Merendero Las Catrachitas serves authentic Honduran fare in South City

Situated along busy Kingshighway, new Honduran restaurant Merendero Las Catrachitas (5639 S. Kingshighway) is hard to miss. The huge street-side window is painted neon bright with a Honduran flag, a colorful parrot, and Spanish words.

Opened early last month, the restaurant only seats 30 people across two small dining rooms. The repurposed booths are almost too cozy, the table service friendly, and the aromas from the kitchen irresistible.

Owner Diani Karina Peraza works the small kitchen with the help of her 21-year old daughter, Reyna Pineda, who also manages the front of house and guest relations. Diani’s two sons, Juan Daniel Pineda and Jhonny Aluerto Pineda, help when they’re not in school or working. Reyna’s daughter Ariana, age 2, is already a seasoned greeter and playmate for the young toddlers who come in with their families.

“The meaning of the name? Merendero is restaurant,” Reyna Pinedas says. “Las Catrachitas has two meanings. Catrachitas refers to a dish, fried tortillas with cheese and beans. It’s also a name for Hondurans. We three women—our mother, me, and Ariana—are the feminine, Las Catrachitas, of the name.”

The restaurant opens at 10 a.m., just in time for a steady stream of workers, many Honduran, to file through the door for a morning break or to grab carryout lunches. Smaller offerings appear on the ‘appetizer’ side of the menu, and nearly all would make a fine savory breakfast—not too big, not too small, like the baleadas.

All three baleadas on the menu begin with creamy refried beans, crumbly white cheese and sour cream wrapped inside a gigantic, house-made flour tortilla. That’s the makings for the Baleada Sensilla. Add eggs, and you’ve got the Baleada Regular. If you want the fully loaded version—beans, cheese, sour cream, and beef or pork—try the Baleada Especial.

Honduran sour cream, also known as mantiquilla, comes with nearly all of the items on the menu. The mix of heavy cream, sour cream, kosher salt, and lime juice adds a lush sweetness and a bite that plays well with most dishes. We especially liked the velvety beans and sweet-sticky caramelized plantains of the Platano Madura topped with the richness of the mantiquilla.

Good things do come in threes when it comes to the pupusas, thick cakes made of masa that completely encase a savory filling and are pan-fried. The simplest filling is a melty cheese, the Pupusa Queso, closely followed by the Pupusa de Queso Y Frijoles, which adds beans. The biggest choice, the Pupusa Mix, adds chicken or beef. (Double-check the ingredients before you order.)

Off-menu items and specials are clearly printed on a chalkboard in the front room. They’re usually a duo or a trio of flavorful Honduran soups, called sopas.  A luxurious seafood soup, Sopa mariscas, comes to the table with crab legs, shrimp, mussels, yucca, and more in a coconut milk base. Sopa res, a beef offering, brims with yucca, potatoes, rounds of sweet corn, onions, and spices in a delicious beef broth. Beef pieces still attached to bones proved a slight challenge as they were not fork tender. Gnawing on the bones seemed appropriate here. Flour tortillas, rice, and a lime wedge come with each large bowl of soup. Hold on to your knife and fork for these sturdy soups.

The plates at Merendero Las Catrachitas are huge. Expect leftovers, or plan to share. Rice, pickled red onions, refried beans, fingers of queso fresca, a choice of maduros or green banana chips, and salsa accompany the Carne Asada Hondureñas (lead photo). The flavors play well together. The meat is beautifully grilled and sliced.

If fried chicken is your thing, try the Pollo con Tajada or Pollo Almuerzo platters, with myriad sides. (Note: Made to order, the chicken takes 20 to 25 minutes.)

Most dishes are served with a fresh, tangy Honduran slaw that cuts through some of the richness of the food. Be sure to try the Tamale Hondureñas, called nacatamales, thick corn tamales with pork or chicken shaped and steamed in a banana leaf. The Tortilla Con Quesillo with queso was topped with Honduran slaw.

There’s an authenticity about the place, with its patchwork of soccer photos; cow, chicken and pig sculptures; and seashells and fishing nets that evoke Tela Atlantida, Honduras, where the owners once lived. (Reyna showed us photographs of the beach town with its azure blue waters that her family left to come to St. Louis. She and her siblings came to the states six years ago; mom Diani came three years before they arrived and cooked at Papagayo’s, a short-lived Honduran restaurant in south St. Louis. It provided her with the experience she needed to open her own restaurant this year.)

The place is unpretentious; the family earnest and hard-working. “The Honduran community—they heard about us through telling each other," Reyna says. “They come from as far away as St. Peters and St. Charles, from Fairmont City and from O’Fallon. On Saturday and Sunday, we are so busy. They come from church to eat lunch with us. We are blessed.”