Keeping the Pupusas Authentic Third generation carries on a decades-old legendary family restaurant

By Linda T. Kennedy /

When 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 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."

Hernandez said that now and then, the staff will add a new flavor to the pupusas, "a touch of garlic or something." Otherwise, he said, the only things different at the Woodbridge, Virginia, restaurant and other locations are the generations who return for the pupusas.

"Many of our customers are regulars — ones who come back and we know them and we know their names," said Hernandez. "We've had a connection with them since they started coming in with their parents and now people have grown up and still come back as adults."

Hernandez also grew up going to the Woodbridge restaurant but watched his family behind the counter, observing his dad as a cashier and grandmother in the kitchen. The restaurant became his "second home," where he learned about the family business and eventually became a member of the operations staff there.

Over the years, Hernandez said the family business grew faster than the family who staffed it, and they had to expand the restaurants' family circle to keep up with the pupusa demand.

"After Dona died, we hired more staff, but they are just like family now, too," he said. “They've seen me grow up, and everyone feels comfortable there."

Stable Food in Unstable Times

The only adjustments Hernandez says they've made at the restaurant are in response to the changing economy.

"Yes, we had to raise the prices a bit," said Hernandez. "But a Pupusas costs just $2, and you eat two or three of them and it fills you up."

The Pupusas hold cheese, pork, beans, squash or chicken, and the Pupusa Loca (with everything) is the most popular item on the menu at all the locations. Hernandez said people also come for the Cane de Res Asada (steak platter with rice, salad and tortillas) and the horchata, which they ship directly from El Salvador. The drink is plant-based milk flavored with spices, extracts and other ingredients.

"You just don't see horchata at very many places here," he said.

When the original Dona Azucena restaurant celebrates its 30th anniversary in a few years, Hernandez said Azucena's legacy will be a part of the celebration.

"I'm glad my grandmother started something that's so memorable — Dona Azucena is a household name around here," said Hernandez. "Even though she passed, her memory and food lives and will never be forgotten."

Linda T. Kennedy is a contributing writer for Prince William Living.