There are lots of places with an early morning seafood market (Mercado del Mar) for shop owners and chefs. But Puerto de la Libertad, El Salvador has taken what could have been just a utilitarian stop and made it a fabulous shopping mart for housewives and fun tourist destination with 20 restaurants, famous surfing and the Pacific Ocean! I was happy to be hosted to experience it.
The port is teeming with fishing boats and serious ocean waves. The market is just steps away. It couldn’t possibly be fresher. There’s lots of dried fish for sale, probably most of it bacalau from cod.
I was floored by the stunning and huge seafood available in El Salvador. Why aren’t we importing it? Why aren’t they exporting it? The country is getting its bearings after decades of gang and cartels keeping its own people in a state of fear and quite frankly, a state of imprisonment. Maybe its marine bounty hasn’t been at the top of its promotion list, but it should be!
Now, their economy and pay scale is on a very different level from ours. In general, things tend to be at least 40% less than what we’d pay. But still, when you’re dealing with perishable goods, those who are right at the site can find wonderful bargains.
Their shrimp are crazy big. Irrationally big. When our “jumbos” are generally 25-30 to the pound, theirs are 5. One shrimp is as big as a small trout or sunny. Ladies who are trying to watch their girlish figures, imagine this: you could get 1 shrimp, make some cucumber salad and a little tropical fruit there. Take the shrimp, grill it or steam it in water with a bay leaf for 2 minutes and here you’d have a delicate, low calorie and movie-star worthy lunch for almost nothing. Walk your daily constitutional on the beach. You can see how one can live like at a resort spa for so little!
As a Maryland resident, I saw something in a bucket that looked more than familiar: blue crabs in a bucket. The demand for blue crab is 12 months a year in Maryland, though our season is much, much shorter. Seafood from Vietnam fills in the rest of the time. I point out that El Salvador should be marketing its familiar crustaceans to us! It’s a few hours to Houston by plane and then a few hours to Baltimore. That would be perfect.
The market area has 20 restaurants, each with its own bent. There are seafood/steakhouse places, Asian fusion, etc. I got to try out Legends at the Pier, a fusion between El Salvadoran, continental American and Hawaiian food! It was definitely a menu I had difficulty picking from, lots of items caught my eye. I was there to learn about El Salvadoran cuisine, but some of the Hawaiian fusion items like poke and macadamia hummus were very tempting.
There’s lots of outside seating and clearly known by visitors: I was told that a large seating was from nearby Guatemala.
Like lots of places in El Salvador, they’re on point with the mocktails. You can definitely get your vitamins in a fresh frozen treat from local fruit.
Legends is known for their ceviche trio, so I had to try it! Octopus, shrimp, fresh white fish, lemon (not lime, like in Mexico) juice, red bell pepper, cilantro, cucumber, radish, avocado are chopped and served with Arayu, which is a local chip coming from a citrus-like banana and looking like sweet potato chips. So perfectly mild and fresh!
Now, let’s have a heart-to-heart talk for a moment: the portions are generous all over El Salvador, but they’re really, really generous here. Plan on sharing with with your buddies, for sure!
One of El Salvador’s “typicos” (authentic cuisine) is mariscado: creamy fish soup. Say yes, yes, YES to this vast tureen of goodness. This is not like any bouillabaisse, gumbo or anything else you’ve ever had. It’s chock full of blue crabs, mussels, shrimp the size of fish, lobster tails (!), probably some coconut milk, milk, lime, topped with seaweed and garnished with some house-made focaccia. It’s delectably creamy, but not goopy.
They make their own fruit-like hot pepper sauce, don’t miss it.
Luxe & Down-Home Cuisine/Culture/Travel/Style 