Elena Martinez turning Salvadoran pupusas into food truck favorite

OAKLAND (CBS SF) – There’s no question the pandemic has brought on challenges for many.  One East Bay woman is doing what she can to keep her family business alive. 

Elena Martinez and her sister make and sell tacos from their food truck Tacos Picantes. But they’re also incorporating another dish from their culture — pupusas. 

It’s a Salvadoran dish and Elena says it involves a labor of love.

“Corn handmade cheese-filled tortilla, sometimes we have pork and cheese, steak and cheese,” she said of the delectable dish. 

On Wednesday, she was getting ready for Oakland First Fridays. This week, it’s a Latin pride event. 

“We’re gonna have pupusas nonstop and, of course, tacos, Cinco de Mayo c’mon,” she said. 

They make tacos because she says everyone loves tacos. The pupusas take a little more time to make. 

“There are certain recipes we’ve held onto that belong to my mom,” she said. 

And she continues to learn by going to El Salvador. 

“There’s techniques, shortcuts, that I still need to learn that I can learn from the motherland,” she said. “I can’t learn that from here, but I can learn it if I go back to, you know, motherland.” 

Elena works fast, and when she speaks, she has a lot of pride for her roots. But what people may not realize is that like many with small businesses, the pandemic has hit her hard. 

“What we’re doing is trying to figure out how we can stay afloat and right now, the only thing that has been working is booking events,” she said. 

She said they used to be stationed in San Pablo. But people stopped coming when the pandemic started. And it’s been up and down since then. 

But with one very important thing, she’ll keep fighting. 

“I say as long as I’m healthy, my family is healthy, I’m going to keep going, were going to keep going,” she said. 

And she’s doing it all while keeping an uplifting beat. 

“We have steak, which is asada, grilled chicken, which is pollo, al pastor, spicy pork and carnitas which is slow-cooked pork, very delicious, that’s actually my favorite.”