please remind yourself that this is a SALVADORAN restaurant, so they’re not exactly obliged to do that stuff well, and anyway, you have plenty of other options. More importantly, another reviewer said the empanadas here were small/​mushy, as were the tamales. Now, it should again go without saying that Argentine empanadas and Mexican tamales should not be expected at a Salvi place, yeah? And while I don’t know exactly what they ordered, Salvadoreño empanadas tend to be filled/​fried plantains, so they’re quite a bit different. (And it’s spelled pupusa, not papusa, which reminds me of papoose.)
Anyway, their pupusas are dope, and I usually go for queso y loroco. The dining room is cozy and the staff is especially welcoming. Because I’m a vinegar junky, I’m obsessed with their slightly tangier curtido. But the best thing about this joint (aside from the adorable, elderly server and guarantee of quality novelas or a soccer match on the TV) is that they have jugo de marañón, or cashew apple juice. I’ve only ever had the stuff fresh and in Peru, and even compared to that, their juice is pretty damn good. Perfect, at least, with some greasy and delicious pupusas.

Delicious!!! Loroco with cheese is just amazing. Beans and cheese is great as well. Grear prices.

Pupuseria. The name is hilarious in a childish sense. Aside from having a great name, the staff was friendly and patient as well, so I really wanted to like the place. I ordered three different kinds of pupusas, an empanada, some (corn?) dessert, and a veggie burrito. The pupusas were ok, but I’ve never purchased anything more bland in my life. The VEGGIE burrito seemed to be prepared along with meat, since it was dripping with grease. The empanada was also a giant grease pill. I have no problem with greasy food, but when I want to strain the grease out, something is wrong. You definitely get what you pay for.

We’ve been fascinated by these mysterious papusas for quite a while now and finally ventured to El Guanaco on Saturday. The place is a little dingy and most of the patrons were there to watch the World Cup. We ordered the papusa platter, which offered a sampling of a few different things: a papusa (of course!), an empanada, a chorizo, a plantain, a tamale, and a bit of frijoles and sour cream. I was hungover and hungry, so we both got an order of steak tacos too.
The papusa was not bad, but very hot, so be careful before you bite in. The chorizo was a bit dry, definitely not the greasy chorizo you normally get. The empanada was quite flavorless and very tiny. I prefer the really flaky crust ones and this one was not that. The tamale was actually downright terrible. It was prepared in a banana leaf, similar to Oaxacan style tamales, but minus any of the flavor. I LOVE tamales, and I took one tiny bite and pushed the rest aside. VERY VERY mushy, almost no filling and entirely flavorless. The plaintains were very good, though. The asada tacos were ok. Nothing special. Of the 2 salsas that came with the chips, one was very good, the other a bit like straight up tomato sauce.
All in all, I might return for the papusas and the plaintains, but most likely not for anything else.

Come here for great puposas when you’re craving food from El Salvador. I’d recommend the combination ones with cheese (always, otherwise the corn base is too dry) and beans or meat with jalapenos. The can border a bit on bland unless you dress them with the cabbage and salsa provided. Ask for recommendations, there’s only three people who work there period so they always know. But overall super fun to check out. Don’t get the other reviews scare you away. Yes its not the cleanest place in the world and it looks different, but if you’re in the area its def a place to check out. Probably not quite a destination place though, I wouldn’t go more than 30 minutes on the CTA to eat here.

Place isn’t too big but that didn’t matter going in, as we walked in no one greeted us again looked past it and took a seat the waitress was rude of the start throwing the menus at us. We got chips and salsa and the chips were too greasy. We ordered pupusas with pork and cheese and they were repulsive! absolutely the nastiest pupusas I have ever had, they tasted like they had been froze, being Salvadorian I was expecting something better. I have NEVER left a place so upset. BAD SERVICE AND BAD FOOD! I will never be going back to this place, they should seriously close!!!

Once when I was walking west down Diversey Avenue casually sipping a glass of milk from a straw, I came across the worn sign for El Guanaco. «What the F is a Guanaco?» I thought to myself. I briefly considered dropping my glass to the ground to underscore my surprise, but the shards of glass would have been lost amongst millions in this ill-​kept part of town where (until a recent «positive loitering» initiative) the street life had resembled scenes from West Side Story minus the music and the dancing.
I stepped inside to find a cozy, friendly, mom-​and-​pop type joint whose Central American take on classy involves a mosaic of cheap mirrors covering one wall, a vintage jukebox, a glass case of boxed cologne, and an insane collage of artifacts that looks like a 3-​way sporting event pitting a gold-​plated soccer star against a giant guitar-​playing badger in a football helmet against a bald eagle tripping over an American flag.
The food here is good. It offers a nice alternative to other regional Latin-​American fare, with super tasty staples like fried plantains and refried beans but also unusual empanadas– my favorite being the sweet milk and plantain option. Really the highlight is the pupusa, which is just another way of packaging a meal into a bread-​like substance. Loroco (pepper and cheese) is my favorite filling there. I suppose a pupusa is somewhere between a pancake and Indian naan, and I can’t emphasize enough that you gotta eat the pupusa just as it’s served to get the perfect texture. The tamale was a weak spot, mine chokingly dry and nothing like the tasty and spicy options found on the streets nearby. But so many of these options are offered individually, and at $ 1-​$ 2 each you can put together a nice sampler dish or try their own massive sampler which (though more than you could possibly eat) is still less than 10 bucks.

