El Mercado
704 Park St
Hartford, CT 06106
(860) 247-6449
Open Seven Days a Week (until 7 PM, 5PM on Sunday)
If there is one place you visit in town for a Hartford ethnic food experience, it is El Mercado on Park Street. El Mercado means "The Market" in Spanish. El Mercado has a Spanish grocery store and four latin restaurants which are mostly cafeteria style with steam tables of preprepared food.
El Gran Dominicano (Dominican)
El Tepeyac (Mexican)
Antojitos Columbianos (Colombian)
Authentica Sabor Peruviano (Peruvian)
I confess I have only eaten at the Domincan and Columbian stalls so far. For years I ate only at the Dominican because I made friends with the woman who ran it. I had gone to the Dominican Republic twice on medical missions, so when I shared this with the people at the restaurant, we became friends and I always practiced my Spanish when I went there. That restaurant closed when the owner got another job, but it has been replaced by another Dominican stall, and the food is still quite good. My favorite order is roast pork (be sure to ask for a piece of skin), yellow rice, yucca and tostones (friend green plantain).
Here is a photo of roast pork (cerdo asado), yucca and tostones:
