Adam & Eats: Las Senoritas

 

Editor’s note: Adam Brandt is a graduate from the Cobra Kai School of Culinary Callousness, where he received their highest award, the Red Apron of Merciless Eating. Aside from eating and talking about eating, he makes pots, paintings, prints, books, photographs, and generally, a big mess. He has been the studio assistant at Mudpuppy Pottery for almost nine years and is attending a local university in a desperate attempt to earn a biology degree.

For months now, I’ve been waiting for Las Senoritas to open. I have a particular weakness for Pupusas, and the thought of a new restaurant that serves Mexican and El Salvadorian food has had me atwitter with anticipation.

I’ve been driving by the restaurant to check on their status like I was waiting for an Anthony Bourdain book to arrive from Amazon. Finally, to my relief, they opened their doors this past Friday, and I was on it like white on rice on a paper plate in a snow storm. Maybe I hyped it up a little too much in my own mind, but I couldn’t help but feel a sense of disappointment after finishing my meal.

Located in what was once Charlie’s Chicken, and then a used car lot, on Towson Avenue, is the new Las Senoritas. Or is it Las Senorita’s? They can’t decide. The sign out front suggest one spelling and the menu inside indicates another. The confusion spreads to the décor, which is a mix of traditional Latin restaurant and American sports bar.

Offer decent sweet tea and filling, relatively inexpensive fare, and the picture starts to come into focus. Add scantily clad uniformed waitresses to the mix, and it comes across, at least to me, as the “(Jailbait) Hooters of El Salvadorian Food.” This combination will definitely attract a certain demographic, namely, hard-working blue-collar males between the ages of 16 and 100.

I think the owners were thinking “Perhaps the awkward and slightly slow service will be over-looked if we dress our employees in tiny plaid school-girl skirts.” I may be distracted quite easily by shiny objects, such as tin foil or nickels, but I can usually tell when that nickel is made of wood and painted up to resemble a street-walker.

Needless to say, I did not go to Las Senoritas to watch movies on USA or to stare at underage legs, I came to eat delicious bits of pork stuffed into a corn pancake. And eat that, I did. Wanna fill your belly with wondrous things? Try the Isaac special. It consists of two pupusas (one cheese, one pork), two pastelitos (think fried dumplings filled with what seemed like mashed potatoes), and rice and beans.

The Carne Asada is also quite spectacular. The tortas are good, but they lack a real punch of flavor that I normally associate with Latin food. If you’re in search of pleasant way to clog one of your major arteries, I suggest, as per usual, the French Fries Nachos (French fries drowned in Queso Fresca, covered with perfectly seasoned ground beef, lettuce, pico de gallo, and jalapenos). Like always, eat them quickly because the sogginess happens rapidly.

Overall, Las Senoritas is not that bad. Sure, my snarky comments may have led you to believe it is an unpleasant place to eat, but it’s really not.

On the other hand, it does need a lot of polishing in order to become a great restaurant. I suggest you give it a try before making a conclusive decision about them, rather than taking my silly attempt at being entertaining as the end-all be-all findings on a restaurant that has been open a week.

Feedback
When he’s not beating his eggs, Adam makes time to respond to e-mails that get past his hard-ass spam filter. You can try to reach him at [email protected]

Adam also has this thing called Sandwich Control.