Meeting with David
When you push the door of the Marché-pupuseria David, you first think that it’s a small market of South American products, but continuing towards the back of the shop, you also discover a small counter where you can order ready meals! This is where we meet David, the owner. As usual, he welcomes us with a smile. Helped by one of his employees, he prepares the daily specials and answers our questions while busying himself in the kitchen.
David arrived from El Salvador in his mid-twenties and a few years later, he opened his restaurant at the corner of Saint-Dominique and Saint-Zotique: “It's been 26 years! It was Salvadoran cuisine,” he recalls. Subsequently, he decided to turn to the opening of the market in which he still works today. “The market is less stressful than catering. It's been 18 years since I opened here.” Moreover, this businessman underlines it well, if he's been the owner of the market for so long, it's because he likes it: "I like everything I do here: the cooking, the customers, etc I really like the customer service.” In the end, it's his love of food and people that drives him. He settled in Saint-Léonard because life has taken him here, as he likes to say, but also because he appreciates this place.
His business offers a lot of products from South America, in addition to offering tasty dishes: “We prepare Mexican, Colombian, Argentinian and Salvadoran cuisine.” he says enthusiastically. There are also the famous pupusa, hence the name of the market. It is a small bread from El Salvador that is filled with cheese, meat or beans.
For the future, he plans to soon modernize his small market and put more emphasis on the catering aspect; in particular by offering (among other things) new kinds of tacos, to be enjoyed throughout the summer!
