Twenty or thirty years ago, if you asked most Americans to name items from Mexican cuisine they would be stuck after they mentioned tacos and burritos. The more culturally sensitive at least suspected that that the country might have regional variations, but some probably believed that Mexicans ate nothing but tacos and burritos, perhaps with beans and rice on the side and a margaritas to wash it down.
Times have changed and even people who don’t regularly dine out are at least hazily aware of Oaxacan moles, Yucatán seafood, and regional tamales, but that awareness generally stops at Mexico’s southern border. It’s a thousand miles and seven countries from Mexico to the south of Panama, but almost a black hole when it comes to our knowledge of their cuisine.
La Esperanza hopes to change that. The restaurant is located in a somewhat scruffy strip mall on Western near Sepulveda, but once you get past the potholed parking lot you are in for a pleasant surprise – the interior is pretty, with folk art, posters of Guatemala and El Salvador, and handwoven textiles setting the mood. The welcome was very friendly – on two visits Danny the owner came to our table and volunteered descriptions and recommendations. When I seemed hesitant about one item he suggested, he even offered to take it off the bill if I didn’t like it.
Guatemalan and Salvadoran food is distinctly different from that of Mexico, with fewer European influences and generally more mild and simple spicing. All meals start with warm freshly made tortillas and a very flavorful bean dip with a sprinkling of white cheese. The traditional appetizers are pupusas – cheese-filled tortillas fried like quesadillas – and tamales. La Esperanza serves both Mexican-style tamales wrapped in cornhusks and the more moist and fragrant Central American style wrapped in banana leaves.  We tried the pork in a very mild tomato-based red sauce and found it to have a filling so smooth that we thought cream might have been added – it wasn’t.
As for the pupusas, the cheese-stuffed tortillas are a simple peasant snack, all about corn, toasted cheese, and whatever fillings you ask to be added in. La Esperanza offers eleven kinds, and my favorite is made with a broccoli-like vegetable called loroco and shredded pork. A small party could probably have an interesting meal by ordering one of each type of tamale plus several different pupusas – you would certainly not lack variety.
I have tried three different main courses – Guatemalan carne asada, chicken in pepian sauce, and chicken cooked with onions and bell peppers in Coca-Cola sauce.
Although I don’t like cola drinks I tried the latter because I had read that marinating or cooking in Coke is a Central American technique for softening tough meats, and that the resulting flavor wasn’t much like the flavor of the drink. The effect was odd but interesting – the soft drink flavor merged into a sweet and sour sauce, giving it a very light pepperiness and a bit of caramel flavor. When I mentioned to the owner that it was a bit mild for my tastes he brought over some housemade hot sauce that added quite a bit of zip to the flavors and improved it greatly.
I was less enthralled with the carne asada – there was plenty of the grilled flap meat, but it was slightly tough and the spicing was not very different from a traditional Mexican barbecue.  The sides of black beans, rice with vegetables, grilled scallions, fried potato, and avocado made for a well-balanced plate, but I wished I had tried something more adventurous. The chicken pepian qualified on that score – the thick sauce is based on ground pumpkin and sesame seeds with tomatillos and a host of mild spices. The seeds gave it an interesting character – if I hadn’t known what it was, I might have guessed that it was based on peanuts like a satay sauce. The dish contained carrots, green beans, and squash, adding texture and variety to a complex, savory stew.
La Esperanza offers a few Central American and domestic beers, all light lagers, and a variety of soft drinks, all of which are on the sweet side. If you don’t like light beers or sugary sodas, they make fresh fruit and vegetable smoothies, which is probably the healthiest choice. They also make champurado, the thick hot chocolate, and hot plantain and corn drinks, so there is plenty to explore.
The restaurant serves flan and some interesting regional desserts, and if you have a taste for sweets you should stop in next door at their bakery. Â From beginning to end of your meal, there are discoveries to be made about Central American flavors, and this little strip mall gem is the place to do it.
La Esperanza is at 22832 Western Avenue in Torrance. Open Mon-Wed 11 a.m. – 8 p.m., Thu-Sun 10 a.m.. – 8 p.m.. Parking lot, beer and wine served, wheelchair access OK. Menu at laesperanzarestaurants.com, phone 310-626-6578. ER
