El Salvadoran eatery opens in Lewes
Story Location:
Lewes, DE 19958
United States
Like any good El Salvadorans, Cabañas co-owners Fredy Garcia and Joaquin Cortez love pupusas.
Traditional street food in their native country, pupusas are thick, pancake-sized maize (corn) tortillas that are stuffed with a mixture of cheese, refried beans and pork. At Cabañas, the pupusas are served with curtido, an El Salvadoran version of cole slaw.
“It’s the poor man’s food,” said Cortez. “But it tastes so good.”
The brothers-in-law opened Cabañas, an El Salvadoran restaurant, in Coastal Plaza, across Route 1 from Bethany Blues in Lewes Jan. 28.
Garcia, with his 15 years of experience as sous chef at Just In Thyme, is in charge of the kitchen. Cortez, with his degree in international studies from UCLA, is in charge of the restaurant’s front end.
“This is a dream come true,” said Garcia on being able to open a restaurant. “We’re going to have to work hard, and it’s going to be stressful, but we’re excited.”
El Salvador is a small Central American country, surrounded by Honduras to the north and east, Guatemala to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The restaurant is named after one of El Salvador’s northern states, called Cabañas, which is where the two men are from.
Garcia said everything about the restaurant is family-based. It was a family decision to open the restaurant, he said, and it’s family members who are working.
In addition to the pupusas, the menu includes such items as sopa de mariscos (seafood stew), carne asada, mojarra frita (fried tilapia), and chiles rellenos de carne (peppers stuffed with beef).
“This is the food we ate growing up,” said Garcia.
There are also traditional desserts, like empanadas and nuegados (fried dumplings covered in sugar). “The empanadas are really good,” said a smiling Cortez. “The only thing that comes close is Cinnabon.”
The two men have refined the menu down in their first month to what makes the restaurant unique – homemade El Salvadoran food.
Garcia said customers tell him they can get omelettes and sandwiches other places, but what they can’t get are the pupusas and other specialties.
From cashew nut-based marañon, to the rice-based orchata, even the drink offerings at Cabañas include El Salvadoran staples.
Cabañas’ hours are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., 7 days a week, which said Garcia, will be in place through at least September.
The telephone number for take out is 302-313-4398. Garcia suggested calling at least 20 minutes in advance, so the food will be waiting when it’s picked up.
The Cabañas address is 18388 Coastal Highway, Unit 7, Lewes, 19958.
Chris Flood has been working for the Cape Gazette since early 2014. He currently covers Rehoboth Beach and Henlopen Acres, but has also covered Dewey Beach and the state government. He covers environmental stories, business stories and random stories on subjects he finds interesting, and he also writes a column called Choppin’ Wood that runs every other week. Additionally, Flood moonlights as the company’s circulation manager, which primarily means fixing boxes that are jammed with coins during daylight hours, but sometimes means delivering papers in the middle of the night. He’s a graduate of the University of Maine and the Landing School of Boat Building & Design.
