EL Tepeyac

El Tepeyac
704 Broad Street
Hartford
(860) 244-0324

Open 7 days a week.

El Tepeyac is a food stall in El Mercado.  It offers excellent, convinient Mexican food.  Some is already prepared, others such as the tacos, take only a few minutes.  Make certain you try some of the Mexican sodas, whiule you are there.  The sugar content is high, but the taste is quite good.  I particuarly like the mango soda.  Recently, I ordered tacos de pastor, which are spiced pork tacos with onions and pinneapple.  3 for $5.  Delicious.

El Mercado

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 That restaurant closed when the owner got another job, but it has been replaced by another Dominican stall, and the food is still quite good.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:

Los Cubanitos

867 Park Street
Hartford
(860) 247-7844

This is the cheapest place in the city to fill your belly. Start with the sandwiches. Here for $ 2.00 is a pork sandwich. They have a refrigerator full of freshly premade sandwiches, which they quickly reheat in the microwave and then toast with a pull down toasting machine. Takes only a couple minutes. For $2.25 you can get chicken, for $1.50 you can get a Cuban (Ham, cheese and Pork) or a Ham and Cheese.


While there the other day, I got a pork tamale for $1.25. The tamale made of cornmeal and pork comes steaming hot, cooked in a corn stalk. They also have pastries here. There is aways a line of people waiting to get sandwiches, but the line moves fast.



75 cents will get you this Guava filled pastry.