Joaquina Imelda Quintanilla’s granddaughter peers just over the ledge of the red Mi Rinconcito Pupuseria Salvadoreño truck. It’s an echo of how Quintanilla grew up in El Salvador, tagging along after school to the restaurant kitchen where her Aunt Lilian worked. By 12, she was able to help her aunt prep and cook a little, learning at Lilian’s elbow and pitching in at home. On weekends, she recalls, her aunt was among many out in front of their homes stuffing, flattening and grilling masa dough into pupusas to sell to neighbors and passersby.
“In my country, everywhere outside there’s the grills and the pupusas. It’s very popular in my country,” Quintanilla says.
The Salvadoran specialty is growing more popular in Humboldt, too, of late. Since November of 2025, the Mi Rinconcito Pupuseria Salvadoreño has been serving at events and from the lot at Tasty Hub (1935 Fifth St., Eureka). While she dreams of a brick-and-mortar restaurant down the line, the food truck lot, commissary kitchen and small dining room offer a way for her to serve a broader menu of the food she loves and loves to share.
After immigrating at 20 years old, Quintanilla cooked in Mexican restaurants and made a bid at buying one before switching to managing fast food locations. The food truck, which took longer than she expected to update and get properly permitted, is her chance to work for herself at last. Her sister Susi Quintanilla returned to Humboldt with their mother to help out and is often in the truck deftly patting and turning the soft mounds of ground nixtamalized corn. Joaquina says, on top of the help, it’s a comfort having everyone here together again. Joaquina’s daughter is another dab hand at making pupusas. “She knows everything,” Joaquina says.
The pupusas typically take about 10 minutes to form and grill, but you might have to wait if there’s a large order since Mi Rinconcito doesn’t make them ahead. “It’s not gonna be the same,” says Joaquina, who will prep a stack for a big event an hour ahead at the most. Any longer than that, she says, and the simple masa and water dough loses its tenderness. Sometimes a customer will specifically ask to have one made fresh. “I know they’re Salvadoran,” she says with a laugh.
The fillings are Joaquina’s domain, like the stewed beans and the homemade chicharrón for the pork pupusas ($6 each, three for $15, six for $25, 12 for $50). Both are hefty and savory, lovely with melted cheese, accompanied by pickle-y curtido and a mild, smooth salsa. Homesick Central Americans (and Los Angeles transplants) can rejoice at the presence of loroco pupusas on the menu, stuffed with cheese and the aromatic flower buds native to the region. That and a nostalgic apricot-colored Cola Champan could chase away homesickness for a little while.
Guatemalan customers, Joaquina says, are big fans of loroco with eggs, something she makes at home and plans to add to the breakfast menu. “It’s so good,” she croons, adding it’s just as satisfying for dinner, and breakfast all day is another excellent Salvadoran tradition.
Inside the Tasty Hub building, where customers can sit and tuck into their orders, the commissary kitchen has room for Joaquina to branch out with specials, particularly the Sunday rotation of soups, including sopa de pollo (chicken), sopa de res (beef) and Mexican menudo ($20). A recent visit and a stroke of luck yielded Salvadoran style crema de mariscos with tilapia, shrimp, mussels and half a Dungeness crab cooked just to tenderness in a golden, buttery and garlicky seafood stock. A pair of thick grilled Salvadoran tortillas hold up to long dipping in the broth if you can wait. (The irresponsibly generous $20 price was due to the crab having been gifted to her by a commercial fisher customer.)
Turning the ladle in the large pot of soup, Joaquina grins broadly. Along with those who’ve been missing these flavors, she’s happy to see so many customers trying Salvadoran food for the first time. She’s happy to answer their questions, too.
And now she can witness it first-hand instead of being hidden back in a kitchen. She laughs over her preference for working up front with her customers. “I really like talking, honestly.”
Jennifer Fumiko Cahill (she/her) is the managing editor at the Journal. Reach her at (707) 442-1400 ext. 106, or jennifer@northcoastjournal.com. Follow her on Bluesky @jfumikocahill.bsky.social.
This article appears in The Foilies 2026.