Restaurant Review - So-so Salvadoran

In the American melting pot, culinary energy derives from two principal sources: immigration and fashion. In the latter, ambitious chefs collaborate with promoters and publicists to sell unnecessary variations on distinctly minor matters. Demand for novelty is artificially created. Examples include shopping center sushi, cuisine minceur and chocolate pasta. Conspicuous consumption results. Immigration, however, creates legitimate demand. When newly arrived persons settle in Little Italy, Chinatown or Chambodia, most want food like mama used to make. Because mama is often unavailable or elsewhere, many settle for approximations served up in old-country style trattorias, cantinas and cafes.

In Atlanta, the resulting proliferation of highly authentic Mexican, Chinese, Korean and Russian restaurants is a bonus for foodies of every stripe and persuasion. It began because people from other countries left home to find jobs and new lives here.

On that score, immigration from El Salvador appears to be rising like summer’s temperatures. Establishments offering Salvadoran comfort food, often in tandem with Mexican, are popping up on both sides of the Buford Highway/Interstate-85 axis. Among the most visible and conveniently located is Casa Blanca Restaurant No. 3.

The menu in place at this and two sister restaurants is expansive and seemingly ambitious, encompassing a wide range of specialties from both countries. Dinner prices are moderate to high, lunch prices moderate. Amenities such as fresh seafood, excellent table service and a full bar belie the pool-hall ambience of the place.

On the evidence, I’m not much inclined to travel in El Salvador. Both meals at Casa Blanca No. 3 started well enough with bowls of spicy, agreeable, semi-smooth salsa and baskets of crisp, full-fat tortilla chips — welcomingly warm at lunch, room temperature at night and complimentary.

A cheese-stuffed Salvadoran pupusa — a rounded, pita-like tortilla with tart slaw as garnish — was better put together than others I’ve had around town, and thus seemed a delicious introduction to Central America’s theoretical wonders. Pork stuffing is an option ($1.50).

Pastelitos de carne, small meat pies, on the other hand, seemed to hark back to freezers and convenience packages ($5 for three). Filled with spicy minced meat, the turnovers argued no case for second helpings.

Frita de puerco, pork loin rubbed with Salvadoran seasonings and fried, reminded me of Southern-style skillet pork chops — lots of flavor but kind of tough, food that sticks to the ribs ($9). Somewhat the same game was alembre, skewered and grilled shrimp, chicken, beef, onions and green pepper ($9). Each piece of meat retained its own flavor so the large portion offered a variety of mostly pleasant sensations. Sides served with these and other “typical plates” include very salty refried beans, a salad and dreadful, commercial-tasting “Spanish” rice.

Juicy, blood-ripe slices of tomato were the most satisfying items on the Guachinango special platter, whole red snapper with “special recipe” sauce ($16). The snapper was fried until done and then fried a while more, leaving the skin tough and the flesh dry and almost tasteless. The heavy, mildly spicy gravy contained a mass of chopped vegetables: peppers, onions and so on. The phrase “bus station cooking” came to mind.

Two of four enchiladas on the Mexican enchilada suprema dinner were slightly better than that, bean-stuffed with white cheese ($6.95). Shredded chicken and chopped beef enchiladas were one-bite disappointments. But hey, this is immigrant food, village fare, the commercial equivalent of home cooking El Salvador style. For fans of the mildly flavored exotic, the foreign and easy of shopping center “El Cheapo” and the not very Mean Bean, Casa Blanca is worth a try.

For the rest of us, it seems there’s still time before the Salvadoran ingredients in Atlanta’s melting pot make much of a difference.

Casa Blanca No. 3, 2922 Clairmont Road at I-85. 404-327-6655. Open daily 11:30 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Entrees range in price from $6.25-$39.