Zutano Y Mengano Latin American Cusine

I happily ran into this little spot of Pupusa heaven in the Northwest burbs coming home from work a couple of months ago. They appeared to be going through some sort of ownership change so at the time I didn't know the name nor did they have any takeout menus so it made it difficult to report back on my finding.

I got out of work early on New Years eve so I decided to take a detour from my normal route and stop by for lunch. The menu is split into four countries; El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala and the United States (for us gringos). The Mexican and United States portion of the menu had the most offerings but I was stuck with the El Salvador side as I was jonesing for Pupusas.

I am no Pupusa expert (2nd time trying them) but I know what I like and these were delicious. I ordered the bean and cheese pupusa but they also offered a filling with pork and they did offer a veggie version with loroco and cheese. I placed my order and selected a Salvadorian soda (champagne cola) from the cooler.

The pupusas are handmade so the wait was about 5 - 10 minutes. They brought out a basket of chips, green salsa and bowl of curtido. The chips and salsa were fine (i.e. nothing special) but the curtido was very good; sweet, pickley and slightly spicy.

The pupusas arrived; two large well griddled masa discs stuffed with cheese and beans. The first time that I tried these pupusas I was eating them on the road so it was nearly impossible to add the curitdo. Because I chosen to eat in I took advantage of the bowl of curtido. The pupusas smothered in the curtido took this dish for me to a new level. The flavors played off each other very well. Awesome!

While eating I ran through the menu. The Salvadorian side offered tamales which according to the menu were stuffed with beans and cream.
The Mexican side looked atypical although they notated that sopes were one of their specialties. I imagine that with fresh masa in the house for pupusa that the sopes were probably equally as fresh and delicious.

On the Guatemalan side they offered Platanos and Rellenos. I am used to chiles rellenos but these were listed as fried dough stuffed with sweet beans.

Zutano Y Mengano is located in Arlington Heights on Oakton. They are on the south side of the street just west of the Kampai steakhouse. The restaurant is very nondescript (little storefront) but they do have a handmade sign on the street that says Pupusas.

Zutano Y Mengano
2501 E. Oakton Rd. Suite 5
Arlington Heights, IL 60005
847-981-0777

Monday - Saturday
10:30 a.m to 10:00 p.m.
Sunday
Closed

thanks for the tip - not too far on oakton in des plaines is rinconcito hispano, another nice pupusa place you might like to check out.


Rinconcito Hispano
1669 E Oakton St
Des Plaines, IL 60018
847-803-6180

Sadly, as reported in this thread, Zutano y Mengano has been gutted by fire.