Eighth Street or “calle ocho”, is alive and well thanks to the many kitchens surrounding its borders. On our hunt for a great Honduran restaurant, we found Paseo Catracho, located at:
824 SW 8th St.
Miami, FL 33130
This place is very authentic and is full of cute decorations. Each table has information about one of Honduras’ eighteen different departments. The lamps are made out of traditional hats used by farmers on the country side. It’s definitely the place to be if you are homesick one day or if you want to learn a little about this small, beautiful country in the heart of Central America.
The food is delicious, I have been there many times and every dish has the Honduran sazon! I would recommend starting with the catracho sampler as an appetizer. You will get to try a little bit of each of the most traditional foods. Then you can pick what you would like to try in a bigger size from the main menu.
Above you can see the anafre (a little bowl with fried beans, melted cheese and tortilla chips on top), hard tacos, sweet plantains and meat. The picture below shows the pupusas that come with the sampler dish.
The sampler comes with Honduran chorizo, grilled pork and beef seasoned in sour orange and tropical spices. The hard tacos are also very traditional and delicious (the secret is the red sauce on it). It also comes with platano frito or fried sweet plantain with beans and mantequilla (similar to sour cream, it is essentially made of milk fat and regular salt) and three small pupusas (El Salvador and Honduras have pretty much the same kind of pupusas).
Also try the baleadas: a flour tortilla filled with beans and mantequilla. You can also order it with scrambled eggs and beef. It is absolutely delicious! This dish is popular mainly in the north coast of Honduras but it is also known in the capital city of Tegucigalpa.
For those of you with a bigger appetite, I recommended the carne asada. You’ll love their delicious seasoning on the meat, as well as rice, beans, cheese (queso fresco) and avocado. You might want to request corn tortillas for this dish because flour tortillas might be too much.
To the right is the presentation of the pinchos (kabob) and carne asada.
Finally, try one of the natural drinks: mora, tamarindo or horchata. I would not recommend any desert because it isn’t home made. The prices are just right and very fair for the quality food you are getting. 3 people can easily eat with $30. I think that’s pretty affordable. Get your taste buds ready for a journey to a kitchen from the heart of Central America! Buen provecho!
