Two decades ago, Maria Del Carmen Flores navigated the vibrant streets of the Mission District, pushing a cart filled with yucca and plantain chips to serve hungry customers outside restaurants and bars. Today, her daughter, Estrella Gonzalez, has established a brick-and-mortar restaurant in the heart of the Tenderloin at 483 Ellis St., where she offers a rich menu featuring pupusas, fried yucca, and pan con pollo.
Estrella Gonzalez, along with her 28-year-old son, Angel, co-owns Estrellita’s Snacks. The pair chose to set up shop in the Tenderloin, motivated by the prominent lack of Salvadoran food options in the neighborhood. While the Mission District boasts more than twelve spots for pupusas, the Tenderloin was devoid of this staple cuisine until Estrellita’s Snacks opened its doors last year. Estrella decided to keep ‘snacks’ in the restaurant’s name as a nod to her mother’s initial foray into the business.
Besides serving the community delicious Salvadoran dishes, the restaurant doubles as a hub for Estrella Gonzalez’s successful farmers market venture. Her spacious kitchen allows her to fry plantain chips, salt them, and package them for delivery to markets such as Alemany Farmers Market and Heart of the City Farmers’ Market. The pupusas are crafted from masa dough that she prepares in the restaurant, and she fries them at the market, enticing customers with the mouthwatering aroma.
Remarkably, a busy day at the farmers market can yield five times the income compared to the restaurant. Estrella reflects on the importance of these markets, especially during economically challenging times, stating, “Those markets, in reality, they’re our biggest supporters when the economy is slow. The customers who can’t get here can always go to the farmers’ markets.”
At 46 years old, Estrella Gonzalez is a product of the La Cocina incubator program, aimed at empowering women, immigrants, and people of color to launch local businesses. Before establishing Estrellita’s Snacks, she operated within the communal marketplace at La Cocina’s Tenderloin location. However, in 2023, due to a languid recovery post-pandemic, the food hall transformed into a shared-use kitchen for those participating in La Cocina’s training program, displacing Estrellita’s Snacks, along with other food vendors. With assistance from La Cocina, Estrella reopened her restaurant on Ellis Street nine months later.
Owning her space has allowed Gonzalez more flexibility in managing her business hours—now from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays. She often works well into the night, packaging chips and reviewing her accounts in her upstairs office. The restaurant has undergone minimal changes since its opening; Estrella has mostly focused on decoration. She prominently features two photos of her mother—the first from her time in the Mission with her cart, and another of her outside La Cocina’s flagship location, backgrounded by a sea of blue.
Recently, Estrella adorned the restaurant with six vibrant paintings created by a Salvadoran folk artist. These artworks, bursting with shades of pink, purple, and blue, capture the essence of rural Salvadoran life. One painting depicts a woman dressed in turquoise as she prepares 14 round pupusas on a hot stone plate—a mesmerizing sight against a backdrop of blue mountains and swaying tropical trees.
According to Angel Gonzalez, these artistic additions have invigorated the space, as he notes, “The place without it, it was alive, but it wasn’t as vibrant.” The Salvadoran art transformed the ambiance of Estrellita’s Snacks.
Despite the backing of La Cocina, Estrella and Angel share concerns regarding their lease renewal, as they face renegotiation after a disagreement with their landlord. Should the rent escalate beyond their means, they may be forced to close the storefront and revert to focusing solely on the farmers markets.
Navigating the pressures of restaurant management can occasionally create tension between mother and son. However, their bond strengthens their ability to adapt as they emphasize teamwork. Estrella concludes, “We coordinate with each other well. Once we are calm, we come together and talk about what changes we need to make, and we do it together as a team.”
image source from：https://missionlocal.org/2025/06/estrellitas-snacks-pupusas-tenderloin/
