As of last month, that itch has gotten a lot more convenient to scratch.<\/p>\n
\u201cYay!\u201d said Gonzalez with a grin. \u201cWe are excited,\u201d Ramos said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In August, Balompi\u00e9<\/a>,<\/a> a popular Salvadoran mainstay in San Francisco for nearly 40 years, opened a Richmond location in a struggling strip mall across from Walgreens at the mostly shuttered Hilltop Mall, slated for major redevelopmen<\/a>t. Balompi\u00e9 means football (f\u00fatbol) or soccer in Spanish.<\/p>\n Gonzalez and Ramos, who live close by in the city\u2019s Fairmede<\/a> neighborhood and both immigrated from El Salvador to San Francisco in the 1980s, moving to Richmond in 1999, have been regulars since.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the flavor,\u201d Gonzalez\u00a0 explained, as he sat in the bright Balompi\u00e9 Sports Bar & Grill<\/a> on a recent Saturday waiting for a take-out order.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe touch. Like you\u2019re back home, back in El Salvador,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Ramos nodded. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m back home.\u201d<\/p>\n But as Gonzalez sips his Pilsener<\/a>, often called the national beer of El Salvador, he offers up a true confession, lowering his voice a little as he glances around the spacious corner eatery with a sprinkling of customers, TV screens blaring soccer, soft sizzles from the grill.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cI\u2019m 100% Salvadoran, and I\u2019m not a pupusa lover,\u201d he says, with a mixture of pride and apology.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Oh, pupusas are fine, good, he continues. Then he enthusiastically lists his homeland loves, most also served at Balompie. Pan con pollo. (Stewed chicken sandwich in a bolillo roll with fresh vegetables.) Pan con pavo. (Same sandwich but with turkey.) Yuca con chicharr\u00f3n. (Tender cassava root with deep-fried pork.)\u00a0<\/p>\n Deysi Ramos, on the other hand, is all-in for pupusas,\u00a0 El Salvador\u2019s best known, and probably most widely eaten national dish.\u00a0<\/p>\n Thick grilled corn cakes with a variety of fillings \u2014 cheese, chicken, bean, pork, spinach or loroco<\/a>, a flowering savory plant native to Central America, pupusas are popular as snacks and meals \u2014 breakfast, lunch or dinner. Usually handmade, the dough is sometimes made with rice flour as opposed to maize or corn.<\/p>\n Typical sides include a traditional (usually mild) red sauce; curtido<\/a>, a pickled cabbage and carrot kind of coleslaw; and rice, beans, or mixed rice and beans called casamiento<\/a>, which translates to marriage.\u00a0<\/p>\n The menu at the Richmond restaurant, the third and newest in the Bay Area Balompi\u00e9 family, is not yet quite as extensive as those at the other two locations, both in San Francisco, said Amadeo Gonzalez Figueroa, who opened the first spot at 18th and Capp streets in San Francisco in 1987 (Cafe #1<\/a>)\u00a0 several years after arriving from El Salvador.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n He later opened a second location on Richland Avenue (Cafe #3<\/a>) in the outer Mission District, which is now owned by one of his nieces. Cafe #2 was a brief experiment for Figueroa, opened in his home town of Metapan, El Salvador, now closed.<\/p>\n The restaurants are known for their pupusas, often drawing crowds. But Figueroa\u2019s deep passion for soccer is woven tightly into the Balompi\u00e9 appeal, starting with the name. Large screens streaming matches. Local team sponsorships. Banners. Paraphernalia. Posters. Flags. It\u2019s a full-on global representation of the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n The f\u00fatbol fanaticism is fed by Figueroa\u2019s history as a semi-professional player in El Salvador. He was about to sign a professional contract when he left for the United States in 1974, at age 20, amid violent political unrest at home that would soon erupt into a devastating 12\u2013year civil war<\/a>. Hundreds of thousands of people fled El Salvador at this time,<\/a> including for the United States.\u00a0<\/p>\n He picked his sport right back up in the Bay Area, playing semi-professionally with a team based at Balboa Park. And he continues playing informally to this day. His dream, he said, is to retire to El Salvador and coach kids.\u00a0<\/p>\n Figueroa co-owns the Richmond business with married couple Jacinto and Gloria Soto, Salvadoran immigrants who now live in American Canyon. He met Jacinto 50 years ago playing soccer in Dolores Park in San Francisco, and they\u2019ve been close since.\u00a0<\/p>\n He leased the building years ago when it was an office space, waiting out the pandemic and remodeling it into a restaurant.<\/p>\n As they\u2019ve seen El Salvadoran and other Latin American immigrants leave San Francisco for less expensive communities, including their family members and friends, opening in Richmond seemed a smart move, the trio of owners said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of the population from the Mission came down here,\u201d Figueroa said of Salvadorans moving to Richmond and other West Contra Costa cities \u2014 San Pablo, El Sobrante, Pinole, Hercules, Rodeo.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s insane to rent in San Francisco,\u201d he said, for a home or a business.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to LoopNet<\/a>, an online commercial real estate marketplace, the current average rent for restaurant space in San Francisco is $43 per square foot, compared to a range of $18 to $26 per square foot in Richmond.