local flavor
Keeping the Pupusas Authentic
Third generation carries on a decades-old legendary family restaurant By Linda T. Kennedy / Photos by Mark Gilvey
W
hen Dona Azucena started delivering pupusas to her neighbors as gifts, she didn't think about how someday locals would associate her name with the Latin griddlecakes. Today, though, nearly 30 years since those first neighborly gestures, Azucena's family owns seven Pupuserias in Virginia and Maryland. "She was just a very caring person who wanted to include everyone in everything she did, and she was very humble about everything she did," said her grandson, Brian Hernandez, who helps manage the Woodbridge location. While Azucena humbly offered her pupusas as gifts, her neighbors raved over them, returning to her Silver Springs, Maryland, apartment with cash in hand for more. She set the money aside until she could buy the building across the street for her first restaurant. Today that original restaurant is still there, and the other locations, including Woodbridge, serve over 5,000 people daily. "It's fun to go back there and see the first restaurant, and see that her apartment building is still there and that nothing has really changed," said Hernandez.
Same Pupusa, New Generation
The restaurants still use Azucena's original pupusa recipe, which she used to make the pupusas for her neighbors. "All of the recipes at the restaurants are still her recipes — the menu items are made with the exact same recipes my
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Brian Hernandez, manager of Woodbridge location.
grandmother started with 30 years ago," said Hernandez. "We stay true to her recipes because it goes with my grandmother's memory about who she was — she never left her El Salvadorian roots, stayed true to herself and true to her family and true to her culture."
