Excellent Salvadoran Fare at Calero’s Bar & Grill

by admin January 23, 2025

written by admin January 23, 2025

We had dinner with friends last week at Calero’s Bar & Grill, a newer Salvadoran restaurant in Northland. After we made plans to go, I learned Calero’s was named one of Columbus Monthly‘s Best New Restaurants for the year (even though I wrote for the feature, I didn’t know the full list, ha!). And after even one visit I think it’s safe to say that Calero’s definitely earned its spot.

The space is big and brightly lit with a full bar, a swing for kids in the corner (there’s a kid’s menu, too), and if you stick around long enough on certain nights, you’ll enjoy karaoke.

We met owner Tania Alvarado, who was also our server. She’s wonderfully friendly and welcoming, and offered to walk us through the menu.

We ended up selecting a mixture of small bites and a couple entrees to split as a group, and we loved every bite we tasted. Here’s what we tried!

First off: tostones con camerón. These were some of my favorite bites. They’re fried plantains topped with shrimp and avocado, served with pickled onions and a house-made cilantro sauce.

These are pastelitos: little corn flour fry pies with chicken and cheese. Like little empanadas, Tania said.

Chicha guac: chunks of crispy fried pork belly with guacamole for dipping.

The house specialty are the pupusas, little cornmeal griddle cakes filled with a variety of ingredients. We recommend ordering a few different ones to try. We had versions filled with cheese, pork, squash, peppers. All delicious.

For our first entree, Tania recommended the asada tipico. It’s a tender cut of steak served with refried beans, plantains, an excellent sausage (excellent), rice, cheese, avocado, and salsa. Highly recommend this one.

And I can’t say no when breakfast is on the table! The desayuno ranchero features a pair of eggs cooked to order, refried beans, plantains, cheese, and ranchero sauce.