Popoca's dining room

Vu Tran
San Francisco

Popoca

  • Salvadoran
  • Californian
  • Outdoor Dining
  • Cocktails

There’s a big Salvadoran community in San Francisco and Oakland, flipping plenty of delicious pupusas in the Mission District and beyond. But Popoca broke ground as the first upscale Salvadoran slash Californian restaurant in the Bay Area, with a personal and creative take. Chef Anthony Salguero grew up in the Bay and has Michelin-starred experience coming from Saison, Commonwealth, Plumed Horse, and more. Digging into his family roots, he started Popoca as a pop-up in a vintage cars dealership in 2020, before finding a permanent home in Old Oakland in 2023. A big wood-fired comal breathes smoke through the menu, and popoca means “to emit smoke” in Nawat, the native language in El Salvador. Salguero grinds his own heirloom masa and griddles pupusas, so they’re exceptionally thick, fluffy on the inside, crisp on the outside, and stuffed with seasonal fillings.

It’s inviting to have this cool outdoor space with a wood-fire oven, and I’ve never had pupusas cooked in a woodfire oven before. I would come just for the pupusas, honestly.
A person with dark hair wearing a patterned top facing forward
Nite Yun

Nite's Perfect Order

A person holding a pupusa being pulled apart showing melted cheese stretching between the two halves

Vu Tran

Pupusas de Lengua

Rather than the usual revuelta (pork, beans, and cheese), Popoca gets creative with fillings, like tender braised beef tongue.

Pollo “Campero”

Inspired by a fast food chain that’s popular in El Salvador, a couple of “grande” chicken wings get sprinkled with chicken powder and dunked in housemade hot sauce.

Chancho con Yuca

Definitely order some of the meats coming off the grill, like this generous Sakura pork chop balanced on top of purple cabbage and stewed yuca.

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