<\/p>\n The Sotos are among those who made the move from the city years ago to buy a house.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of our paisanos [countrymen] used to live in San Francisco,\u201d Jacinto Soto said, taking a short break from restaurant office duties. \u201cPeople got out of San Francisco because of the housing; they wanted to buy their own place, they couldn\u2019t stay.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Soto\u2019s a realtor, tax accountant, and retired Cal-EPA engineer.<\/p>\n \u201cThey couldn\u2019t stay in Berkeley \u2014 it\u2019s too expensive. They couldn\u2019t stay in Albany \u2014 too expensive. They couldn\u2019t\u00a0 stay in El Cerrito \u2014 too expensive. So they moved to Richmond,\u201d said Gloria Soto, retired from the U.S. Postal Service.<\/p>\n \u201cThose are our customers,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Contra Costa County\u2019s Salvadoran population grew from roughly 7,000 to 30,000 from 2000 to 2020, more than quadrupling, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Meanwhile, in San Francisco County, the Salvadoran population grew from about 11,700 to 16,682 over the same period.<\/p>\n The area has plenty of other Salvadoran restaurants, each with their fans. They aren\u2019t there to compete, the Balompi\u00e9 team said, but to add to the offerings.\u00a0<\/p>\n The owners expect the restaurant\u2019s menu, events, and community involvement to evolve and expand over time.<\/p>\n \u201cA place for community, families, friends. Any sport, American football, baseball. Everyone is welcome, especially kids,\u201d Figueroa said. A trademark Balompi\u00e9 soccer ball hangs from the ceiling outside the front door.\u00a0<\/p>\n He\u2019s counting on the sports soul catching on in Richmond, he said. The pupusas are already bringing people in. And while it\u2019s named Balompie Sports Bar & Grill, the aim is the same kind of spot for beer, food and hanging out as in San Francisco, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The food, the ingredients and the techniques are the same at all the Balompies, because they all share a head chef \u2014 Patricia Jimenez, who\u2019s been with the restaurant for 36 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s training everybody, so the food can be the same as in San Francisco,\u201d said Gloria Soto. \u201cEverything is made here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Jimenez, who is originally from Guadalajara, Mexico and lives in San Francisco, is commuting to Richmond to help launch the new place. The recipes, embedded in Jimenez\u2019s memory, originated from Figueroa\u2019s grandmother in El Salvador, he said.<\/p>\n The first few weeks after opening, the new Balompi\u00e9 saw crowds, mostly drawn by social media and word-of-mouth. Since then, it\u2019s quieted down a little.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAny business is a risk. You can\u2019t sit on the side because it\u2019s risky; you\u2019ve got to get the bull by the horn,\u201d said Jacinto Soto.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gloria Soto smiled: \u201cHe\u2019s an optimist,\u201d she said. And social, which can be a good fit for a restaurant, she added. \u201cHe just wants to be out and around people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRelated stories<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\tScott\u2019s, Oakland\u2019s unofficial boardroom, is turning 50. Meet the chefs who have made a million cioppinos<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\tOctober 2, 2026Oct. 6, 2026, 12:31 p.m.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\tWhat Cafe Colucci\u2019s signature platter tells us about rising restaurant prices<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\tSeptember 17, 2026Sept. 23, 2026, 11:09 a.m.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/richmondside.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/large-Nosh_BalompieSportsBar-3.jpg\")
From the left, Amadeo Figueroa, Jacinto and Gloria Soto, owners of Balompie Sports Bar that just opened its newest location in Richmond at the Hill Top Mall, stand together near soccer banners inside their resturant on Sept. 25, 2026. Credit: Richard H. Grant for East Bay Nosh<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/richmondside.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/large-Nosh_BalompieSportsBar-4.jpg\")
A cook at Balompie Sports Bar in Richmond shapes a bean and cheese pupusa for a customer on Sept. 25, 2026. Credit: Richard H. Grant for East Bay Nosh<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/richmondside.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/large-Nosh_BalompieSportsBar-5.jpg\")
Bean and cheese puppusas grill atop a plancha at Balompie Sports Bar in Richmond on Sept. 25, 2026. Credit: Richard H. Grant for East Bay Nosh<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/richmondside.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/large-Nosh_BalompieSportsBar-7.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"Scott\u2019s,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791416182_230_NATERA_CHEFSatScott_NOSH_260917_015-1200x900.jpg\" "\\"Scott\u2019s,")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"What](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791416183_432_large-CafeColucci_EBNosh-16-1200x900.jpg\" "\\"What")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"From](\"https:\/\/oaklandside.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/large-NATERA_HomeCoffeeRoasters-NOSH_260729_007-1200x900.jpg?crop=1\" "\\"From")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n