Salvadoran bar La Perla opens in Riverhead
Pupusas with loroco flower aren't heavily fried at La Perla in Riverhead. Credit: Newsday/Andi Berlin
It's about 9 p.m. in historic downtown Riverhead, and all the taquerias and Guatemalan delis are starting to close up shop for the night. What's a hungry person to do? Follow the bachata music toward the lights, and you'll hit La Perla, a new Salvadoran bar that's quickly become a nightlife hot spot.
It's owned by Gabriela Montoya, a bartender at the bustling Coco Cabana Tavern nightclub in Shirley. The nightclub is big on live entertainment, bringing in DJs and Latin groups on a weekly basis. But La Perla is a little more low key, with a sports-bar-meets-mom-and-pop restaurant vibe. A midsized bar is lined with flat-screen TVs. Up front, the brightly lit dining room is lined with deep booths full of people enjoying platters of fried fish with salad and yellow rice, or plates of vodka penne grilled shrimp.
La Perla's menu highlights Salvadoran dishes with some other Latin and Italian classics as well, like tacos of carne asada cut into strips and served on hearty corn tortillas ($14.99 for three). There are also chicken and steak burritos, quesadillas and fajitas paired with French fries and a salad. Pupusas come in several varieties including bean and cheese, scrambled eggs, and the green loroco flower, which adds an herbaceous element to the soft masa cakes. The pupusas were lightly griddled and low on crunch, and their accompanying salsa roja was thicker and had a roasted tomato sauce flavor.
The highlight of the evening was the Honduran baleada with everything ($10), which means scrambled eggs, refried beans, crema and avocado. The housemade flour tortilla offered a slightly puffy texture that pillowed the eggs, as crema spilled out the sides. Also great, a michelada. It's a Mexican beer drink spiked with hot sauce and rimmed with spicy Tajín powder that comes in a beer mug with the Modelo already mixed in, for easy drinking.
La Perla is at 65 E. Main St., Riverhead. Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. 631-381-0422.
Andi Berlin is from Arizona and does not know where she is going. But when she gets there, she’ll find something beautiful and delicious that the world needs to taste.