Service is slow and checked out, pupusas were good but cabbage was meh.

Hey white person… What’s the best food you’ve never had. Well obviously you need to get yourself some papusas.
Don’t worry white person. they speak English in here. And a little FYI before you tell them that papusa’s are you new favorite Mexican food… It’s actually El Salvadorian food.
Their papusa’s are muy delicioso. Just for context I’ll let you know that I’m also a white person. Eat your papusa’s while they’re hot and fresh, if you take home and let them cool down… They’re just not as good.

This place has its ups and downs.
The good: I’ve never had pupusas before, so I’m obviously not the best judge, but I really liked they way this place made them. The fact that you had options and that the staff was really patient explaining everything to us constitute check marks in my book. The tortilla chips are AMAZING, you can tell they came right out of the frier in the kitchen. Their salsas are also quite good. All in all, the food we had was good. I love how everything is pretty cheap and sold individually os you can kind of piece together your own combo platter for a relatively small cost.
The Bad: So the menu has some things that are a little misleading. I ordered this thing that had a spanish description and thought was some type of traditional type of food, and basically it was fried pork cubes on a skewer with bottled bbq sauce. That was rather unfortunate as the other El Salvadoran items were quite good. Maybe it was my fault for not being able to read Spanish, but a 5 star place should be good for everyone. Also, everything except the tamals were deep fried; it would be nice to have some other nonartery-​clogging options on the menu.
All in all I’d go back; I think knowing what the items are and what to avoid is really the drill here.

Okay I have to give credit where credit is due. I freaking LOVE this spot. HUGE burritos, DELICIOUS pupusas, and its super AFFORDABLE! Alright I’m done with the caps, I think you get the picture. I love the mom & pop feel, and I especially love the prices. The food was flavorful, the service was fast. Stop by, see for yourself. Screw any negative reviews, go! If we don’t support our neighborhood businesses the next thing you know there will be a chipotle taking over then we’re all screwed.
EL GUANACO!!!

The food is great but the service is a little weird, not bad but seriously weird. Try the pupusas, I’m not Salvadorian but their pupusas are DELICIOUS!

This is my go-​to spot for pupusas in the city… and… they deliver! The first time I came here, myself and 3 others ate like kings for around $ 45 dollars total including beverages.
I’m Salvadorean and have high expectations for my pupusas. El Guanaco is absolutely authentic; just like the ones my aunts and grandmother make. Delicious! Revueltas and Loroco (a flower bud… sounds gross but it is so good. Kind of tastes like spinach) are my faves. But it doesn’t stop there. This place has the BEST yuca frita I have ever had, period. I also recommend trying their different juices, really good.
If you are looking for fancy schmancy, this is not your place. But if you are looking for delicious, home-​cooked, authentic Salvadorean food this is the place for you!
Side note: the main waiter speaks limited English, so it is helpful if you have basic Spanish skills. However, the owner’s nephew/​son (?) is bilingual and is usually around, so you should be fine if Spanish isn’t your fortay.

This place is great
so we have been craving Papusa’s for a few weeks now and all attempts have failed at getting them till today
we did a search and headed to the city to get some yummy Papusa and that yummy spicy slaw for me
we got like 4 different types of Papusa’s and some Plantains, the Plantains came out with refried beans and sour cream that was a little different than I am used but but it worked oh so well
I loved all the Papusa’s we got the Jalapeño one was my favorite I think, and the cheese they use really made the Papusa’s taste delish, we told the guy where we lived and he told us of a Salvadorian place closer to us that isn’t on Unilocal yet, we will have to try it out and change that
oh we will be back to try some other stuff also he has a great menu with Mexican, Columbian and Salvadorian food also his sign says that they make Pizza but I didn’t see that on the Menu

Short & sweet:
I had 1 pupusa de loroco and 2 revueltas, they were DELICIOUS!
Nice moist, cheesy inside and browned, crisp on the outside.
The curtido and red sauce on top made them even better.
Being from the south side of Chicago, I only wish El Guanaco was closer to home!

So close to my house, why haven’t I stopped in before? This small little Salvadoran place on the outskirts of Logan Square is quaint with lots of potential. Being a first-​timer I had no idea what to order, save for I heard the pupusas were good! So, I ordered a pupusa, a chicken tamale and the steak and potato pastel.
The pupusa was good, not the taste explosion previous reviews have hinted at, but definitely good! The pastel was probably my favorite. A flat fried cake with steak and potato, I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t as greasy on the inside as it looked. The chicken tamale was done in a banana leaf so I had high expectations. It turned out to be soft, almost soggy, and I just couldn’t finish it. And I love tamales!
The price is right. You’ll eat well for under $ 10. The atmosphere was just a little lacking and confused. Half dead plants draped over posters of El Salvador, a Jukebox on the counter that wasn’t plugged in next to a display of cheap colognes. Being a Salvadoran restaurant in the Square, it has mega-​potential. It would just be nice if they realized it with the décor, as they have with their quality food. I will be back! (Or at least to Carry Out).