Manchester’s new Morán builds on Hartford food truck success
In September, Oscar Morán started parking a food truck every day at 310 Franklin Ave. in Hartford’s South End. It sells Salvadoran food: tortas, fried yucca, pastellitos and, most popular, pupusas. The truck was so successful that in January, Morán opened a restaurant in Manchester. Morán Restaurant sells a menu based on the truck’s, expanded with other Latin American, Mexican, Italian and American dishes.
Pupusas — fried patties made with masa filled with pork, cheese, vegetables, beans or a combination — are still the core of Morán’s menu. “All the time people come in looking for pupusas. My mom and wife have been making pupusas for years, starting in Salvador. People want the flavor of Salvador,” Morán said.
Morán Restaurant, at 534 Middle Turnpike East, is well-named. Every employee is a member of Morán’s family. Seven days a week, the kitchen, counter and dining room are manned by Morán, his son, Oscar Jr., mother Maria, father José, wife Dani, sister Marisela and brothers Alex and Roberto.
Morán, 35, a native of Santa Ana, El Salvador, has been living in the United States for 16 years. “I miss Salvador, but life is better here,” he said. “We left because of the gangs.”
He first settled in Southern California, and though he dreamed of having a restaurant, started working construction. “Then there were no jobs. The rent is expensive there. My nephews lived here,” he said. So he left California and construction work, moved to Manchester and pursued his dream.
He learned the restaurant business with jobs at Buffalo Wild Wings and Maggie McFly’s before going it on his own, first with the truck and now with the restaurant. It occupies the storefront where Rosita’s, a Colombian restaurant, was until it closed in November as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The operation in Manchester is primarily takeout, but it has a small dining room, with brightly colored walls and a few TVs that often are tuned to soccer games.
The tasty things Morán and his family cook up resemble the cuisine of other Latin American countries, with interesting twists. His tacos birria is somewhat like a quesadilla. Tortillas are briefly soaked in a rich beef broth before being put flat on the grill. He fills the tortilla with mozzarella cheese, spiced meat, onions and cilantro, topping with a second marinated tortilla, for a filling meal big enough for two.
Pastellitos are plantains, stuffed with refried beans or sweet cream and sprinkled with sugar. Morán is particularly proud of his elote loco, or “crazy corn,” corn on the cob on a stick dressed with sprinkling of mayonnaise, ketchup and pecorino and romano cheese. He puts the same topping on his “crazy fries.”
Morán offers shaved-ice snow cones called minutas: lemon, strawberry, grape, pineapple and tamarind, sometimes with a kick of jalapeno. Mangonada is a chunky beverage with mangos, chamoy, lime, tajin and a straw encrusted with tamarind. Coca-Cola, Sprite and Fanta bottled in Mexico — flavored with cane sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup — are sold as well, as are horchata and passion fruit juice.
Morán’s churros are a step beyond the popular stick-shaped fried dough. The pieces, several on a plate, are shaped into loops, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and place around a mound of strawberry ice cream. “Rainbow Nachos” is a fried tortilla, tossed in cinnamon sugar, topped with ice cream and chocolate and caramel sauce and dotted with multicolored sprinkles.
Morán is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Thursday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. moranrestaurant.com.