Week 137: FiveO3

Week 137: August 10th-16th, 2025

One simple thing that makes me happy is a leisurely stroll through an outdoor mall. I'm partial to Fashion Valley mall in San Diego, mainly because it isn't as far as Westfield UTC mall in La Jolla. If a mall excursion has a specific goal, like finding a dress for an upcoming event, the enjoyment I get from it goes down exponentially. I prefer a non-goaled mall trip, so there isn't any room for disappointment. The only way is up from a place of no expectations.

After picking up my boyfriend's online order at Zumiez, I treated myself to some more mall time and started to get hungry. It was a Friday evening, so the mall was pretty busy, but not as busy as it has been the past few weeks. Friendly reminder: don't go for a leisurely mall adventure during the final weeks of summer vacation. The back-to-school shopping crowd is full of stressed out parents and their wayward children. Thankfully, school is officially back in session for San Diego Unified School District this week, so the mall wasn't too much of a zoo.

Fashion Valley mall has a surprisingly large variety of food offerings. There are now two Better Buzz Coffee locations, as one now has replaced the Starbucks on the second level by ALDO. I think this was a much needed addition because the Better Buzz on the first floor near Urban Outfitters is always super busy. As I weighed my options like Silverlake Ramen, North Italia, The Cheesecake Factory, Wetzel's Pretzels, Sbarro, and Panda Express, a new bombshell entered the villa: FiveO3 Pupusas. As any Love Island fan knows, a shiny, new bombshell makes heads turn, and mine was.

The new FiveO3 Pupusas at Fashion Valley Mall

The menu was pretty simple. Pick a size of plate (single pupusa, two pupusas, etc.) and then pick your fillings (I picked one "Chicken" and one "Spicy"). I had to wait about 15 minutes for my food, but I didn't mind because it was nicely air conditioned inside. It hasn't been THAT hot this week, but the humidity has been killer. Currently, it says there is 89% humidity outside, which feels criminal. The young woman who took my order was probably around 20 years old, and she thanked me for my patience and called me "honey" as she handed me my plate. Being called "honey" by someone around five years younger than me was a new experience as well, but it was sweet.

After I got my pupusas, I found a table to sit and people watch from while I ate. The pupusas were burning hot and I should have waited before taking a bite, but I was hungry. My tongue and my fingertips suffered as I hot-potato-ed the melty mess of chicken and cheese into my mouth. Despite the mess and the temperature, the pupusas were really good. I liked the "Spicy" one more than I expected. It was just shredded serrano peppers and cheese, but it reminded me of the green chile and cheese frozen tamales from Trader Joe's that my dad used to get my sister and I for school lunches.

My two pupusas from FiveO3

The melty mess my pupusas were becoming

I think the pupusas would have been much more enjoyable if I had waited for them to cool down. The melty mess they became was a bit hard to eat gracefully in a public setting, but I was prepared with many napkins. I also liked the "red tomato" salsa even though it was a little watery. The "curtido" was a cabbage slaw that had a good spicy tang to it.

It looks like FiveO3 Pupusas originated in Cathedral City, California. I found the @fiveo3_pupusas Instagram page and this cute Instagram Reel that shows their location at Fashion Valley Mall. Next time, I think I'll practice some self-control and patience and wait for my food to cool down before diving in, but at least I got to try Something New!

See you next week.