Glen Cove: Sunny cuisine on a dreary day
Chicken soup at El Tazumal in Glen Cove. (March 28, 2010) Credit: Erica Marcus
In an effort to dispel Sunday’s gloom, I stopped for lunch at El Tazumal, the Salvadoran restaurant that has been serving Glen Cove since 1987. This bowl of chicken soup was everything I hoped for, hot and rich and filled with big chunks of bone-in dark meat as well as potatoes, carrots, celery, zucchini and broccoli. The latter four vegetables were just barely cooked; clearly they had been added to the soup just before serving so as to lend the long-cooked chicken and broth some bright freshness. Someone in the kitchen knows what she or he is doing.
Before my soup showed up, I busied myself with a plate of riguas de elote. These griddled pancakes are made from fresh corn (elote) as opposed to dried (masa) and thus have a sweeter, fresher flavor than pupusas, the great Salvadorean dried-corn pancake. Two slipper-shaped riguas were served alongside a pool of crema (cultured cream) and a slice of strong, salty Salvadoran cheese.
El Tazumal is at 6 Glen St., Glen Cove, 516-674-9465. (Tazumal is a Mayan ruin in Chalchuapa, El Salvador.)
Newsday Photo / Erica Marcus
