Rosi’s Salvadoran Fusion Cuisine, a family-owned restaurant in the Dallas area, has a rich history rooted in resilience and tradition.
Rosi’s began with founders Rosalina (Rosi) and Jesus Galdamez searching for a better future for their children. Rosi and Jesus migrated to the United States out of a war-torn El Salvador. Jesus came in 1985, Rosi and their son Jose arrived in 1992, and years later their two daughters Daisy and Gladis.
“A lot of people don’t know a lot of the history of El Salvador,” Jose says. “(My father) came to the U.S. pretty much for refuge, because at that time, it wasn’t voluntary, right? Either you fight for the government or they’ll kill you, or they’ll kill your family. He then brought me and my mom later, like I didn’t get to see my dad until I was 7 years old.”
The family’s famous pupusas — handmade thick corn tortillas stuffed with varying ingredients such as pork or beans — began to create a buzz in the kitchen of a local church in East Dallas, where Rosi used to make them to raise funds for the church. Everyone soon fell in love with them and suggested they open a pupuseria.
“There was a restaurant that was going out of business from someone from the church, and they told my mom, Hey, we want you to buy it,’” Jose says. “Because every time you do events here with the pupusas, it sells out.”
In 2005, Jesus and Rosi opened the first Rosi’s Pupuseria in Garland. Eight years later, after much success and demand, they opened a second location in Mesquite.
Rosi’s rebranded the Mesquite location in February 2020 to Rosi’s Salvadoran Fusion Cuisine after Jose saw the need to keep the culture alive in the United States. He graduated with honors from the best private culinary art school in San Salvador “SCARTS” under the direction of French Master Chef Herve Laurent.
In 2023, the family opened the newest Rosi’s location in Oak Cliff, off of Jefferson and Madison Avenue, owned by Jose.
“Most of the traditional dishes are my mom’s recipes, and me going to culinary art school, I just mix it up a little bit more and make it look a little bit more elegant on the plate,” Jose says. “The actual pupusa recipes and all the traditional things, the soups and all that, it’s my mom’s recipe.
On top of his mother’s traditional recipes, Jose has added some new dishes “with a twist.”
“There are things that I put on there, but it’s basically Salvador and filled with little twists,” Jose says. “That’s why it’s a little bit of fusion. And it’s not fusion between one country and another, it’s just El Salvador.”
In addition to the pupusas, the menu features dishes such as carne asada, parrillada and tacos.
Jose says the Oak Cliff community has been receptive to the food, and there are plenty of customers that return for their pupusa fix.
“A lot of people don’t know that we’re here, but the people that do come, they enjoy it, and they love it, and they want to come back,” Jose says. “That’s what we’re hoping, that we can stay here long enough for lots of people to enjoy the food.”
Rosi’s Salvadoran Fusion Cuisine, 313 W Jefferson Blvd., 214.200.3070, rosisrestaurants.com
