MOLINE, Ill. — Moline now has one more culinary addition to it's repertoire with the grand opening of Restaurante Sabor Catracho on Saturday.
A family-owned restaurant, the owners say it's a taste from their home county, Honduras, and something that's rare to find in Moline.
"It's definitely completely different than what they have here," 21-year-old Sonia Carranza told News 8's Collin Riviello. "Because they don't really have this type of food here. You'll see Mexican food or Italian food or whatever the case is. But there's not really authentic Honduran food. And not many people know that is here. So I feel like it brings a lot of authenticity."
And that's something some customers like 37-year-old Diana Andrade agree with.
"This specific cuisine," Andrade said. "We really don't have anything here and it's really nice to [have] somewhere to go." Andrade says she's been living in Moline her entire life.
Carranza's parents are first-generation immigrants. They moved from Long Island, New York about two years ago for her father's job.
"This is one of my parents' biggest dreams," Carranza said. "My mom's especially, to always open up a restaurant so I had to be here to support her."
"You know we do it from the heart, and I know everything is good," 47-year-old-Co-owner Dennis Carranza said. "I know that people will be happy. We see already online [they're excited to try the food]."
Customers who went in for the grand opening say they're excited about trying food that they'd usually have to drive to bigger cities to get.
"I am El Salvadorian, and El Salvador is very similar to Honduras," 30-year-old Andrew Mendoza said. "And the food is very similar. So as soon as I heard that this place was opening I wanted to get some papusas."
"It's super important to support small businesses like this one. But also it's just great to see more representation for the Latin community," 29-year-old Lanae Harding said.
You can find more details about Restaurante Sabor Catracho by clicking/tapping here.
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